3 minutes
1st Financial Federal Credit Union’s directors go paperless and get productive.
Sponsored by BoardPaq
Challenge
Carol Minges, CEO of $258 million 1st Financial Federal Credit Union, Wentzville, Mo., was looking to help her board become more efficient in conducting meetings and archiving board materials, so she set out to find a paperless solution. The old process of paper packets was no longer functional, Minges recalls.
“This process didn’t give our board members opportunities to save their notes,” says Minges. “They would take notes at the board meeting and then we would shred it. They didn’t have any type of historical reference ... We wanted BoardPaq so they could keep track of what had been said in previous meetings and then have access to those minutes.”
Solution
After comparing and viewing several different products, Minges decided on BoardPaq. BoardPaq offered key items on her list, including security; voting; iOS, Windows and Android apps, plus access from the web; affordable pricing; archiving and a library for document storage. The deciding factor for Minges was “usability. [BoardPaq’s] product made the most sense to us when we really thought about how our board members would use it.”
Prior to using the BoardPaq portal, meeting information was sent out through secure email. Hard copies were printed and handed out at the meeting. After the meeting, packets were shredded along with any notes directors had written.
Implementing a portal was going to be a big change, so in order for 1st Financial FCU to transition the board, they decided to roll out the product in several steps.
Minges’ first step was to purchase iPads for the group and get Wi-Fi set up in the boardroom. iPads were given to the board members but still property of the credit union. An acceptable-use policy for the iPads was created for the group to follow. The iPads were configured by the credit union to enforce passcodes, security policies, and to ensure remote-wipe capabilities were available.
Minges and the board chair then set up the portal itself. Using BoardPaq’s web-based Admin Center, they added user profiles, uploaded meeting documents and created the agenda for the next meeting. Once configuration was complete, they were ready for a test run.
Only Minges and the board chair used the portal at that first meeting, but they were able to show the directors how it functioned and looked. Everyone then received their iPads, login credentials, training materials and a paper packet to use at the second meeting.
By the third meeting, board members were expected to use just BoardPaq, and no paper packet was provided. Minges’ group had varied skill levels regarding technology and the use of iPads. Overall, however, the group was excited about the transition and didn’t mind the learning curve.
“I asked everyone earlier in the year if they wanted to do something like this to help reduce printing costs, and we made sure that everyone was in agreement to move forward,” says Minges.
Results
Since implementing BoardPaq in May 2014, Minges has seen the benefits of the transition.
“We’ve reduced the paper costs and increased the security of information because we don’t have that paper floating around,” she reports.
She also mentioned that board meetings are more productive, because members can bring their notes with them; plus, they now receive the materials one week in advance of the meeting, giving them more time to prepare. Staff costs in putting together packets have decreased, and the ability to use the portal’s minutes builder feature to create minutes during the meeting has simplified their previous process. One of the board’s favorite BoardPaq features is the library where Minges loads reference materials, like by-laws and policies.
1st Financial FCU currently uses BoardPaq for its seven-member board and asset liability committee meetings. The CU plans to add the supervisory committee meetings next.
Dustin McKissen is a messaging, strategy, and public relations consultant at McKissen + Company, writing for BoardPaq.
Make the switch to BoardPaq and go paperless to help improve your boards security, productivity and costs, like the boards and committees at 1st Financial Federal Credit Union. Hear more about their story or start a free trial by scheduling a free demo today at www.boardpaq.com!
