7 Best Board Management Software of 2021 (Ranked)
Board management software is often overlooked by many companies, but it can be one of the best ways to increase productivity at the highest levels of an organization.
So how do you choose which board of directors management software is right for your business?
There are 7 key factors that you should consider when selecting a board governance technology: cost, features, stability and security, customer service support available 24/7/365 days a year, compatibility with other systems like SAP, ERP, & CRM solutions (if any), whether there is a free trial available, and lastly, reputation.b
The following list of board management tools is ranked by these 7 factors:
Table Of Contents
OnBoard
Best for simplifying board meeting management and ease of use.
Board meeting management is a process that has long been tedious and difficult, but Onboard has made it easier than ever.
Their electronic board meeting software works to make it easier for board members to attend meetings, manage agendas, and organize relevant materials.
It also manages the information in a secure manner with data encryption. Onboard also provides a cloud-based solution for members who want to work collaboratively with leadership teams while still on the go.
Features
- Zoom Integration – The OnBoard video meeting platform integrates directly with Zoom, a singular meeting experience for directors and CEOs. No need to switch between apps. Meet quickly without distractions.
- Minutes Builder – Unifies your workflow by allowing you to create minutes directly within the platform. It’s effortless to create notes, tasks, track attendance, and mark motions as the meeting progresses. The builder is a must-have for every meeting workflow.
- Voting & Approvals – The board director can now make decisions from anywhere, anytime. The platform gives them the power to review and comment on decisions, and approve them.
- Meeting Analytics – Engagement Analytics brings data to bear on topics that need discussion. It shines a light on things that need the attention of the board.
- Agenda Builder – Create a meeting in minutes with the drag-drop and copying and pasting tool. It lets you enable every kind of file and every kind of meeting.
- eSignatures – Send and sign agreements securely from any device. eSignatures keep your signed documents and legal agreements organized with all the rest of your board work.
- Secure Messenger – Directors, administrators, and executives can start a direct conversation or bring the entire board into the discussion.
- D&O Questionnaires – Robust and integrated D&O (Directors’ and Officers’) questionnaire solution that supports ongoing compliance. Automatic reporting and reminders so nothing critical is missed.
- Task Management – A simple, secure way to stay organized throughout your meeting cycle.
- Roles & Terms Management – A unified board member directory. Understand the composition of your board. Intelligent insights into your board’s experience, background, and term limits.
Pricing
- A Free Trial is available.
- No standard pricing is publicly available. OnBoard is a highly customizable top board management software that is tailored to your company’s size. There may be some room for negotiation after the Free Trial.
BoardPro
Best value for non-profit boards and small to medium-sized businesses.
Running a successful organization is all about effective meetings and events.
Director-level board software can help you streamline and manage online board meetings and events, increasing your efficiency and the performance of your organization.
If you’re a small business or nonprofit, BoardPro can help you organize, plan, and execute more effectively at your next nonprofit board meeting.
This is the most affordable board software on our list that helps you run better meetings and make smarter decisions.
Features
- Meeting Schedule – With many commitments and a busy diary, easily view your meeting schedule for your boards and committees in one place.
- Agenda Builder – Easily create and share agendas, share documents, and manage meetings.
- Paperless Board Meetings – Automatically create and combine meeting papers into a report that is easy to read and share. Share password-protected reports with your directors instantly. Mobile optimized for on-the-go access.
- Minutes – Time is money. When you have to spend time chasing your minutes of meetings, you’re not being productive. Enter minutes into the system with just one click, then see it all turned into a professional document to send to the board.
- Actions – Assign and track actions. Use automatic reminders to maintain a clear and efficient workflow. Set and forget. Let the reminders follow up for you. Review your board’s progress with a live register of all assigned actions.
- Voting – Simple Voting. Add your vote to the agenda and circulate supporting materials in preparation for a decision to be made at the meeting. Votes can be transparent or anonymous. Voting is recorded live and accurately during meetings. Board directors can cast their own vote from their device. See the outcome of the vote there and then! Keep votes anonymous, or decide to have the director’s names recorded with their vote. The results of the votes are automatically added to your decision register.
- Decision Register – Easily search for all decisions made by your board.
- Annotate Board Packets- Allows your board and committee members to annotate their meeting documents online, before a meeting. The digital notes stored on a secure platform make it easier to prepare and keep everything together in one place. Bookmark an exact spot on the last paper you were reading and return to this position on your next visit.
- Interest Register – Keep a central register of interests. It keeps your business compliant and increases transparency. It’s a simple process to update or add an interest, and it’s easy to communicate with your peers about conflicts of interest.
- Governance Repository – Find governance documents simply, organize them by meeting, and restrict the downloads and printing of those documents to those with the right privileges.
