Lower your discoverability risk with a board portal solution

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Have you ever had that terrible feeling after you hit send on an email questioning, “Did I just send that to the wrong person?” Or how about prior to hitting send thinking, “Maybe I shouldn’t be sending this email in the first place?” At some point, we have all experienced this feeling, yet, for every one o​f those circumstances that occur, we continue to send thousands of daily emails without a second thought.​

​

If you walked into a boardroom today compared to a decade ago you would notice a drastic cultural shift. With an increase in the oversight role of boards of directors paired with the everexpanding use of technology, discoverability risk and information governance are today’s hot topics that need to be top of mind for directors. 

One of the most critical risk areas is in the disseminating of board materials. Still, many companies rely on the basic technology of emailing information (sometimes password protected) or setting up a server from which directors can download confidential information. With this outdated practice, there can be many downsides ranging from security issues to accessibility control, in this piece we will focus on discoverability risk. 

What is discoverability risk?

Emailing information or allowing directors to download material directly from a server, though simple and relatively inexpensive, can expose board members to invasive searches of their private files and personal/business email accounts. The search may not end there if the files were downloaded to their personal devices, as all content on the board member’s computer is subject to search within the discovery process.​​​

In today’s culture, technology is now at the forefront of every day life and the way business is conducted due to its high accessibility. Corporate directors, who are constantly on the go executing business transactions remotely, need instant access to confidential company information, documents and e-mail communications. This type of ‘on the go’ lifestyle makes the directors business and personal accounts more vulnerable to discovery. It is essential for companies to take precaution and also to be mindful of these types of risks and the increased chance for discovery into its director’s accounts.​

​​​

​How do you reduce discoverability risk today? 

The answer is a secure platform designed specifically for board material dissemination. Board portals solve this problem by:

• Retention policies that automate the removal of board material copies in line with company policies 
  
• Providing the functionality to alert board members when information available 
  
• Allowing directors to view real-time information without intruding in personal emails or other private information irrelevant to the company 
  
• Giving secure offline access to all sensitive and confidential information with the added benefit of annotation and electronic signing capabilities​