The insurance industry is rapidly adopting mobile technology as enterprise use of tablets, smartphones and phablets (fusion of smartphone and tablet technologies) becomes commonplace. In fact, Gartner estimates that enterprises will use 53 million tablets by 2016, tripling since 2013. On a daily basis, the insurance industry uses mobile solutions for policy underwriting, claims adjusting and property value estimates. And now this trend has reached insurance boards of directors–the governing bodies responsible for the company's overall directly and ultimately accountable to its shareholders. Using board portals, insurance boards are going paperless to address inefficient communications, weak document security and high costs.

An intuitive interface drives adoption by directors
Two-third of public companies report that their boards are using board portals, up from 41% in 2011, according to Deloitte's most recent Board Practices Report. While early adopters began using online board portals as early as 2003, tablets and apps have been quickly and widely adopted by a new generation of board portal users. Directors may have a personal iPad, but extending that use into the workplace presents a new and daunting challenge. For it to be effective, a board portal must not ensure a book-reading  experience, but be easy to use so that fears and skepticism are quickly converted into appreciation and delight.

Insurance companies considering transitioning from paper-based or emailed-PDF process to board portals must view them as a smart investment if the solution helps directors read, annotate and engage with board materials more conveniently and securely than the status quo. Like all communication of sensitive information, the solution must be highly secure and easily accessible regardless of a director's location or access to a Wi-Fi connection. The board portal provider also should offer  individualized training and seamless execution. Ultimately the portal needs to address and alleviate the crucial challenges faced by insurance company directors.