The first stage in any due diligence process is reviewing alternative options to the status quo. You may be wondering how you can save money and still keep the same level of functionality in your current meeting software or processes. This is where Convene can help you out. 

We are affordable, practical and now also available fully integrated with Microsoft Teams

With the pandemic forcing us to shift the ways we work, remote or hybrid meetings have become the new normal and a Board Portal solution facilitates this simply. You should make sure your chosen provider can enable a seamless virtual board meeting for your organisation. This not only makes the lives of your administrative teams easier, but it also makes for more efficient and effective meetings themselves.

Below we have gathered some of the key reasons why a number of new Convene customers made the switch from other board portal providers. They are:

  1. Cost
  2. Functionality
  3. Usablity
  4. Performance
  5. Scalability
  6. Security 
  7. Support

1. Cost

No matter how diligent or intelligent other board portals claim to be, they can’t match us on cost. We offer a premium product at a competitive price. Our product includes all the features (+ extras) you’d expect from a top of the range board portal solution, at a market leading price.

Our integration with Teams is also more cost-effective than our competitors. We are the first Board Portal solution to offer full integration with Microsoft Teams, that means you can use all of our features seamlessly in tandem with Microsoft’s wide range of applications. 

Furthermore, if you are a not-for-profit or charitable organisation with a limited budget, we would be happy to offer your organisation a different quotation to help streamline your meeting processes too.

If you are interested in getting a quote for your organisation, get in touch here.

2. Functionality


First and foremost, you need your board portal to have wide ranging functionality. Convene has a complete range of purpose-built features to meet the planning, hosting and action stages of your meetings.

From scheduling a meeting, designing an agenda, dragging-and-dropping relevant files, to our varied presentation tools, to post meeting minutes and action distribution, we have got your end-to-end meeting processes covered.

Visit our key features page to find out more.

3. Usability


We know your Board members, Trustees and other members of your executive teams have differing levels of technological literacy, so we ensured our user interface is clear and simple to operate.

We also have a wide variety of accessibility features including text-to-voice capabilities so every member of your team can benefit from Convene. Software should be inclusive, especially in this modern era of remote working!

Convene consistently receives great feedback from customers about how intuitive and easy to use our product is. In fact, this is the very reason we were named the Best Board Portal of 2021 by the Data Quadrant Awards. To read some examples of how simple Convene is to use, read our customer success stories from National Education Union & Tesco PLC.

4. Performance


When you are running executive and board level meetings you need software which runs smoothly and can handle large files and volumes of data. Convene is a trusted, stable and secure board portal system that can support your organisation to run more efficient meetings. We offer role-based user management and everything, including creating a Boa is possible with just a few simple quicks.

Our system runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) which features 99% monthly uptime. This includes their top of the range S3 Data Protection Agreement which is designed to provide 99.999999999% durability and 99.99% availability of objects over a given year.

5. Scalability


Convene is more than just a board portal company. Our parent company, Azeus Systems Ltd, is an established IT services provider with over 25 years’ experience in successfully delivering IT solutions across the world.

This means we have a team of developers who are ready to work with your IT department to ensure Convene is fully compatible with your internal IT policies.

But don’t just take our word for it, Azeus Systems Ltd is a CMMI Level 5 company. This means our processes are ‘stable and flexible’ and we are an organisation that is ‘focused on continuous improvement and is built to pivot and respond to opportunity and change. The organization’s stability provides a platform for agility and innovation.’

We are able to develop new features and enhancements specific to you and your organisation. We now even offer our Board Portal product fully integrated with Microsoft Teams so all your employees can benefit from more productive meetings. 

6. Security


Convene’s internal and external processes and practices are regularly audited to be compliant with the following industry standards: AICPA SOC 2, ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018. Our BCP and DR procedures are aligned with ISO 22301. Also we offer Convene both as an on-premise, and cloud based board portal solution.

We understand your security concerns around data are related to both internal and external access. That’s why Convene has a range of granular access controls and full audit-trail functionality to ensure compliance with GDPR and other regulatory commitments

To find out more about our market leading security features and security FAQs, visit our security page here.

7. Support

In the first instance, our Customer Success team will be on hand to provide all the onboarding and training your administrators and users need to feel comfortable using Convene. Once your organisation is up and running, Convene offers continued support 24/7, 365 days of the year, for any specific issue that may arise.

We also have a Customer only LinkedIn group, to meet other Convene customers, discuss how you use Convene, and share best practices.


These are just a few big picture reasons why more and more of you are choosing Convene. If you have any questions about any of the above, or want to get in touch with one of our sales team to hear about how Convene can support your organisation's meeting process, don't hesitate to get in touch or book a free trial today.

Gabriella Mangham

Written by Gabriella Mangham

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