- Flying Minutes – Make important decisions between meetings. Cast votes from anywhere via the secure, online portal.
- Subcommittees – Appoint a committee to assist the board in the governance of the company. Committees get their own workflow for the People, Meetings, Actions, and Documents. People on that committee, who are not invited to the regular board meeting, can see only the committee information.
Pricing
- Nonprofit Board Management Software Pricing Starts at $75.00 / Month (Subcommittee addon starts at $37.50/month)
- Education Board Management Software Pricing Starts at $75.00 / Month (Subcommittee addon starts at $37.50/month)
- Commercial Board Management Software Pricing starts at $150.00 / Month (Subcommittee addon starts $45.00/month)
Aprio
Best for accessing and storing information in the most secure single point of access for the Board of Directors.
Features
- Board Meeting Preparation – Build board packs in minutes. Create a meeting, add new topics and sub-topics in just a few clicks. Drag and drop documents in any format, define durations and permissions per topic, and more.
- Annotate Board Materials – Annotate while at work or on your computer at home. Your notes are kept in sync across all of your devices.
- Agenda Tools – Use the integrated agenda to get started, add new sections and assign a coauthor or approver. Meetings will be more organized and efficient.
- Join Boards Easily – Meetings can be conducted remotely while staying on top of all the latest company information. One-click access allows you to host meetings with the click of a button. Supports Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, and more.
- Feedback Collection – Real-time board meeting evaluations. Collect feedback transparently or anonymously, schedule reminders, and track progress in real-time.
- Secure Storage – Choose to store your data anywhere in the world. Every server is independently certified for security.
- Online and Offline Access – Get one unified view across all the boards you are part of. Discuss with the board, annotate documents, and approve resolutions using your mobile device. Notifications when you need to take action, the ability to access everything offline, and commenting on documents.
Pricing
- No Transparent Pricing Shared By Vendor.
- Free Demo/Trial Available
- Reasonable per-user pricing allows for board customization.
BoardPaq
Best for the organization of all meeting documents on one platform for board members.
BoardPaq is a board governance software that a user can access it from their computer, tablet, or phone.
It allows users to create, export, and share their board meeting agendas.
Features
- E-Signature – Sign documents and forms securely online.
- Securely Distribute Board Packets – Send packets to board members, so they can view the content on their own devices.
- Real-time Voting – Before, during, or after a meeting, you can have a vote on a resolution. You can even send follow-up messages to attendees and set reminders for each other.
- Collaborate with SWOT – Create and share structured strategic planning sessions. Online collaboration tools connect members to decide the best courses of action.
- Anytime Approval – Approve documents anytime, anywhere, and from any device.
- Questionnaires & Evaluations – D&O questionnaires and Board evaluations
- Meeting Minutes Builder – Record minutes, attendance, votes, and approvals instantly on the platform.
- Easily Track KPI’s -Track key performance indicators directly in the application.
- Unlimited Document Storage – Store unlimited documents in your custom library. You can also store documents like committee charters, bylaws, orientation packets, and other resources.
- Enhanced Discussions – Enable your Board of Directors and committee meetings to have a sandbox in which breeds safe collaboration.
Pricing
- Standard pricing for different industries.
- The starting price is $39.00/month.
- Additional users will cost $9.00/month each.
Boardable
Best value for board meeting software that drives accountability and action.
Boardable is a board of directors management software for charities, for-profit organizations, foundations, trade associations, school boards, faith-based groups, fraternal orders, and sports leagues.
Not only can you track all of your governance documents, you can also share documents, schedule meetings, assign tasks and events, and write documents with other board members.
Features
- Agenda Builder – Start with customizable default templates to plan meetings. All board members will be able to check the agenda on their phones.
- Boardable Spotlight – Productive virtual meetings without the emphasis on logistics. Collaborate virtually face-to-face in real-time. All in one place. Meeting minutes are recorded in real-time so you can capture ideas, tasks, decisions, and votes during the meeting without the challenge of shuffling between multiple tools and browsers.
- Meetings Center – Automated workflows, scheduling, and notifications save time and allow board members to focus on governance and strategy.
- Document Center – Store all the documents for meetings. Create and organize different documents, lists, or checklists for each meeting.
- E-signatures – Instantly approve documents online without the hassle of traditional signatures. Your company can legally sign documents online with a simple click, without the hassle of scanning and faxing documents.
- Reporting – Reports to see what your board has accomplished. Download reports that show the progress of your board, including what it’s working on, how it’s working, and how it’s doing.
- Polls + Virtual Voting – Allow your board to vote on new ideas, without being pushy. Poll to have your board members feel more connected to the organization and mission.
Pricing
- Grassroots – Starts at $79 / Month.
