The National Housing Federation is the voice of affordable housing in England. They believe that everyone should have the home they need at a price they can afford.
Headquarters: London
Board Members: 12
Audit and Risk committee: 5
Meetings per Annum: 6
The National Housing Federation discovered eShare at their annual Company Secretaries Conference where eShare was exhibiting their board portal and governance software, BoardPacks.
Stephen Bull, Head of Governance and Company Secretary saw the simplicity of BoardPacks and was keen to explore the software as a potential solution to manage meetings effectively. The Federation was particularly looking for a solution that would enable them to reduce the amount of time and cost spent printing board papers.
“As the trade body for housing we want to be seen to be embracing the latest technology and leading the way for other boards. We want to set an example that all housing association boards can follow.”
– Stephen Bull, Head of Governance and Company Secretary, National Housing Federation
The Federation decided that the BoardPacks meeting management, combined with the BoardPacks app would be the best solution to manage their board meetings. Stephen Bull lead the implementation from the Federation’s side, alongside eShare’s Head of Customer Relations, Janet Jones.
Stephen Bull reflected, “The implementation was very straightforward and the training and support provided was very thorough, which aided the transition from paper to electronic meetings.”
Stephen Bull found that engaging the board members was easy. The BoardPacks app made accessing their board papers straightforward and includes simple annotation tools.
The Federation is saving a large quantity of paper now that they are no longer printing meeting packs; keeping them in line with their green agenda. As well, the board no longer has to carry a heavy stack of papers around. Stephen commented on the improvements to administration, “BoardPacks is saving us a lot of printing time, as well as the cost of postage.”
The Federation also benefits from easy access to historical board papers during meetings. Using the software has streamlined the Federation’s meeting management process, and switching to iPads has enabled board members to have all the governance information they need at their fingertips
The Federation was keen to find a simple solution to manage meetings effectively; it is now doing this whilst simultaneously saving time and money with BoardPacks. Stephen Bull summed up, “As the trade body for housing we want to be seen to be embracing the latest technology and leading the way for other boards. We want to set an example that all housing association boards can follow.”
The Federation has rolled out BoardPacks to their Leadership Team and Audit & Risk Committee, increasing the time and cost savings significantly.
Find out how you can improve your meetings with BoardPacks.