In light of corporate changes and debacles, the focus on corporate boards is good governance. The challenges facing board directors are broader and more diverse than ever before.
This is a fact that requires them to be diligent about staying on top of critical board issues. In these times, boards often need to respond and to make decisions much more quickly than they've needed to in the past. One important part of good governance is the expectation that boards should be working as efficiently as possible. One of the most expensive and time-consuming tasks for boards is creating board books for board meetings. Of course, cybersecurity is a major issue for all companies. The risk of data breaches is prevalent.
Online board meeting software is ultra-important because it solves all the obstacles that get in the way of good governance. Online board meeting software is secure, efficient, and it frees up time and money so that board directors can focus on the most pressing priorities on any given day. Diligent Corporation is an industry leader in online board meeting software.
Efficiency of Online Board Meeting Software
Preparing for meetings is always time-consuming. What makes board meetings even more time-consuming is preparing the board books, which can be hundreds of pages long. It takes many hours to develop an agenda and to gather the executive summary, committee reports, financial report, and any other documents that support items on the agenda. Just when it seems everything is in order, someone makes a minor change and if the board books are already printed, every copy has to be changed and reprinted. If the board books have already been sent out via courier, they also have to be re-sent. With online board meeting software, board secretaries can assemble board books online in much less time than printing and mailing paper copies. They can easily add electronic attachments and electronic links for additional resources, and there are no shipping costs at all.Security of Board Information
Diligent's board portal and the other digital software solutions that comprise Governance Cloud are protected using the highest grade of encryption. Security specialists at Diligent work around the clock updating the system to keep pace with evolving threats. While many board members lie awake at night wondering if their company will be the next one to be victimized by a data breach, Diligent's clients can rest assured that their board work and communications have the utmost in cybersecurity protection. Diligent software also has granular permission features that allow a board administrator to allow or deny access to certain documents, chats or other parts of the board portal. This is a handy feature in cases where board directors may have a conflict of interest and cannot be allowed access to certain board documents. Board directors also have the ability to archive documents with restrictions as to who can access them as a means of supporting internal controls. Having the ability to control user permissions is also helpful for setting up limitations for who can access information for board and committee meetings. Only those who are invited to particular board or committee meetings will be able to access meeting materials for their group. Board meeting packets contain confidential information that certain people would like to get ahold of and use for ransom or other criminal purposes. Document storage is cloud-based and has an unlimited capacity.Diligent Messenger Protects Board Communications
There's another security measure that boards should be taking that bears on one of the most commonly overlooked risks, and that is protecting email communications. Personal and business email accounts simply lack the necessary security measures to adequately protect board communications from data breaches and hackers. With Diligent Messenger, board directors can communicate and collaborate with one another entirely within the security of the board portal system, so there's no risk of a cybercriminal getting ahold of board communications and selling confidential or sensitive information to competitors or others.Diligent Minutes Protects Board Meeting Minutes Securely
Imagine finding out that your board meeting minutes had gotten into someone else's hands before your board has had an opportunity to officially approve them. On the chance that board meeting minutes were inaccurate or incomplete, it could cause plenty of problems for a board of directors. Not only does the program for Diligent Minutes have the same quality of security as Diligent's other online software tools, board directors can also approve board minutes electronically. Board directors have the ability to review meeting minutes and add their comments without having to encrypt each individual document. Directors can make notes on the meeting minutes and other documents using text or working freehand. They can opt to keep their annotations private or share them with a specific group of users for secure, controlled access.Remote Wiping Protects All Board Information
If you've ever lost or misplaced a mobile phone or tablet, you know the panic that can come over you while wondering who may be able to access your personal information. That's why the software designers at Diligent designed the remote wiping feature. If a device gets stolen, lost or missing, the information can be completely erased from a remote location as an extra safety precaution. Convenience, Intuitiveness and Ease of Use It doesn't matter how great any software solution is if no one uses it. Diligent Boards and the other products that comprise Governance Cloud are convenient, and it's easy to learn how to use them. Diligent's software solutions take board directors intuitively from one section of the portal to another, so the learning curve in accessing the programs and features is very short. Diligent also offers a variety of training modalities so every director gets up to speed on the system quickly. Independent board directors often serve on multiple boards. With the popularity of Diligent Boards, directors can use one system and one log-in to access the platforms of board information for all of the companies where they serve as board director. That means that they'll never miss a communication because they'll be able to access all of them right within the portal. In essence, board directors need online board meeting software so they can access their board information anywhere, anytime and using any electronic device. Diligent is the company that assists them in this process.![](https://annyazommq.cloudimg.io/https://dg-staging-450520-cd.azurewebsites.net/-/media/project/diligent/master/au-whitepaper-images/whitepaper-images/a-buyers-guide-to-esg-data-management-software.png?h=511&iar=0&w=765&rev=263be577-e761-4e63-96ef-8ab461f2c7d1&org_if_sml=1&force_format=webp&hash=66FFC6017BFA4AEF4FEB228C028B7AA2)
Media Highlights
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become more complex and multifaceted than ever before. At the same time, ESG continues to ascend on board and leadership agendas.
In this buyer’s guide, we explore what a market-leading ESG solution should look like and highlight the key areas organisations should be prioritising as they embark on their search.