Key considerations when choosing a board portal

1: User-friendliness
An intuitive product is far more likely to get used by your stakeholders, especially the likes of busy board members. Adopting a tool that users can acclimatise to easily is crucial. Implementing new technology is expensive, and it’s even more costly if that investment then doesn’t deliver – so pick a platform that’s going to work for your users as well as meet wider business objectives. A product that’s is not used creates no value, and a product that is hard to use creates frustration.

Don’t just consider desktop usability; look at whether platforms will allow users to collaborate on the go, online and offline across multiple devices.

2: Security
Due to the sensitive nature of the material handled during board meetings, security and confidentiality are imperative. Board members are said to have a particularly high-risk profile, so the robustness of a platform and the supplier’s disaster recovery procedures should also be of interest.

With hackers making the headlines on an increasingly regular basis, it’s also worth asking about previous security breach attempts. Have they had any? What do they do to prevent them? What backup processes do they have in place? Is the supplier ISO certified?

3: Reputation
Like with any purchase, it’s always a good idea to gauge a supplier’s reputation by reading impartial (customer) reviews. Doing this not only gives you a good idea of how the product performs, but also the level of support they provide and what they’re like to deal with. Have they been successfully meeting customer expectations? Do their customers get a say in product development? What is their customer renewal rate like?

Most tech companies don’t publicise their product roadmap, so you may need to ask for visibility and then check where they are in terms of progress. Are they on track? Are they behind? Their honesty is as important as the answer, as is the explanation itself so ‘no’ doesn’t automatically equal failure.

4: Flexibility
Due to ever-changing and increasingly competitive landscapes, organisations can change direction rapidly and it’s vital that your chosen provider can keep up. The ideal vendor will be flexible, offer scalability (up and down) and take into consideration changing market demands.

Most businesses plan to grow, so it’s important that your board portal setup could be adapted at speed and, sometimes, a moment’s notice. Consider whether you will be able to scale cost-effectively, would need different functionality if your organisation were to expand and if a supplier can cater for this.

Next steps
For more in-depth advice on what to look when shopping for a board portal platform, download our buyers’ guide or contact us today.

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