- Essentials – Starts at $149 / Month. 5 Users included. (Each additional 5 users add $40/Month)
- Professional – Starts at $249 / Month. 5 Users included. (Each additional 5 users add $80/Month)
BoardEffect
Best board meeting management software for nonprofits, higher education institutions, community healthcare organizations, or credit union leaders.
It’s time to make a huge change in how your board is managed.
The BoardEffect solution was created alongside philanthropic governance experts working with boards across sectors including higher education, healthcare, and credit unions.
Manage your board more securely and efficiently than ever before! Give directors, executives, and administrators deeper insights into what’s going on in your organization.
This app also comes with multiple board management tools like analytics to help make better decisions for your board and get more out of every member!
Features
- Online Board Books – Create board books, annotate meeting materials, and instantly add last-minute additions via mobile.
- Scheduling, Approvals, and Tasks – Invite board members with a click of a button. Approve meeting minutes, policies, or documents via e-signature. Set automatic task reminders for members and track progress. Everything is archived for future use and reflection.
- Surveys, Policy, Audit, Compliance – Survey templates to receive meeting feedback, create self-assessments or evaluate any conflicts of interest. Secure all important board documents accessible only to board members.
Pricing
- No Transparent Pricing Shared By Vendor.
- Demo available. No free trial.
- Annual subscription only.
- Fees are based on tiers of users, not individual additions. Add or subtract members without additional cost.
BoardVantage
Best to help boards of directors work more efficiently, productively, and strategically.
Features
- Efficient Meeting Management -Share documents and attend to important items. Set up a meeting remotely and bring in others. Tools and templates to make any board meeting easy and productive.
- Improved Document Management – A single workspace for all projects. Manage file retention settings to align with corporate governance policies. An intuitive search function allows users to find the information they need in seconds.
- Collaboration Tools Connecting Team Members – Dynamic comments, notes, and tagging of users and groups. Document versioning to know when a change occurred and who made it.
- Enhanced E-governance – Built-in best-practice workflow for board meeting software.
- Added Security – Protects data with encryption, multiple layers of security, and enterprise-grade firewalls. Keeps all confidential data safe and accessible to the board.
- Annual Questionnaires & Evaluations – Create board and committee evaluations, questionnaires, and more. Get all responses on one easily reviewable dashboard.
Pricing
- No Transparent Pricing Shared By Vendor.
- Free Trial Available.
- Request pricing directly from Boardable.
What is board portal software?
A board portal is a tool for secure digital communication between members of a board of directors. Board portals are made for boards and for good governance.
Board software offers a wide range of tools to help you manage your board meetings. There are instruments for voting, agenda management, and communication.
Board communication may work best through portal software and has been shown to be a huge help in simplifying the board’s job.
Board portal software is great because it gives corporate boards access to information at their fingertips and saves time on corporate governance.
What is board management software?
Board management software is a virtual platform for board members to hold meetings, record meeting minutes, share documents, and vote on business affairs. It can be used to help with all aspects of corporate board management.
The benefits of board management software
Board management software allows you to manage the entire board and its members either in-person or remotely.
The most common uses for this type of software is keeping track of the members’ attendance levels, managing the minutes of meetings, sharing documents, and voting on business affairs.
It can be used to help with the management of your board, for self-evaluations, determining conflicts of interest, handling administrative tasks, and more.
Typical features of board management software
All board portal software should have a tool to manage each of the following features:
- Meeting Scheduler
- Agenda Builder
- File Storage
- Meeting Minutes Tracking
- VideoChat Integration
- Polling & Voting
- Direct Messaging
- Member Directory
Considerations when purchasing board management software
Your board must have online access to all documentation from previous board meetings and review capabilities for any administrators.
As a member of the board, you need to be able to record and view minutes from prior online board meetings and archives from reports, agendas, and other documents without delay.
In order to maintain board quality and unity of purpose, your app must provide access to meeting actions such as votes and minutes.
It’s important to choose a top board management software to ensure company board members can view meeting agendas, minutes, and other documents and share them with each other.37 Essential Software For Small Business Needs In 2021 (Free and Paid)
The Wrap Up
It’s no surprise that corporations would want to avoid the risks and the extra expense of printing and distributing paper board books which is why I’ve created this best board management software to help you choose the right board management tools.
Board governance software eliminates much of the risk and the expenses that come with printing and distributing board books. Secure board management software allows private companies to share board books without the risk and the added expense that a paper book carries.
A corporate secretary with access to a board of directors management software can easily update books and securely communicate with all parties, including board notes, signatures, meeting notes, agendas, and more that can easily be shared.
Get all the tools you need for your boardroom, including scheduling, notes, surveys, and more.
