With a board consisting of people who often have busy weekdays and full calendars, there are several advantages of a good board portal. Not only can you streamline and secure interaction, you will also automate and optimize the processes. In this article you can read why you should optimize your board work today.
Advantages of the board portal
In an increasingly complex business world where efficiency, security and structure are key components, a reliable management tool becomes an indispensable resource for any organization. Here are some important reasons why you should invest in a dedicated management tool:
Security in board work
In recent years, there have been several critical incidents in cyber security that illustrate the importance of secure document handling. One of the cases occurred for Østre Toten municipality (Norway) in January 2021, which was hit by a ransom virus as a result of poor IT security. Kripos also wrote that the extent of the threat picture and crime is constantly increasing, seen in the context of the fact that the number of phishing reports increased from 2021 to 2022.
If board documents are shared via e-mail, file-sharing services or by post, there is a risk of losing control over the most sensitive documents of the business. This is where a management tool comes in. A management tool acts as a secure vault for the most confidential documents in the company while giving you complete control over the distribution process. In this way, you ensure efficient sharing across the organisation, while maintaining security.
ShareControl Board is built on Microsoft 365 technology, so that documents are easy to find and share across the business. With state-of-the-art security systems and integration with platforms such as Microsoft tenant and cloud services, it provides a safe storage space for board documents and ensures controlled access.
Read also: On the way to the stock exchange, new investors or selling the business?
Flexibility in document handling
As a supplier of document and agreement management, we are often in dialogue with companies regarding their wishes. Although companies apparently look the same in structure and industry, the companies often want different structures on their board portals. This includes different libraries for different types of documents and with different access levels ensuring that all documents can reside on the same portal. Our board portal solution, ShareControl Board, has therefore been developed to give users the flexibility to choose the structure and access levels of the data themselves.
Availability
Before online board portals became available, organizations had to write meeting minutes in paper format. The documents were then put in binders, which dusted away on the shelf. In more recent times, the document could be scanned and uploaded into a folder structure, either on a hard disk or on a cloud storage platform.
One of the most important things about the board portal is access to relevant documents when and where you need them. To eliminate security breaches, most board portals use a secure cloud storage service to upload documents, instead of e.g. e-mail. This also means that new board members can easily read up on the necessary history to be able to function effectively in their new roles.
In ShareControl Board, the data will be stored in the customer’s own Microsoft 365 account, which ensures availability at all times. This also secures the data against security breaches.
Interaction in the board platform
Secure interaction is one of the biggest security holes for small and medium-sized companies today. With documents and important information shared via e-mail, file sharing services or in the post, control over who and where the information is is lost. With a board portal, you get complete control by seeing who has access to the information at all times.
The board portal is built in Microsoft 365, which provides very good opportunities for the interaction of documents and information. With a self-defined structure, the board can have its own libraries for documents in progress, before they are sent to a new library when the documents are ready. Access control is thus ensured by the board being able to grant access to the right people during the process.
Notifications
Most people are familiar with the problem of forgetting tasks on time in a hectic everyday life. With notification functions in the board portal, notifications can be sent to the right person ahead of deadlines. In this way, the board ensures that all tasks are completed before the board meeting, so that the board achieves an optimal board process.
There are several advantages to the management portal from Share Control, including the function with notifications. The management portal ensures users an efficient and optimized notification function through Power Automate. This is also the advantage of a Microsoft 365 based application, as integrations to most Microsoft applications are possible.
Templates in board work
Like most others, the board does several repetitive tasks. To make this more efficient, templates are used for meeting minutes, completed employment contracts and more. This ensures an optimal board process, also in the board portal.
ShareControl Board ensures users the ability to define templates within the system, so that it is easy to create new files with completed information. Have ready-made templates for all events and all recurring tasks, fill in minutes during the meeting with opportunities for input from others and get everything done in an efficient way with good interaction.
Electronic signing in the board
Electronic signing is an efficient and legally valid way of signing electronic documents. In board work, this can be used to sign minutes and all other relevant board documents.
Our board portal gives users access to several options for electronic signing. Adobe Sign is one of the world’s most used signing solutions and is trusted in most countries. DocuSign is another solution that is available, and is considered the most used in Norway. Which signing solution you choose is entirely up to you, depending on the qualifications you need in the system.
Read more about laws for electronic signing in Norway
Optimize board work with Share Control
There are many advantages to a board portal, both in terms of security, structure and efficient interaction. ShareControl Board ensure you an optimized board process from creation and interaction to storage and signing. With the solution built on Microsoft 365, it becomes significantly easier to integrate the system into other Microsoft applications (Dynamics 365, Power BI, Microsoft Forms and more).
