The world’s board portal sector is expected to reach $34 billion by 2036, growing on average by 17.5% per year. Such increasing demand for board portals is understandable — especially with cyber risk expenses estimated to exceed $10.5 trillion by 2025.
Bob Kress, Managing Director at Accenture Securities, predicts that geopolitical tensions will increase the number of cyberattacks targeting corporate governance even further.
Consequently, these factors make reliable board meeting management software more important than ever.
For this reason, we’ve conducted a comprehensive assessment of board meeting software. So, let’s compare some of the leading providers on the market — such as Azeus Convene and Diligent Boards — in terms of their capabilities, pricing tiers, security features, and particular product offerings.
Overview of Azeus Convene and Diligent Boards
Let’s delve into the difference between Diligent Boards and Azeus Convene. We’ll explore their key features, benefits, drawbacks, pricing, and best use cases to help you determine which platform best suits your organization’s needs.
- Useful source: what is a board portal?
Diligent Boards
Diligent Boards, a leading Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) SaaS provider founded in 2001, offers comprehensive board management software. Trusted by over 700,000 directors and 25,000 organizations worldwide, it streamlines the entire board lifecycle.
This platform helps organizations manage and organize board meetings, from creating agendas and distributing materials to managing attendance, recording minutes, and facilitating discussions and approvals. Designed to enhance board communication and collaboration, Diligent Boards provides a suite of corporate governance tools.
Key features include:
- Secure document sharing and access control
- Real-time meeting tools for annotations, discussions, and committee evaluation templates
- AI-powered capabilities and easy-to-use workflow automation
- Integration with video conferencing platforms
- Advanced analytics and reporting
- Risk management tools
Azeus Convene
Azeus Convene is a powerful board management software designed to simplify board management and virtual meetings. Established in 1991, it has emerged as a global leader, catering to thousands of boards and committees across 100+ countries, including Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies.
This platform prioritizes a structured meeting flow, board governance, and document handling. In addition to the core software, Azeus Convene offers the following features and collaboration tools:
- Automated agenda builder
- Drag and drop upload
- Automated meeting invitations
- Secure rooms for confidential board documents
- Multi board management
- Electronic signatures
Azeus Convene vs Diligent: feature-by-feature comparison
After reviewing the differences between Diligent and Boardvantage, let’s now explore their functionalities in detail.
1. User interface and usability
Diligent Boards offers tools such as document annotation, secure messaging, and task management. However, board members may need additional training to utilize these features effectively.
In contrast, according to user reviews, Azeus Convene is said to have a simple and user-friendly interface. Thus, even less tech-savvy executives and meeting participants can quickly find all the necessary tools.
2. Document management and security
Both platforms offer secure document sharing solutions with industry-leading encryption standards, 2FA, ISO 27001 compliance, TLS, 256-bit AES-GCM encryption, and more.
Diligent Boards provides advanced document control tools such as version control, automatic expiration dates, and secure shredding.
Azeus Convene offers cloud hosting, biometric authentication, remote wipe, and role-based permissions for centralized protection.
3. Meeting management
Based on our observations, both vendors offer robust meeting management capabilities, including an agenda builder, easy meeting minutes creation, and quick setup of online meetings. Additionally, both provide secure electronic voting capabilities, polling tools, and action item tracking.
In addition to basic features,, Azeus Convene offers an intuitive document library and review room to organize meetings easily.
4. Integration and сompatibility
Diligent Boards is compatible with a variety of popular tools, including video conferencing platforms like MS Teams and Webex, calendars, file-sharing services, and business single sign-on (SSO) solutions.
On the other hand, Azeus Convene offers full integration opportunities. The platform’s partnership with CiT allows it to connect easily with Microsoft Teams, improving workflow efficiency.
Users may easily access and use popular Microsoft technologies including Active Directory for user management, Teams for video conferencing, Microsoft 365 for document creation and storage, and Outlook for calendar synchronization.
5. Support and training for user satisfaction
Diligent Boards is known for its personalized 24/7 customer service, ensuring clients have access to prompt assistance at any time. This vendor also offers comprehensive training resources, including live webinars, online tutorials, and dedicated customer success managers.
Azeus Convene customer support is also available to assist with any questions, concerns, or technical issues through various channels, including email, phone, and live chat. On its website, users can easily find helpful information, such as blogs, video library, whitepapers, and a knowledge base.
Pros and cons
Diligent and Azeus Convene are leading providers of board management software, each with its prominent strengths and weaknesses.
