3 Reasons Why Document Sharing Apps Are Not Enough for Boards
Document sharing apps are just one of the many digital tools that effective boards need to manage their organisations in the most efficient, secure way. Your board isn’t alone in encountering various circumstances that call your attention to the need for new digital tools or services that will help you streamline your operations or solve problems.
As each new situation arises, a board member may identify a solution that addresses a particular situation without regard to other needs or processes that the board is already using. Over time, what you end up with is a toolbox full of tools that don’t work together.
Boards often have the need to collaborate on documents and share them with their peers or others. There are no shortages of document sharing apps on the market that will do the job—each with its own variety of features and levels of security. If you’re on the hunt to find the perfect document sharing app, a board portal provides the best solution for sharing files and documents and managing all the rest of your board and governance needs under one digital roof.
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3 Reasons Why Document Sharing Apps Are Not Enough for Boards
Before you go through the time and trouble of vetting the long list of document sharing apps that you’ve pulled up on Google, consider the fact that a file-sharing solution only provides you with one or two functions—sharing and signing. Also, while many document sharing apps claim to have built-in security, it can be difficult to assess if the app’s security levels meet the standards that boards require to protect them from liability issues.
In addition to being able to send a document off to one or more of your board members or having the capability to sign off on unanimous board consent resolutions electronically, your board may want to annotate or highlight certain areas on documents as they’re sharing them. Your board also needs to be able to archive its documents in one secure, central place where only board members can access them and they’re inaccessible to people that could harm your organisation.
Beyond having file-sharing capabilities, boards need other governance tools like:
- Secure messaging
- Minutes software
- Board management software
- Board assessment tools
- Secure cloud-based document storage
- Board assessment tools
- Tools to ensure proper governance and compliance
- Scheduling tools
A board portal gives you all of these tools and more.
Related article: Why a Board Portal will improve the performance of your Not-for-profit Board
Document Sharing Apps and Other Governance Tools: Your Board Portal Does It All
The only thing that’s better for board work than having all the right tools to do the job is ensuring that those tools are secure and accessible using a single board portal platform.
Board directors use many different tools and processes during the course of board work. Many of them can make your board’s work faster, more accurate, and more efficient by using a board portal system that’s capable of these types of governance activities:
- Sharing and annotating files
- Putting electronic board books together
- Recording meeting minutes
- Sending secure messages
- Managing calendars
- Having tools for board self-evaluations
- Storing records for compliance, board descriptions, founding documents, and reporting
With a BoardEffect board portal system, you get the benefit of these tools and everything your board needs to manage your annual board cycle, board development cycle, and board meeting cycle.
A large number of your boards’ responsibilities are annual in nature and you carry them out according to your board calendar over the course of a yearly cycle. A board portal provides a central place for managing policy and compliance, budgeting and auditing, board recruitment and orientation, and secure communications. These processes generally require secure document and file sharing.
Whether your board meets quarterly, bi-monthly, or periodically, board software is your premier solution for all the pre-planning that goes into preparing for productive board meetings. BoardEffect has a built-in document sharing app that’s secure and effective for collaborating on board documents across board members. The document sharing app is also a beneficial source for managing post-meeting activities and ensuring that your board members are following up on assigned tasks before the next meeting. All the documents can be shared securely because they’re contained within BoardEffect’s platform.
Board members often need to access board documents between board meetings. With BoardEffect, board directors can access them on any electronic device.
Your board’s development cycle lasts from 3-5 years on average. A board portal system can help your board with document sharing needs related to recruiting and electing or appointing board directors. It’s a viable way to keep ahead of recruitment efforts to ensure that your board seats are full at all times. Nominating and governance committees can use the document sharing capability within the board portal to collaborate with the rest of the board regarding the review of resumes, biographies, and profiles of potential new recruits.
Related article: Why Should Not-for-profit Boards Consider a Board Portal?
Additional Benefits of a Board Portal System
A BoardEffect board portal is your board’s #1 solution for conducting all of your board business under one, fully contained platform.
You get unlimited storage which means there are no restrictions or limits on the size or volume of the files you can store within your portal.
What’s even better is that BoardEffect gives you granular security and control. Your board administrator has the capability to control the settings for who can access various parts of the portal including sharing documents and files.
Board members are busy people who are known for being “on the go.” With BoardEffect, it’s easy to access board materials, calendars, and other information using a mobile phone or tablet, so mobility is never an issue regardless of where you are or what device you have access to.
Any way that you look at it, a simple document sharing app isn’t enough for board work. The work is simply too complex and too important not to consider a secure board portal system that helps you share files with input from everyone on your board and do it securely.
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