## The organization of a Board of Directors

Companies in any field frequently meet with their board of directors to agree on major strategic decisions. This formal meeting must be well organized and conducted efficiently to facilitate the exchange and communication with the board members. It is, therefore, essential to use the necessary digital tools to improve the organization and follow-up of these meetings. These technological solutions must meet security requirements to allow secure communication and access.
Do you need help to ensure effective follow-up and organization of your board meetings? Then, we have the solution to help you!
WEDO is a meeting management tool that lends itself perfectly to preparing and monitoring boards of directors for many reasons. We suggest you discover 7 steps that show you how our collaborative platform supports the organization of Boards of Directors.

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## 1. Prepare your CA

### 📂 Organize the documents

If you are involved in preparing for your company's Board of Directors meetings, first organize all the documents that will be presented at the meeting, such as financial reports, sales reports, and marketing updates. Ensuring all documents are well-given, complete, and easy to understand is essential.

###  ✍🏻 Prepare reports

If you are responsible for presenting reports, prepare them well before the meeting. Ensure they are clear, and concise and contain all the relevant information for the meeting.

###  ❔ Identify key issues

Finally, before the meeting, identify the key issues or areas of concern that will be addressed during the session. Then, be prepared to offer ideas, suggestions, or recommendations if necessary.

Once you have prepared these initial points, focus on establishing the topics discussed at the meeting: your agenda.

##  2. Set the agenda

###  📣 Determine what topics to address

Topics discussed at board meetings may vary depending on the organization. They may include:

- financial reports;
- operational updates; and
- Strategic planning;
- Risk management;
- legal compliance;
- Ongoing projects;
- Voting;
- and other matters of importance to the organization.

###  📋 Create your base frame

The items discussed are often the same from one board to the next. Be sure to identify recurring themes to save valuable time preparing for future meetings.

###  🗣️ Choose theme presenters

The speakers may vary depending on the theme. Therefore, it is essential to define who should prepare the agenda items or simply who will be the presenters of the topic. This will reinforce the collaborative aspect of the preparation of the meeting. All members will be involved in the upcoming session.

###  📎 Joignez les fichiers aux bonnes thématiques

Au préalable, l’idée est de préparer les documents et rapports à partager avec votre CA. Prenez le temps en amont d’également les joindre aux différentes thématiques de votre ordre du jour afin que les participants puissent les lire et les annoter avant le jour J. Une réunion bien préparée améliorera son efficacité ! 

##  3. Manage access to the meeting

It is expected that access to a CA meeting needs to be finely managed to choose who can see what and especially when. If your tool allows it, try to control the access to the meeting and the role of your participants according to its stages. This will enable you to prepare your agenda according to these different rights and not worry about access beyond the preparation. Determine who are editors, readers, or those who do not have access.

##  4. Integrate the votes

#### 🗳️ Determine voters

Choose who is allowed to vote. Then determine how you will collect the results. Different options are possible:

- digital votes by each voter ;
- a show of hands during the session;
- and collecting votes, with the secretary transcribing the results at the end of the meeting.

####  ☑️ Allocate shares

Voting is integral to the Board of Directors' process since members are often asked to vote on strategic decisions affecting the company. Therefore, be sure to allocate shares according to the decision-making weight of each voter.

####  🟢 Require quorum

In the event of a vote, and if you have allocated shares, you must verify at the beginning of each board meeting that a quorum is present. A quorum is the minimum number of shares based on those present at the meeting.

####  👤 Allow anonymous voting

Determine for a meeting whether you will allow anonymous voting. This should be determined before the meeting, or at least before voting opens.

####  🚫 Hide voting results until close

Depending on the internal operation, it may be necessary to hide the votes until they are closed. Ensure this is the case for the votes processed during your board of directors.

####  🔨 Write pre-decisions

To save time processing the votes, you can write the pre-decisions resulting from them. This is possible if you can imagine the outcomes of the votes. You can prepare a pre-decision for each possible answer. 

##  5. Write the minutes

###  💻 Writing by the Secretary

For this very formal meeting, the writing of the minutes is usually entrusted to a secretary. Here is how this person will compose their minutes.

