A Guide to Changing Your Board Portal Provider

Board portals have gained wide adoption due to the flexibility and efficiency of organising board meetings online. However, despite many companies using using such solutions, iBabs’ State of Meeting Management survey found that only 60% of respondents felt they had enough time to prepare properly for meetings, highlighting a persistent challenge in achieving effective collaboration. Additionally, less than 50% of participants said their organisations adequately tracked action points.

While many board portals offer modern designs, they can fall short in key areas of functionality. They often come with their hidden limitations. For instance, some platforms are overly complex, leading to inefficient meeting preparation. Others may burden you with steep pricing structures or lack the intuitive support needed for a smooth user experience.

If your current solution does not offer the functionality, support or value you require, making the switch to a new one can transform your board's operations. 

This guide provides a step-by-step approach that helps you migrate to a new board portal. It offers solutions to common problems and ways to ensure a smoother transition, making what may seem daunting at first a straightforward task.

Why organisations move to a new board portal

Switching to a new board portal often stems from dissatisfaction with existing systems. Your existing solution may hinder productivity, collaboration and decision-making. Some of the key reasons for making the switch to a new board portal solution include:

• High cost and hidden fees. Many board portal platforms come with hidden fees—extra charges for additional features or pricing structures that cannot scale as your organisation grows.
• Poor user experience. Complex interfaces and time-consuming processes often result in frustration, leaving users less inclined to engage fully with the platform.

• Lack of advanced security features. If your current platform doesn’t meet rigorous standards like ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2015 or lacks strong AES 256-bit encryption, your sensitive data may be at risk. 
• Lack of support for remote and hybrid work. Video conferencing is not a nice-to-have feature anymore. A modern board portal should enable your board to meet securely online without having to employ third-party tools that may pose a security risk. 
• Inefficient compliance and governance workflows. Some systems fail to offer the necessary tools for record-keeping and compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Transitioning to a new portal can ensure your board consistently meets all legal requirements.
• Poor integration with existing tools. When your board portal does not integrate seamlessly with critical systems like Microsoft 365 or document management platforms, it can create operational inefficiencies that hinder productivity.

If your organisation is experiencing most or some of these challenges, then it is time to consider alternative solutions. The first step is understanding what you need.

How to assess your needs

Before beginning your search for a new board portal provider, it is essential to understand exactly what your organisation requires from such a solution. This involves assessing current challenges, identifying areas for improvement and defining your goals. 

Key questions to consider include:

• Which features do your users wish your board portal had? Why?
• Which security features are non-negotiable for your organisation?
• How important are real-time collaboration tools, such as document annotations or live discussions?
• Should your board portal support hybrid or remote meetings seamlessly?
• Do you need a completely paperless solution?
• Are your administrative processes as efficient as they could be, or are manual tasks slowing you down?
• Which manual tasks are slowing you down?

The answers to these questions will help you create a feature checklist, ensuring your next board portal is tailored to your organisation’s unique needs. 

Risk assessment: A critical step

Switching to a new board portal is a strategic decision, and like any major organisational change, it comes with risks. A proper risk assessment helps you anticipate potential challenges and ensures you choose a platform that aligns with your governance goals.

Some key risks to evaluate include:

• Data security: Does the platform protect sensitive information with advanced encryption and access controls?
• Compliance requirements: Does it meet regulations like GDPR or industry-specific standards?
• Business continuity: What guarantees does the provider offer in terms of uptime and reliability?
• Usability and adoption: How user-friendly is the system and how likely are your board members to embrace it?

Choosing the right board portal

Finding the best board portal involves a systematic approach. Begin by assessing your current processes and identifying the limitations of your existing system. Engage key stakeholders to ensure the new solution meets their needs.

Here are the steps to choose the right solution:

1. Define goals. Establish objectives such as improving meeting efficiency, enhancing data security or ensuring compliance.
2. Create a feature checklist. Include essentials like encryption, real-time collaboration and mobile access.
3. Research providers. Focus on platforms offering security, usability and scalability.
4. Test functionality. Request a trial to explore key features in a real-world setting.
5. Evaluate costs. Analyse subscription fees, migration expenses and training costs. Focus on transparent pricing with measurable ROI.
6. Engage stakeholders. Present findings to decision-makers in order to gain buy-in for implementation.

The ROI of a modern board portal

Switching to a modern board portal is not simply about solving current frustrations; it is also an investment in your organisation’s future. From enhancing security and collaboration to saving time on administrative tasks, the benefits of a new system can significantly outweigh the costs.

Your new solution should not only keep your organisation compliant but also make meetings more efficient, collaboration more productive and decision-making more informed. Modern portals often include features like automated workflows, integrated video conferencing and real-time action tracking, all of which add measurable value. Once you are aware of all the ways you can cut your costs and add value, you will be able to calculate the expected ROI and make the business case for switching to a new provider.

Data migration: Is it challenging?

When switching to a new board portal, data migration is one of the most critical steps in ensuring a seamless transition. Your board’s historical documents, such as meeting minutes, agendas and action items, are a valuable resource for ongoing decision-making and compliance. Migrating this data ensures continuity, maintains your governance records and allows your team to be easily onboarded with the new system.

Without proper planning and execution, data migration can lead to issues such as lost files, disorganised records or even compliance risks. For this reason, it is essential to approach this step with a clear strategy and rely on a provider with expertise to make the process simple and secure.

The board portal provider’s role

A reliable board portal provider plays a central role in ensuring a smooth and stress-free data migration process. They bring the tools, experience and guidance necessary to transition your organisation’s data securely and efficiently. They will likely support you with:

• Guided planning. The provider will work with your team to map out what data needs to be migrated, whether it is a few months of recent documents or an extensive archive of historical materials. 
• Secure transfers. Using advanced encryption and secure file transfer protocols, the provider ensures your sensitive data is protected at every stage. This safeguards against potential breaches or data corruption during migration.
• Compatibility checks. A good provider will ensure that your files, whether PDFs, Word documents or Excel spreadsheets, are fully compatible with the new system, preventing any disruptions to access.
• Testing and validation. After the migration, the provider should test the new portal to verify that all files are intact, organised and accessible to the right users. This ensures everything is in place before you go live.
• Dedicated support. Throughout the process, expert onboarding teams should provide step-by-step guidance, addressing any concerns and resolving issues as they arise.

Switching to a new board portal can truly be a seamless process. With a well-organised plan and support from an experienced provider, your organisation can complete the migration without downtime or disruptions.