Blogs

Deloitte's "Bringing Digital to the Boardroom: The Advantages and Challenges of Board Portals" explains why board portals, although hugely (and increasingly) popular, are not a panacea for board communications, and also may carry unintended consequences that actually make directors' jobs more difficult. Commonly cited upsides, e.g., protectability, trackability, and single source access for materials/resources and communications, are tempered by downsides such as variability in features and functionality across portal types, which can be particularly irksome and challenging for multi-boarded directors and users of multiple devices. Additionally, board portals may present a false sense of security, as they remain vulnerable to cyber attacks, yet are commonly promoted as a "secure" solution.

Regardless of portal-specific attributes, directors interviewed by Deloitte identified these unintended consequences associated with board portal usage that should inform Corporate Secretaries' approach to board portal use going forward: 

• Tendency toward information overload, as board portals make it much easier for management to deliver more and more information at no additional cost to the company
• Tendency to provide more information in an unfiltered, undigested format based on portal capabilities, and the often incorrect assumption that directors would prefer to do their own data classification and analysis 
• Unwarranted belief that directors need less time to review and respond to materials if they are delivered electronically

See also these prior reports: “Digital Tech's Impact on Board Functioning & Communications” and “Director Communication Practices: Balancing Data Security & Efficiency,” and numerous additional resources on our Board Portals and  Board/Director Communications pages.