#### ✍🏻 Paragraphs

Add well-structured paragraphs to reflect the discussions in the plenary. The idea is to proceed systematically and be as transparent as possible while favoring a simple style and short sentences. Think about your future readers from the start!

#### 🗳️ Votes

During the drafting process, validate the votes prepared beforehand and decide on the final decision.

#### 🔨 Decisions

Highlight essential decisions made during the board meeting. The idea is that from the minutes, each member can see all the strategic decisions that the meeting has decided upon.

#### ✅ Tasks

Make a clear list of tasks that flow from the decisions approved by the board. You can also already assign tasks to the people in charge, determining their priority and due date. By doing this, you will have your members up and running by the end of the meeting. Then, everyone knows what needs to be done and by when.

###  👀 Private note-taking by members

####  ✏️ Add private notes to the minutes

Encourage your members to prepare in advance by taking private notes. The idea is also to have them write their notes and comments during the meeting to ensure they understand what is expected.

####  📝 Annotate attached files

The notes can also be added directly to the files and documents attached to the agenda and meeting minutes. The goal is for members to find their written interventions exactly where they belong.

##  6. Follow up on tasks

Track the progress of tasks from one meeting to the next to ensure that deadlines are met. Then, if your tool allows it, simply import your tasks into the next meeting's agenda to see if they were completed on time.

##  7. Give access to the minutes

At the end of the meeting and after the proofreading stage, control access to the minutes so that each member can review the minutes of the discussions. This will allow members to record everything that was discussed during the meeting. At the end, share the minutes with all members to encourage them to review them as soon as possible after the board meeting.

##  ✅ WEDO's advantages for your CA management

We talked earlier about the importance of choosing an excellent tool to manage and track the progress of your board meetings. WEDO develops the ideal collaborative platform for efficient meeting management. So why will our solution be your best ally for board meetings? Here is a summary:

**📋 You collaboratively prepare your agenda.**
![bod-prepare-agenda.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/bod_prepare_agenda_7476ddda20.png)

**🔐 You manage access to the meeting.**
![bod-access-meeting.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/bod_access_meeting_ac15c4df9d.png)

**🗳️ You integrate the votes into your board.**
![bod-votes.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/bod_votes_c631be7608.png)

**⌨️ You write your report in real-time directly on the platform and allow the participants to take their private notes.**
![ca-writing-minutes.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/ca_writing_minutes_7aa178ad22.png)

**✅ You track tasks from one meeting to the next by importing ongoing and completed tasks.**
![bod-tasks-tracking.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/bod_tasks_tracking_21b36c4285.png)

**👀 You provide access to the minutes directly after the meeting and email them to members from the platform.**
![ca-access-meeting-minutes.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/ca_access_meeting_minutes_b8cb3e8b91.png)

>**Do you want to test WEDO for your next board meeting? Then, our experts will introduce you to the tool and help you prepare your first agenda in 30 minutes.**

::button-primary[Contact our experts]{link="/demo"}

## Some examples of our clients who use WEDO to manage their board of directors
![wedo-customer-board-of-directors.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/wedo_customer_board_of_directors_d91a634e29.png)



Efficiently organize & conduct board meetings w/ WEDO - a secure, digital meeting management tool. Enhance communication & follow-up with our 7-step collaborative platform.

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Organize your Board of Directors with WEDO

Today, there is more public interest in the activities of the financial industry than ever before. Data protection is essential to prevent cyberattacks that can lead to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage. The banking and financial industries must invest in robust data security measures: employee training, access controls, encryption, and regular assessments are essential to any effective strategy.

Last November, the business management software "Winbiz", was the victim of a virulent cyberattack leading to the temporary shutdown of the software. The software host was storing sensitive information.

The software used by organizations represents a significant risk. Today, cloud platforms are considered as irreplaceable allies of administrative professions: they help us manage human resources, track projects, share files and content, build a customer history, etc. However, each more sensitive than the last, this data must be subject to strict and robust measures to prevent cyber threats and to comply with regulatory requirements.

