Trends, Reports & Analyses
IPads In, Paper Out at Co-op
Take seven board members each receiving an average 85-page monthly report. Factor in the various managers who attend board meetings and need the paperwork. Before you know it you’ve gone through 25,000 sheets of paper, or 50 reams, in a year.
Jay Gilliland, 4-County board president, left, and Johnny Johnson, vice president, are going paperless to cut costs and increase efficiency. (Photo By: Brad Barr/4-County)
But 4-County EPA is no longer doing that. Its directors now have iPads.
“I’m afraid it was my idea. I’ll take the blame for it,” laughed Joe Cade, CEO/general manager, when asked. But there’s no blame, only credit to take as 4-County saves its members money by stopping the hum of printers and photocopiers, not to mention a need for office supplies and the $5 it generally costs to mail each report.
“It’s one of the best things we’ve ever done. Our board is thrilled,” said Cade.
The Columbus, Miss.-based co-op’s IT department looked at several software companies with iPad apps and decided on BOARDVantage, which provides a secure board portal.
The iPads were distributed in June and got their first trial run at July’s board meeting, followed by another test in August. Both had paper backups available, but that won’t be the case at this month’s meeting, which will be the first to go paperless. That’s welcome news to Emily Bratton, executive assistant to the CEO at 4-County.
“It would take approximately one-and-a-half to two full days for me to get everything collected, printed, copied, punched, assembled and ready to mail out,” said Bratton. “Those same reports that I’ve been receiving electronically can now be transferred from my desktop into the program’s portal, and I can organize them into the order we want.”
Bratton said the system is highly secure and has the capacity to store past meeting documents for as long as needed. It’s also user-friendly.
“You can call for an item in the agenda and hyperlink it to the actual documents within the board report itself,” Bratton said. For example, when the board is ready to approve the minutes of the previous meeting all they have to do is tap that section of the agenda to see those minutes.
A webinar explained how to use the system, and 24/7 support is available. Cade said he’s pleased with the reception the iPads have gotten from board members. “They’ve accepted it very well.”