Funds

In this major U.S asset management firm, trustees meet six times per year, always in person, and always with a very large volume of material. For each meeting the corporate secretary provided each attendee with six binders containing reports on funds, liquidity, performance, compliance, and more. Creation of the binders was time consuming and last-minute changes were difficult to accommodate. Today, with BoardVantage, the trustees have online access to boardbooks—in the meetings and beforehand. For the corporate secretary office, assembly of the boardbooks is a snap, so is the making of last minute updates.

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Objectives

The two major objectives were improving productivity of the corporate secretary office and increasing visibility for trustees and third parties. In an effort to provide easier access to board materials, improve trustee visibility into operations, and reduce the volume of paper generated, the chairman of the board recommended the firm consider adopting a board portal.

Solution

After reviewing a variety of options, the firm selected BoardVantage on the basis of its ease of use, richness of functionality, and high level of security. Now, the corporate secretary and her staff use BoardVantage to assemble boardbooks electronically. With its drag-and-drop technology, they are able to upload any number of documents regardless of format or size, and convert them with a single step.

Needless to say, last minute changes will always occur. But now the corporate secretary relies on BoardVantage to make the changes instantaneously—both to the online boardbook and in the final version for use at the board meeting. According to the corporate secretary, "This is particularly helpful when I get last minute changes, as I no longer have to worry about beating a 5pm deadline to get fifty books in the mail."

Results

Prior to meetings, trustees can now review all materials online. They can also download files to a secure BoardVantage folder on their laptops for offline review, such as during travel. During meetings, trustees project board content for all to review simultaneously, enabling everyone to stay in sync as meetings progress.

The corporate secretary has also become significantly more productive. With BoardVantage, she and her team can quickly assemble and update board materials. Also, with all the materials available to her in a central repository, she can now access what she wants, and when she wants it. It's also easier for the corporate secretary to get final approval for the boardbook prior to distribution. The corporate counsel, located in a different city, simply logs into BoardVantage, reviews the boardbook, and approves it for distribution.

In addition to these benefits, the firm has also been able to reduce printing costs dramatically.