Guide
Board portals vs. single-purpose AI tools: what directors actually need.
Board portals were built for the secretariat: distributing packs, collecting signatures, storing minutes. AI tools like Brief and Minutes sit on the other side of the table — with the individual director reading the pack or writing it up afterwards. This guide sets out where each fits, and when they overlap.
01
What is a board portal?
A board portal is a document distribution and governance platform for the company secretary or board administrator. Typical products include Diligent, BoardEffect, Nasdaq Boardvantage, Convene, and Azeus. They handle pack circulation, e-signatures, resolutions, minutes archives, and — increasingly — entity management for group structures.
They are strong at what they were built for: getting the right documents to the right people, with an audit trail. Pricing typically starts in the low thousands per year per board and scales up quickly for group structures.
02
What is a single-purpose AI tool?
A single-purpose AI tool does one job for one person. Brief takes the board pack you were sent — however it arrived — and returns a focused, role-aware briefing in eight sections with an entity-level health rating. Minutes drafts board minutes from a pack, an audio recording, or a short manual wizard.
There is no document library, no signature workflow, no committee module. Just the piece of work a director actually does — reading a pack, or writing it up afterwards. The pack and the output are deleted within 60 minutes.
03
Side by side
A fair comparison. Portals and AI tools solve different problems; most directors will end up using both.
| Traditional board portal | Prospero (Brief / Minutes) | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Company secretary / board admin | Individual director or advisor |
| Setup time | Weeks — provisioning, training, entity setup | Minutes — sign in and upload a pack |
| Indicative pricing | £3k–£30k+ per year per board | Brief £79/mo · Minutes £99/mo |
| Data retention | Documents retained for the life of the board | Deleted within 60 minutes; audit hash only |
| Personal data handling | Stored as sent | Brief redacts PII before AI processing |
| Where AI processing runs | Varies by vendor | EU (Google Vertex AI) |
| Complexity | Platform: many modules, admin overhead | One tool, one job |
| Best for | Group structures, listed entities, regulated boards | NEDs, advisors, smaller boards, committees |
04
When a board portal still makes sense
- You're the company secretary of a listed or regulated entity — distribution, e-signatures and audit trails are part of your statutory workload.
- You run a group structure with dozens of boards and committees and need centralised entity management.
- Your regulator or auditor expects a formal document management platform for board materials.
- You have a full-time secretariat function that can absorb setup, admin and licence cost.
05
When a director-side AI tool fits better
- You're a non-executive director or advisor reading packs across several unrelated boards — no shared portal will follow you across them.
- The board is small enough that email or a shared drive already handles distribution well; a portal would be overhead, not help.
- Your priority is the work you personally do — reading a pack fast, drafting minutes accurately — not distribution.
- You need to keep personal data out of AI systems and want a deletion-by-default posture rather than a document archive.
The two aren't mutually exclusive. Many of our users receive packs through a portal and process them through Brief — the portal handles distribution, the AI tool handles the reading.
FAQ
Common questions
What is a board portal?
A board portal is a document distribution and collaboration platform used by company secretaries and boards to circulate packs, gather signatures, run votes, and store minutes. Diligent, BoardEffect, Nasdaq Boardvantage, Convene and Azeus are typical examples.
Do I need a board portal as an NED?
Not necessarily. If the entities you serve already run a portal, you'll receive an account. If they don't — or if you sit on smaller boards, committees or advisory groups — a portal is often overkill. A director-side AI tool sits alongside whatever distribution method your board already uses.
Is Prospero a replacement for Diligent or BoardEffect?
No. Prospero is director-side, not secretariat-side. A portal distributes the pack; Prospero helps the individual director read it. The two coexist — many of our users receive packs through a portal and process them through Brief.
Where does my data go?
Uploaded packs are processed in the EU (Google Vertex AI). Brief redacts personal data before any AI processing. Packs and generated briefings are deleted from our servers within 60 minutes; we retain an audit hash only.
How much does it cost?
Indicative post-beta pricing: Brief £79/month or £790/year; Minutes £99/month or £990/year. Beta access is free and no payment details are taken.