Agile working “embrace innovation rather than bureaucracy”
Moving into a modern age with a rigid office set up can have an adverse effect on your business workflow. Flexibility is key to integrating CMIS – offering a web based online portal provides agility. The essence of agile working is common sense but it is amazing how many organisations are yet to embrace agile working and modernise their governance processes.
Below are some examples of the benefits in moving to a paperless solution and the associated advantages from using a web based application;
Real time syncing
Using board meeting apps, updates are reflected in participants’ digital board books in real time. Last-minute changes are disseminated instantly, so everyone is always kept informed of the latest developments. This instantaneous synchronization allows everyone involved in the meeting to quickly adapt to unexpected circumstances. The same can’t be said for meetings that still use traditional board packs. It takes a while to reprint and deliver revised materials, and sometimes, they don’t reach their intended recipients on time.
Remote access – removing the barriers to participation;
CMIS is web based, thus requiring no client software other than a standard web browser for operation. Public access can be made via a web browser from desktop computers, tablets or smart phones worldwide.
When you go paperless, you can hold a board meeting even when participants are scattered all over the world. They can join a meeting through a phone call, a video conference, or a Convene session. This lowers travel costs for your organization because you don’t need to bring everyone to one venue.
Annotation - collaboration
It’s imperative to keep board meetings as short as possible, which you can do through collaboration. When participants are actively involved in a meeting, they arrive at resolutions faster. CMIS allows everyone in a meeting to work together in real time through highly responsive tools used for presenting, sharing files, making annotations, writing notes, drawing freehand diagrams, etc.
Scribbling notes on pieces of paper can lead to confusion when you review them later on. It’s easy to forget the reasons why you wrote down something when you don’t have context to go along with it. But when you opt for paperless board meetings, you can make annotations on your personal copy of the presentation that’s saved in your tablet. Convene lets you keep your annotations for your own private use, or you can share them with everyone else in the meeting.
Easier board management
Depending on the agenda of your board meeting, the traditional board pack can be as light as a few sheets of paper, but it can also be as bulky as a thick, hardbound book. If it’s the latter, you’ll most likely have to leave it at your home or office, but that gives you limited time to review it. In contrast to the traditional board pack is the digital board pack which is a virtual version of all your meeting materials.
CMIS assists with the creation, compilation and publication of all documents including agendas, minutes, reports and decision notices. With a comprehensive drag and drop feature, you can easily rearrange your documents to where they need to be. Then circulate these electronically, taking away printing and courier expenses.
Robust, secure solution
Paper chaos can leave confidential paper documents on display or misplaced. But when you use CMIS everything you need is accessible online so you don’t have to print out anything. Board meeting solutions have strict security measures in place, so only participants have access to meeting resources. CMIS ensures that whilst information is published in a timely manner, safeguards are in place to ensure that restricted information is only available to correctly authenticated and authorised users. A multi-tiered security model, allows the Authority to ensure that information is accessible only to those users that have the relevant access privileges. This model ensures that a user can only gain access to information that has been marked as sensitive once the user has provided valid authentication details.
Becoming agile is a company movement rather than a solo activity - at Astech, we are confident that we can provide the know- how for your organisation to become ‘paper free’. We have many years of experience working in the public sector and a proven track record of success.
For more information on how we can help migrate your organisation to an automated paperless solution or to arrange a demonstration please contact info@astech.co.uk or call 01608 665 566.