White Paper

2nd Gen Board Portal

Shortly after passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley act, tech-savvy companies began to experiment with simple board portals to provide basic online document access to their directors. Simultaneously, seeking to capitalize on the mini-spending boom triggered by the law's introduction, a handful of software vendors announced commercial portal implementations. Little meaningful difference existed between the first commercial portals and their homegrown counterparts, as they both relied on a simple extranet architecture.

As customers attempted to deploy these systems, it became quickly apparent that their rudimentary architectures were inadequate to accommodate the scope of board work as practiced in the F-1000, particularly as an ever-greater emphasis on compliance increased the complexity of board work. Before long, frustrated by functionality and usability limitations, these early board portals fell in disuse, and the movement behind homegrown and early commercial board extranets lost steam.

However, faced with an increase in board duties and committee meetings, and driven by the desire for more timely communication, underlying director demand did not disappear. And as the pace of board work quickened, the value of a productivity tool and "always-on" access to board materials became increasingly evident, particularly in large companies.

As an early market entrant, BoardVantage became intimately familiar with this latent demand and the need for a new generation board portal which offered greater functionality, ease-of-use, and a level of security that could meet the standards of global financial institutions.