“We like eBoard because it’s simple for me to create minutes from scratch or start from an existing board pack and have lists of attendees, dates and meeting topics added automatically to the minute’s template. It has made it easy to share documents at the click of a button and for the board members to always review the latest version of the documents,” Connie Ngachu – NTSA Legal Officer- Directorate of Legal Services.
BACKGROUND
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) is a statutory body of over 700 employees and 17 centres across Kenya established to bring about sanity on our roads. NTSA harmonizes the operations of the key road transport departments and helps in effectively managing the road transport sub-sector and minimizing loss of lives through road crashes. The organization’s 12 members governing board of directors 6 – 8 times annually while its four committees sit between 24 – 36 times every year.
NTSA has streamlined its operations and processes to ensure it works efficiently for the public. More than 32 directors, senior executives and administrative staff use over 105 separate meeting packs per month, some maintained daily. eHorizon eBoard solution supports NTSA’s executive communications platform, enabling more mobile, efficient access to information and timely decision-making.
THE CHALLENGE
Prior to making the digital switch to a board governance platform, the NTSA board administrators faced challenges in the process of collating and sharing materials for board meetings. Everything was going back and forth via email,” says Ms. Connie Ngachu, Legal Officer- Directorate of Legal Services NTSA.
“Our board books in the past were created as PDFs, but large email files would bounce yet some were urgent. Further, there were often a lot of updates — sometimes at the last minute. That meant I had to email each updated PDF to the board directors who had difficulty keeping track of the latest version,” she adds.
Then the administrative team would print the meeting materials – averaging 700pages per board pack and 250pages for committee packs – and manually insert tab dividers and email or courier them to directors. “It was hectic. We spend a whole day printing and sometimes the machines would break down, so we issued a print notice in advance to other departments,” explains Ms. Ngachu.
Compounding the obstacles of using email and courier distribution of board materials, Connie had to deal with a paper-based storage system for sensitive board information such as records, contracts and other archives which was costly and cumbersome. “All of this wasn’t working. We simply wanted a secure way to manage the sharing of documents and somewhere to store historical documents.”
THE SOLUTION
While researching board governance platforms, NTSA learned that several executives and board directors had used eHorizon eBoard with great results. After evaluating other vendors and seeing STL’s eBoard demo, the choice was clear for NTSA.
“Implementing the eBoard solution was a simple and seamless experience,” says Connie. “The Directors found it intuitive and easy to use, and I personally logged into eBoard and started using it without any training.”
THE BENEFITS
NTSA Board is now saving 104 hours of administrative work, over $1,563 of printing costs, in addition to saving 17 trees from paperless meetings every year, using eHorizon eBoard.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) have seen a variety of benefits since partnering with eHorizon eBoard. “We like eBoard because it’s simple for me to create minutes from scratch or start from an existing pack and have lists of attendees, dates and meeting topics added automatically to the minute’s template, ,” says Connie.
Whats more, “it’s easy to share documents at the click of a button and for the board members to always review the latest version of the documents,” she adds.
“Email notifications and SMS alerts sent to meeting attendees have eliminated follow up calls and blame from board members not receiving meeting materials,” she adds.
“It’s also easy to create a library of historical documents that Directors or board administrators can refer to for critical information necessary for governance if needed,” she adds.
Connie also notes the high level of customer support from the STL’s eBoard team. “The support provided by the eHorizon eBoard team is superior,” she says. “Questions from me or from my board members are answered immediately … even when we’ve asked them the same question countless times.”
With the new modules looks forward to continuing to partner with eBoard.
“Our board of directors loves eBoard. They receive email and SMS notifications when something is there, and they know where to find it. I also don’t have to worry or follow up if a Director received or not as I get automatic notifications upon receipt of the documents. Simple as that,” Connie says.
About the Author
Dorcas Karuana is the Marketing and Communication Manager at Software Technologies Ltd.