A portal for boards can be a powerful tool to streamline meetings, lessen administrative burdens and enhance communication. But it’s important to select the appropriate software for your company. Many board portal solutions are over-engineered with features that your nonprofit doesn’t need. You can easily waste money on tools that aren’t useful to your board.
This checklist can be used to evaluate potential providers of board portals. The questions below are designed to help you assess the most pertinent and important aspects that will determine your final choice of a vendor.
Choosing Leading Board Portals
The first step is to find the best portal with a user-friendly interface that is easy to master and use. Then, think about the way that the support team of the company does. Whether you need help setting up your new portal or resolving an issue how they respond can be a major factor in your satisfaction with the product and how it is able to meet your needs.
Then, you should look into the security measures a potential vendor has in place to safeguard your data. Some portals offer two-factor authentication, secure encryption of data, and third-party penetration testing of the software. Some portals have their servers hosted in secure data centers and conduct regular security audits. Ask if the company is ready to handle a catastrophic recovery scenario.
Then, ask a potential provider about their plans to enhance the functionality of their board portal in the near future. Do they have a roadmap of future features? Do they inform clients of any imminent changes that could affect their experience in the future?
