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 of 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outdated practice, there can be many downsides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.
Discoverability risk and
information governance
are today’s hot topics
that need to be top of
mind for directors.
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
As board portals continue to progress and develop
over time, discoverability risk has also been
reviewed and multiple levels of protection have been
implemented within the technology. Board portal
specialized technology helps avoid audit trails on
electronic documents being opened and can purge
personal annotations and discussions leading up
to a meeting after a certain amount of time. These
portals allow you to share your materials efficiently
and securely while narrowing the focus of the
discovery process strictly to the final version of
the board materials and the meeting minute
action items.
A secure platform designed
specifically for board
material dissemination.
Computershare’s board portal software,
BoardWorks, enables secure access to board
materials allowing directors to make strategic
business decisions faster. As the industry’s most
preferred portal solution, directors can rest
assure that confidential documents are shared
securely through Computershare’s AT 101 and
SSAE16 audited data facilities located in North
America, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Reduce discoverability risk by utilising BoardWorks,
allowing directors to access and deliver board
and reference materials in a format that is
logical, easy to access and readily available.
