A portal for boards can be an effective tool to streamline meetings, ease the administrative burden and boost communication. It’s important to choose the appropriate software for your company. Many boards portals are over-engineered and contain features your nonprofit does not need. You could easily spend money on tools that won’t be useful to your board.
This checklist can be used to assess possible board portal providers. The questions below are designed to help you evaluate the most important and relevant aspects that will determine your final choice of a provider.
Choosing Leading Board Portals
Choose a site with a simple interface, which is simple to use and learn. Then, think about how the support staff of the company performs. If you require assistance with setting up your new portal or resolving a problem the manner in which they respond will have a huge impact on your satisfaction with the product and whether it will meet your requirements.
After that, look over the security measures that a prospective vendor has in place to safeguard your personal information. Some portals offer two-factor authentication as well as secure encryption of data. They also conduct penetration testing on the software by third parties. Others host their servers in data centers that are hardened and conduct regular security audits. Ask if the business is ready to handle a catastrophic recovery scenario.
Ask a prospective provider how they intend to enhance the functionality of their board portal. Do they have a roadmap of future features? Are they able to alert customers to any upcoming changes that could impact their experience in the future?