Using Technology to Enrich Governance: What's Possible Now and What's Coming—Part 2

• Published date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/bl.30086
• Date: 01 September 2017

4 BOARD LEADERSHIP

Using Technology to Enrich

Governance: What’s Possible

Now and What’s Coming—

Part 2

by Ray Tooley

In this, the second part of his two-part article on technology in the boardroom (see

Board Leadership Issue 152 for the rst part), Ray Tooley, CEO of OurBoardroom

Technologies continues his review of the growing number of applications designed

to help boards streamline their work and looks ahead to the radical advances

coming our way.

In Part 1 of this article, I focused on

what I called “Class I” tools, which

can essentially be described as deliver-

ing secure, consistent, and accessible

board document management. Below,

in Part 2, I will describe the next wave of

offerings—what I am calling “Class II.”

Finally, I will offer some thoughts about

the radical developments on their way

as a result of artificial intelligence (AI).

Class II Applications

Class II applications provide all the

functionality of Class I versions but with

a critical difference. Class II applica-

tions overlay a “governance model” on

top of the technology used for simple

document storage–based systems. One

could view a governance model itself

as a “technology” because it provides

a collection of techniques, skills, meth-

ods, and processes used for the accom-

plishment of objectives. Model-based

applications inform the purpose and

function of all governance activities and

can result in greatly enhanced organiza-

tion performance.

In Part 1 of this article, I referred to

various challenges and opportunities

listed that Class II applications should

be able to address. For example:

•Lack of clarity about who is

uploading any given document

and why.

•If the purpose is “board approval,”

lack of any criteria for approval.

•Documents typically being

provided in PDF or Word format,

which makes them noninteractive.

For example, a change to a board’s

published policies usually means

a whole new document must be

generated and posted.

•Loss of history of policy changes

is lost without comparing old and

new policy documents.

•Lack of clarity about the purpose

of governance.

•Lack of rigorous and reasonable

performance reports that deliver a

high confidence of achievement.

•Lack of a comprehensive Risk

Governance framework.

•Lack of all-inclusive governance

process documentation and

monitoring

•Content that is incidental

information versus that requiring

specific board decisions.

•Lack of ability to search

governance documentation

classified by governance purpose.

And, as with any technology, not

only may one application be superior

to another, one governance model

may be superior to another. The intro-

duction of the iPhone resulted in the

demise of the Blackberry, a onetime

market leader. It’s therefore important

to understand what model of gover-

nance is being implemented as Class II

systems become available. As far as I

am aware (and please correct me if you

know of other similar offerings), Policy

Governance® is the only governance

model currently integrated in a Class II

application.

What does a Class II model–based

application deliver? When imple-

mented, a Class II application should

ensure that all content has a specific

governance purpose that greatly clari-

fies what is expected of users of the

system. Governance tasks are identi-

fied, scheduled, tracked, and recorded

when completed. Only essential infor-

mation is transferred from the board

to the organization, and then from

the organization to the board, on a

defined schedule. This optimization of

information transfer can greatly reduce

the amount of time boards spend on

unnecessary document review and dis-

cussion. It provides an expert system to

help board members understand and

practice the model in a short period of

time. Governance records such as poli-

cies, agendas, minutes, and monitoring

reports become “interactive,” where

document content can be updated at

a more detailed level. This also makes

historical content more easily refer-

enced. One example would be where

a user is viewing a minute item on a

particular topic discussed at a recent

meeting and can then click on a “back”

button to review the last time that topic

was discussed at a past meeting. By

clicking “back” and “forward,” years of

discussion on the topic can be reviewed

without opening any PDF documents.

The only currently available Class II

application, OurBoardroom, fully imple-

ments the Policy Governance model

and is available at a price of $5,500 to

$12,000 per year and up depending on

organization size.

A Technology Revolution

We are currently in the midst of a

technology revolution that may turn

out to have the largest influence on

human society ever experienced. Arti-