Watch CSIA’s Testimonial on Convene
Corporate Secretaries International Association (CSIA) is an international federation of governance bodies with corporate secretaries and governance professionals participating from five continents across the world. CSIA has been using Convene since July 2020.
Zahra Cassim, Chief Executive Officer of CSIA, talks about how board management software has helped develop efficient processes for their board meetings.
The Need for a Board Meeting Tool
Zahra recounts that, with CSIA, meetings are conducted mostly in a virtual format, as the members are situated in countries across the globe with different time zones. Before utilising a board meeting tool, CSIA distributed board packs to their directors by sending them through email. “Emails sometimes get lost in the number of emails that may come into the inbox overnight, or it may end up in Spam folder,” Zahra shares.
CSIA started using Convene as their board management software and has transformed their processes to be more efficient — from meeting preparation to workflows outside of meetings.
Seamless Board Pack Circulation
Prior to Convene, CSIA had to do virtual meetings with invitations and board packs sent via email. Zahra notes that this was a frustrating process, “Emails can also be blocked if attachments exceed a certain size. I would often find myself resending the board packs.”
Using a board meeting tool, board pack circulation has become seamless and simple. Convene has allowed Zahra to easily upload board packs on the portal that are accessible to the members on any device, anytime, and anywhere they are in the world. On top of that, Zahra points out that sending the documents before the meeting allows the board members to annotate the documents — saving time during meetings for addressing comments.
All-In-One Collaborative Space
Zahra narrates that the most beneficial in-meeting feature for her and the board is the integrated video conferencing that is effective in improving the engagement of the directors. “Instead of using two platforms which we did in the past, the entire meeting can be hosted on Convene.” Completing the board’s virtual meeting experience are the live meeting tools that facilitate interactive and real-time discussion.
The diverse member pool of CSIA often calls for an agreed-upon schedule where they can all meet despite the differences in the time zones. However, for documents that may need immediate approval and do not necessarily need meetings, CSIA uses Convene’s Review Rooms for a seamless approval process. “I can upload the document in the Review Room for the approval of the members. They can sign the documents digitally.”
Other than the Review Room, Zahra has been utilising the Surveys feature for board evaluations. In the past, Zahra mentions that doing a board evaluation was time-consuming as compilation, distribution, and analyses of questionnaires were done manually. Fortunately, with Convene’s Surveys feature, publishing, circulation, and analysis of the surveys can be achieved instantly.
Better Governance with Convene
CSIA’s experience with using Convene has proven a positive impact on the association. The processes in meeting preparation and document approvals have greatly contributed to the efficiency of their board meetings. Zahra narrates that Convene has promoted better governance in the association, “With members from 15 different countries on five continents, our meetings are mostly virtual and Convene’s integrated video conferencing with live presentation has created a more collaborative environment to facilitate decision-making.”
Overall, Zahra and CSIA have all praises with Convene for transforming the way their board meetings are conducted. “I can definitely recommend it to Corporate Secretaries and governance professionals to enhance the governance experience.”
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