As a professional board member, where time is short and structure is essential, you can streamline your work with a board portal – and you get the absolute best benefits by using the same portal for all your board positions.
Customer case
Marlene Haugaard | Professional Board Member
"A board portal that provides uniformity and a common structure in board work"`
Marlene Haugaard is a professional board member and serves on seven boards.
Most boards where Marlene Haugaard works use a board portal – primarily the BetterBoards Board Portal – which makes her work more structured across the different boards.
“It makes sense when you, like me, have the majority of the board work I do on the same portal,” says Marlene Haugaard and continues: “For me, it’s easier to use the same portal whenever possible – the recognisability combined with the uniformity of the structure makes a lot of sense.”
For Marlene Haugaard, the security that a board portal provides is also important, especially when it comes to e-mails or Dropbox.
“Uniformity and common structure in board work”
While board work itself is not made easier or better by the use of a board portal, the ability to have all company materials in one place makes preparing for the next board meeting easier. This is mainly because all materials for the current meeting are easily accessible, which is useful if you need to review previous documents or minutes. “That’s where the portal makes so much sense,” says Marlene Haugaard.
“What ultimately creates the most value for me is that I have everything on one dashboard. Being able to find all the material on a given company in one place makes my preparation easier – my own time becomes more efficient with a board portal,” says Marlene Haugaard.
The use of the portal
However, according to Marlene Haugaard, there are several aspects of the portal that make board work easier.
Firstly, it is possible to see how far you have come in preparing for the next meeting. You can clearly see how much you need to read, which is a great advantage.
In addition, Marlene also uses the agenda, where the relevant documents for each item are defined, which means you don’t have to rummage around in folders.
The minutes function, which allows you to write the minutes directly on the portal during the board meeting itself, is also useful, and the fact that you can then send them directly to the entire board for signature with the e-signature function further streamlines the work of the board.
Finally, Marlene would like to highlight how the board portal allows you to create a clear folder structure. You have a place for general documents in a shared folder where rules of procedure, bylaws, annual reports, budgets and other basic elements that apply to this particular board are gathered. This saves time and creates an indispensable overview, especially when working across multiple boards.
What creates value with the board portal?
It’s debatable how the board portal creates value, as it can be very subjective. However, the security of using a board portal can ultimately be valuable if something goes wrong – documents are in one place and you know they’re stored correctly and securely.
“It creates value for me as a person because I have this consistency in my board work, which makes it easier for me to prepare. Personally, I become much more efficient when I use a portal, which I think should apply to everyone who uses the board portal – an efficiency that should ultimately lift the entire board,” says Marlene.
As a professional board member, time is a scarce resource, so it makes sense to streamline your work with a board portal.
Although Marlene Haugaard knows about both telephone support and guides, she has never needed to use them. She prefers to try and find the solution herself, which also speaks to the fact that the portal is very intuitive to use – an advantage for many.