The advent of telecommuting in recent years reinforces the importance of data protection through the software employees use. Thus, the choice of software must be documented for a secure integration. The criteria to be taken into account during the selection are the following:


### Data hosting

#### Data storage location:

Some companies are surprised to learn that their data is stored in a third country. SaaS provider is free to host their data in any country they choose, regardless of where their headquarters are located. Knowing the hosting country is crucial to ensure that the country in question has strong, strict and transparent legal and political stability.

If the data is stored in a trustworthy country, ensuring that the provider does not practice "temporary data transfer" is also relevant. This phenomenon, more frequently used by global IT providers, implies that the data passes through foreign servers before being stored in Switzerland. It is, therefore, essential to verify that this transfer is legal and complies with GDPR standards.

#### Reliability of the hosting provider:

Certifications standardize the information security of web hosts. Among them, the most recognized certification is ISO/IEC 27001.


### Data protection certification

Companies that outsource their critical systems and processes need to ensure that vendors have strict, independent controls over data management. One such independent certification is SOC 2, issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and used by organizations in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry. It assures customers that the organization has designed and implemented adequate controls for security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. This standard has existed in the United States for many years and has a worldwide equivalent in ISO 270001.

![soc certification.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/Frame_7soc_certification_3fa9275dcb.png)

Switzerland is considered to be behind the US and the rest of Europe concerning SOC 2 reporting. The first significant moves towards certification were made by large companies subject to strict regulations, such as the financial sector. These companies require their service providers to comply with the SOC 2 standard and provide an annual report to meet internal and external requirements. *1

### Authentication and account access

Software of any kind is a critical source of information for an organization. Thus, access to the tool must be secure, so it is recommended to inquire about the availability of the following features:

- Availability of two-factor authentication
- Availability of SAML authentication, if relevant for the customer
- Possibility of managing rights in a personalized way within the tool, in order to only give access to information to the persons concerned.

### Encryption

If a company uses a web application, it must ensure that the app in question uses an HTTPS connection secured by SSL certificates to prevent espionage on the web and email correspondence. In addition to encryption in transit, data encryption at rest prevents a situation like the one experienced by WinBiz and its customers.

### WEDO: the secure solution for collaboration in the financial sector

Sensitive topics and privacy policies are at the heart of employees' daily tasks in the financial industry. From task management to the content of all kinds of meetings, such as team meetings, bilateral talks, customer/insurer meetings, and board meetings, the traceability of discussions is as crucial as their discretion.

The WEDO SaaS software, developed and hosted in Switzerland, is a collaborative platform designed to address security challenges in sensitive sectors. Thanks to its task manager and its customizable meeting module, the platform makes it possible to share files and centralize the information necessary for team collaboration while giving the possibility to configure the access rights of each user.


::button-secondary[Learn more about security]{link="/security"}


## They trusted WEDO to manage their internal collaboration:
![wedo-customer-board-of-directors.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/wedo_customer_board_of_directors_d91a634e29.png)

::button-primary[Schedule a live demo]{link="/demo"}



::button-primary[Try WEDO for free]{link="/signup"}

[^2]: Source : [KPMG](https://kpmg.com/ch/de/blogs/home/posts/2021/01/soc-switzerland.html)

Today, there is more public interest in the activities of the financial industry than ever before. Data protection is essential to prevent cyberattacks that can lead to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage.

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Collaborate securely in the financial sector

## What are the organizational challenges in the education sector?

For educational organizations, communication and collaboration are central and essential issues. The management of these structures must be able to actively exchange with all departments to ensure the smooth running of their institution. Management's responsibility is also to foster optimal collaboration between administrative and pedagogical teams.

In terms of collaboration, here are some challenges in the education field:

 🗓️ Managing, monitoring and ensuring the efficiency of various meetings: board of directors, deans' meetings, pedagogical meetings, bilateral meetings, team meetings, etc.

✅ Complete and review tasks of the school management and professionals, as well as of the individual departments, competence centers and partner institutions

 📋 Manage recurring procedures

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## What hinders organizations from working together efficiently?

