Today's boards are being held to very high standards of governance and transparency. In fact, good corporate governance can increase a company's value. In a 2002 survey, McKinsey & Company found that companies considered to have good corporate governance command a premium of 12-14% on their stock prices. Directors Desk provides the tools needed to maximize board effectiveness, ensuring the highest possible levels of governance and transparency.

Key governance features include:

• Reminders – Automated alerts regarding important events, updates, and deadlines reduce oversights
• Record Retention – Board materials are archived and purged according to the company's schedule, with an option to verify before deletion.
• Approvals – A central approvals management screen enables board members to view proposed agreements or other documents under review, post their comments, and issue approvals online (where permitted by law). This feature eliminates the "looping emails" problem associated with sending contracts and other documents requiring annotations from person to person.
• Monitoring – The system can monitor which Directors have accessed specific materials or cast votes.
• Built-In Compliance – To satisfy requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and other new rules, Directors Desk automates essential record-keeping functions.
• Resources – The system offers substantive guidance on governance and provides links to governance professionals and services.

• Visibility – Directors can readily fulfill their duty to oversee the company.
• Accountability – Critical documents are archived automatically and can be readily available for review and auditing.
• Record-Keeping – Votes are accurately recorded and materials are archived for later review.

• Protection from unauthorized access – Multiple levels of protection are available to maintain confidentiality. Because Directors Desk is externally hosted, it isn't vulnerable to the most common source of leaks: disgruntled staff.
• Encryption – With BoardVault™, materials can be fully encrypted for the highest level of security. Under no circumstances can we, as a service provider, break through BoardVault™ to see your data.
• Reliability – ISO 17799-compliant hosting assures top-notch availability and security.