App facilitates board governance for SMEs

In just the first three months of operation, cloud-based board management app boardPro has passed the 100 customer mark.

Co-founder and CEO Brett Herkt says he’s delighted to see both traction and zero churn – with 100 percent of boardPro’s active customers continuing with the cloud-based board management app after trialling it.
“Board members are enjoying the convenience of their board life accessible anytime, anywhere on any device. Administrators are reporting 25-75 percent savings on back-office board administration. And we haven’t had a single active customer  walk away from the product yet. It’s nice to see our work validated by the market.”

boardPro brings board governance to play in the small and medium-sized enterprise and not-for-profit sector by building a suite of tools to allow smaller companies to take advantage of the disciplines of a board process.
“We aim to solve SME’s biggest governance problem, that is trying to run a company while also meeting the requirements of board governance. Boards shouldn’t be a drag on a company but for many a SME the idea of managing a group of shareholders and running good board processes is time consuming and stressful,” says Herkt.

boardPro wants to help CEOs of small and medium companies get on with the business of growing their company without getting bogged down in processes and chasing board members and the customers are loving it.

“We’ve had great feedback from customers who are saving themselves hours and days by streamlining the board process for them. The app allows them to share board papers, capture action points, create minutes on the fly and also to follow-up with board members who may not have completed their actions from the previous meeting. That frees up precious time for time poor CEOs, managers and administrators to concentrate on the business.”

While larger corporates have access to support staff, legal counsel and the like, for SME and not-for-profits that’s simply not an option, and many still run meetings the old fashioned way, says Herkt.
“Our experience shows many non profits and numbers of SMEs still post out paper-based board packs which, given the current postal schedule, can means board members don’t receive their board packs before the meetings take place.” 

For less than the cost of mailing out board packs, boardPro ensures board members have the information they need in a timely fashion, and captures board papers in a single, secure location for ease of access during meetings.

“One customer tells me his secretary has threatened to quit if they take away boardPro. She just doesn’t want to go back to the old way of doing things,” says Herkt.