New Online Tools Help Boards Share Information

Tech-savvy boards of directors and chief executives might want to take a look at a new generation of online collaboration tools designed to help them effectively share information. The three most popular are BoardBooks, BoardVantage, and Board Effect.

All three products put a heavy emphasis on offering online tools for creating and distributing board books in a secure and efficient manner. BoardVantage and BoardEffect also allow organizations to maintain secure Web sites where board members and chief executives can share documents, view organizational information, access resource libraries, fill out questionnaires, hold discussions, manage tasks, and maintain calendars.

Michael Kipp, a managing partner at the business consulting firm, Kipp & Associates, has experience with BoardVantage and BoardEffect. He says he has been “finding them both enormously helpful in facilitating dialog among directors between sessions and obviating the need for the ‘archeological dig’ for relevant e-mails.”

Joanne Anderson, the director of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., says she had BoardEffect customized so that her organization could use the tool for steering committees and working groups. "We find it a very useful and helpful tool with our new strategic thinking initiative."

But not all organizations may be ready for these new tools.

"Like most collaboration platforms, they sound great in theory. But in practice, it's hard to get people to use online collaboration tools,” says Laura Quinn, the founder and director of idealware.  "Many feel that online platforms are impersonal and prefer a meeting or conference call."

All board members and the chief executive need to be comfortable with online technology before the organization moves ahead with it. And, while online collaboration tools can improve communications and make it easier to prepare for meetings, they will not replace regular meetings.

The tools can work well for tech-savvy groups, particularly remote groups motivated to share information, Quinn says. She suggests boards first test online collaboration by using low-cost solutions that are not as comprehensive. These might include presentation tools, such as WebEx, ReadyTalk, or GoToMeeting,  and document-sharing tools, such as Basecamp or Google Docs.

"If you have a success with these inexpensive methods, then, by all means, take a look at the more robust board collaboration tools," Quinn says. "They do offer some very interesting functionality — but if no one will use the package, it doesn't matter what fancy features it has."

Note: BoardSource is not endorsing any particular online collaboration tool. The purpose of this article is to share information on the available tools.

For more information on effective Web communications, see the Board Member article, “Doing Board Business on the Web.” Board Member is included with BoardSource membership. Members: See the related article. Not a member? Join