There has been a shift in technology towards a user perspective, and this evolution has had a major impact on the boardroom.
So said Steve Jump, head of corporate information security governance at Telkom, speaking at ITWeb's GRC Conference this week.
"Unless you have been sleeping or engaged in extremely long boardroom meetings for the last few years, you will have noticed a few changes in technology, and what is transitioning that change is devices like iPads, iPhones and smartphones," he said, describing these tools as "information access devices".
Jump discussed a movement towards electronic board packs for board meetings, describing the 200- to 300-page paper packs, which are commonly created specifically for board meetings, simply as "a good way of disposing of trees".
"They are essentially producing books each time there is a board meeting," he said, adding that the logistics, manpower and costs of creating these volumes make them a waste of time and money. For Jump, the development of user-friendly board pack apps makes this process unnecessary.
During his presentation, Jump mentioned an instance where he was asked to source iPads for each of the 15 Telkom board members. This may sound expensive, but on further investigation, Jump learned that, given the labour, storage, paper, preparation and recovery costs of producing paper board packs, Telkom could buy each of the board members a new iPad every nine months - and still see positive returns.
According to Jump, one of the concerns when talking about electronic information like these board packs is that they are transferable and extremely easy to move. "To make this technology viable, the access to this information is under much more control. By definition, your electronic board pack is encrypted, making it a secure document," he said, adding these packs are more secure than paper documents ever were.
When implementing this kind of project, Jump noted the importance of explaining to the board members that although the devices are theirs, should they lose them, all of the information on it, be it personal or business-related, will be automatically wiped to ensure the security of confidential company information.
Although Jump spoke specifically about the use of this technology in the boardroom, he noted that this kind of implementation triggers change within the wider organisation. He estimated that the speed of flow of information around the organisation at a decision-making level has doubled, at least. "Today's business demands decisions be made in the relevant moment. The time frame for decision-making today is a fraction of what it was in 2000," he said.
Tablet devices allow for improved collaboration, Jump said, but stressed this is about more than just technology. "The technology should just be an enabler to the information access that you need. Start by asking what you need to do in your business before you look at what the technology can do."
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