Board Portals: No Assembly Required

(page 2 of 3)

Other features offered by Directors Desk include profiles of directors and users that feature photos, affiliations, andother contact information. A calendar function allows directors to look at scheduled meetings for all committees, or just the ones they sit on. A hottopics feature displays daily news and gives directors a link to the full story. The portal also offers low-tech options for delivery of board materials, which makes it compatible with multiple technologies, such as faxing and email. This feature is especially useful for board members who aren't as comfortable with online options. "I can't tell you how many times I have heard how useful our fax notifications features are for directors," says Ross. "Boards do not necessarily need to go to an 'all-or-nothing' solution when deciding on a portal."

And while many portals tend to give the "administrator" role to corporate secretaries or general counsel, Directors Desk allows multiple administrators, called "masters," to upload content and facilitate votes, surveys, and discussions.

BoardBooks by Diligent

Diligent's Boardbooks officially rolled out to the board-portal market in 2001. Designed for ease-of-use and to ensure its clients are able to adhere to compliance and legal mandates down the road, Boardbooks currently serves more than 100 boards. Like most board portals, Boardbooks uses an Application Services Provider (ASP) model so there is no software, just a secure online website, and updates can be accessed from any computer. The portal has hosting centers from New Jersey to Toronto, and offices in New York, Australia, and the United Kingdom that provide customer support when a director is traveling.

Unlike other portals that tend to have a traditional website layout, Boardbooks strives to make the transition from paper to the flat screen almost seamless for clients. In keeping with the spirit of the traditional board book, the design for Boardbooks is just that—a virtual book. "It has to be intuitive and easy to use, and since we've all learned to read from paper books, everybody's comfortable," says Marc Daniels, COO of Diligent's board-member services. "Having a book-like interface really drives acceptance and ease-of-use."

Boardbooks also allows directors to download the entire portal as an encrypted database to a laptop so they can read while on the road. This allows the portal to be viewed without connecting to the Internet, but with the same security features as if they were connected.

To ensure security—an important factor for all vendors—Diligent offers the use of what are called RSA SecurID tokens, which are like virtual ATM cards. Tokens carry PIN codes that directors need to log on to their portals in addition to their usernames and passwords. The tokens aren't mandatory for directors to use, as they're tangible devices that could be lost as easily as a set of keys, but the feature provides an extra layer of security. "Everything is encrypted, so there's never a chance that anybody could be snooping on the lines, " Daniels says.

But clients reassured about security aspects may not be as comfortable about completely abolishing traditional hard copies. James Long says Wackenhut's board, which has used the Boardbooks portal for the past two years, continues to use paper as well. Other clients such as Mechanics Bank are on their way to going completely paperless, giving them environmentally friendly bragging rights.

BoardLink by Thomson

Thomson, a major provider of financial information, was a latecomer to the board-portals scene, launching BoardLink in January 2006. It has already attracted some 75 client boards and more than 2,000 end users. Like Boardbooks, BoardLink's security features include the use of RSA SecurID tokens, but unlike the Diligent portal, BoardLink has made the tokens a mandatory requirement.

BoardLink allows directors to access data from Thomson Financial, including reports, transcripts of conference calls, and other third-party information.