Employees often have to reach their objectives with limited and inefficient resources. Email remains the most common used communication channel, and it is to be criticized that few truly collaborative tools are available in everyday education.  
Another finding is that meetings are often poorly prepared, often too frequent, and sometimes interminable… in short, unproductive. However, meetings are crucial for the exchange of information. In the sector, these meetings bring together multiple actors: members of the management, administrative staff, deans, professors or teachers, as well as external stakeholders. The challenge for the management is to efficiently manage these multiple meetings while involving each participant before, during and after the meetings.  
So how do you overcome these organizational and collaborative difficulties while encouraging the digitalization of processes?

## Our solutions to improve collaboration within schools and faculties

WEDO is a collaboration tool that is perfectly suited for the internal organization of schools and faculties. Our solution is already helping many institutions to overcome their organizational challenges and improve internal communication.

![](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/2022_08_wedo_education_1_7b7a9d1792.svg)

Find out how the **WEDO platform** supports schools and faculty in their daily collaboration.

### 1\. Create a collaborative structure tailored to the education sector

Each department or service of the institution can manage its various projects organized in "workspaces". These spaces allow the institution's employees to share meetings, tasks and files. TheWEDO solution brings together all these features on a single platform. 💡Note that collaboration with external specialists is also very simple and possible without additional costs.

### 2\. Manage all meetings in one tool

From workspaces, users can manage all their meetings with WEDO: from the Board of Directors to the Deans, including pedagogical meetings and bilateral discussions. With the "Meeting" module, agendas can be prepared together as a team, minutes can be taken in real time, and assigned tasks can be tracked from one meeting to the next.

### 3\. Prepare agendas collectively

Unproductive meetings are usually the result of poor preparation. The feature that changes the daily life of management and administration is, without a doubt, the collective preparation of meetings. With WEDO, each employee can complete the agenda to prepare their contributions in advance. It is also possible to share and add documents, for all the information that will be consulted in advance or presented during the meeting (PDF, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.).

### 4\. Highlight decisions made during meetings

Meetings are often closed without having documented clearly made decisions or knowing the pending issues and their deadlines. With WEDO, it is very easy to document the decisions and delegate the associated tasks in a reliable way. The meeting minutes are always clearly organized so that the relevant information can be found immediately.

### 5\. Delegate tasks in meetings

It is possible to create tasks and delegate them immediately during the meeting. Thus, the employees involved will be operational as soon as the meeting is over. From one meeting to the next, WEDO keeps track of the tasks completed so that you can always keep an eye on the deadlines set.

### 6\. Transparent and simple communication on running tasks

The task manager integrated into the WEDO platform simplifies collaboration and communication. It is possible to comment on a task, to share information and exchange with the people involved in its completion. A notification system allows you to stay informed in case of changes or important information.

### 7\. Find information quickly

With the powerful search function integrated in WEDO, you can access the required information with just a few clicks. The search runs across the platform using keywords. In this way, users can find meeting minutes, important decisions, tasks and files that contain the keyword they are looking for.

## WEDO is the ideal tool for Schools and Faculties

WEDO is a tool that brings teams together by providing multiple opportunities to communicate and collaborate efficiently. By integrating our solution in many schools and faculties, we understand the educational sector's organizational challenges. Enhance collaboration within your institution with our features:

🗓️ Agenda preparation, real-time minute taking and tracking of delegated meeting tasks.

✅ Collaborative management of tasks through workspaces. 

▶️ Automation of workflows to improve the quality of internal processes.

![WEDO-education-2_EN.png](https://wedo-assets.sos-ch-gva-2.exo.io/WEDO_education_2_EN_d4dae7e484.png)

These customers have chosen WEDO to collaborate efficiently in their schools:

::button-secondary[Learn more about their testimonials]{link="/industries/education"}

Holding and tracking meetings, coordinating between departments, exchanging information and managing administration are daily challenges for the education sector. Learn how WEDO helps schools and academic institutions improve collaboration by optimizing their meeting and task management.

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