Pictured above: Roy Peace, chair of whg's Bloxwich
committee, Jane Preece, whg's Director of Organisational
Development and Company Secretary, Margaret Hayes, chair of whg's
Aldridge & Brownhills Committee, and Terry Bate, WHG Board
member, consider the new technology
Hours spent collating lengthy board papers are a thing of the
past at a leading Midlands' housing provider which is pioneering
the latest technology.
Walsall Housing Group (whg) is the first organisation of its
kind in the region to introduce Virtualboardroom®, a
web-based portal which delivers significant efficiencies.
The electronic system means all minutes, reports and appendices
for board and committee meetings are printed as one complete
document, featuring page numbers and tabs that denote the agenda
item for ease of reference.
This saves colleagues having to spend many hours individually
printing each element of the papers and then collating them into
the required order. The time saving is significant as whg
holds around 30 board and committee meetings annually with agendas
sometimes running into 200 pages plus.
The new style papers have been well received by board and
committee members who say they are easier to navigate during
meetings and look more professional.
Jane Preece, whg's Director of Organisational Development and
Company Secretary, said: "Our colleagues' time is valuable and more
wisely spent on activities that benefit our customers and achieving
our business objectives.
"Switching from manually producing papers to using
Virtualboardroom® has not only freed up hours of productive
time but created a better, more user-friendly end
product."
The technology means board and committee members will, in due
course, be able to access, upload and search company documentation
electronically from wherever they are in the world.
Terry Bate, a tenant member of WHG's Board, said: "Everything
that went with the old style board papers was horrendous, it's easy
to see that now this new system is in place and we can
compare.
"The potential is great too, in terms of being able to view
papers electronically, and though some of us may be wary of new
technology - myself included - I know it's just a case of sitting
down at the screen and working it out. Once you've don't
that, you're away."
iPads and other tablet computers are an option for members as in
2011, the 'Year of the Tablet', they are being used in the
workplace more and more, and at the highest levels.
Tablets, such as the iPad and Motorola XOOM, have been hailed as
a viable business tool due to their portability, as well as the
fact that using a tablet in a meeting is seen as less 'antisocial'
than looking at a laptop.
Robin Bishop, MD of Perivan said: "We are delighted whg has
chosen to implement Virtualboardroom® and look forward to
working alongside them to bring technology to the forefront of
their business processes.
"While board and committee papers will be printed for those who
prefer hard copies, Virtualboardroom® and the tablet are a
match made in heaven and we are very excited about what the future
holds."