To help you choose the right platform for your organization, let’s compare the pros and cons of both solutions.
Diligent Boards
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy file sharing and communication Responsive support team Large storing space Online voting for action items High security D&O Questionnaire module Easy retrieving of archived materials | High price Issues with password recovery Slow loading and scrolling speed Hard to set up access control Limited customization capabilities Difficulties with Excel spreadsheets Users cannot edit documents in the Board book |
Azeus Convene
| Pros | Cons |
| Virtual laser pointer with page synchronization Easy voting capabilities Video integration tools Public and private annotations Post-meeting materials distribution Watermarking Copy restrictions Multi-platform capability | Cluttered interface Lack of OCR technology Limited to 8 video participants with their camera images No hyperlinking between documents Expensive Limited customization capabilities |
Pricing models and plans comparison
Reasonable price is a critical factor when selecting board management software. Both Diligent and Azeus Convene use different pricing strategies.
- Diligent does not publicly disclose its pricing. Instead, the pricing tiers vary based on the specific needs of each organization, including the number of users, required features, and the setup complexity. To obtain exact pricing information, potential customers must contact Diligent’s sales team.
- Azeus Convene offers a transparent pricing model based on a per-user and annual subscription. The vendor adapts various budgetary needs through customizable subscription plans. Also, Convene has no hidden costs, making it a potentially better alternative.
Neither platform publicly discloses its pricing, making it difficult to say which one is cheaper.
- Useful resources: board portal pricing comparison.
Use cases and ideal scenarios
Both Diligent Boards and Azeus Convene offer a range of tools, although they may be useful in different sectors.
Selecting the optimal board portal platform requires careful evaluation of your organization’s unique needs. Consider these factors:
- Size and complexity of your board
- Organization’s security requirements
- Desired level of integration with other systems
- Platform’s user interface
- Mobile accessibility
- Vendor’s reputation for customer support
With that in mind, let’s see who can benefit from Diligent:
- Highly regulated industries. Diligent’s customized features and risk management capabilities are useful for boards in healthcare, banking, and energy. These industries deal with complex regulations and require thorough risk mitigation measures.
- Non-standard governance structures. Boards with unique committee structures or unconventional workflows might prefer Diligent’s flexibility. Nonprofits and educational institutions, for example, may tailor the platform to their governance models.
- Collaboration-heavy boards. Diligent’s strong document management, secure messaging, and task management tools facilitate communication for boards that rely significantly on real-time information sharing and collective decision-making. Highly dynamic sectors such as technology or media may prefer this vendor.
Let’s see in what situations Azeus Convene may be a better choice.
- Organizations with frequent board meetings. Its features, such as efficient agenda building, document sharing, and task assignment, are tailored to organizations with regular board meetings. Industries like retail, hospitality, and consumer goods can benefit from those tools.
- Smaller to medium-sized organizations. Convene’s user-friendly interface and focus on core meeting functionalities make it suitable for businesses that prioritize simplicity without sacrificing essential features. For instance, startups, non-profits, and family-owned businesses may prefer this board portal provider.
- Collaboration-centric boards. Technology, media, and consultancy companies prioritize real-time collaboration. To improve collaboration within the board, Azeus Convene provides a variety of interactive tools such as live Q&A, chat, and annotation capabilities.
Explore an alternative solution: iDeals Board
While Diligent Boards and Azeus Convene are strong competitors in the board portal market, iDeals Board offers an alternative solution. Based on user reviews, iDeals Board boasts a wide feature set, a strong security focus, and an exceptional user-centric experience.
iDeals Board makes board meetings effortless with a centralized dashboard, sophisticated document management tools, and integrated meeting management capabilities.
Beyond board operations, iDeals Board offers a strong level of protection, with features like multi-factor authentication and granular permissions.
Now, let’s delve into a comparison of iDeals Board with Diligent and Azeus Convene.
| Feature | iDeals Board | Diligent | Azeus Convene |
| Security | Multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, access control | Multi-factor authentication, encryption, user activity monitoring | Multi-factor authentication, encryption, user activity monitoring, role-based access control, multi-level document encryption |
| Dashboard | Yes, it includes upcoming meetings, tasks, document links, progress tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Document search | Global search across documents, meetings, and agendas, with a search history | Search across documents | Full-text search, advanced filters, search history |
| Meetings management | Quick setup, pre-filled details, group invitations, time zone detection | Scheduling, integrations | Scheduling, automated reminders, integration with calendar systems |
| Agenda and board book | Table of contents, private and public commenting and highlighting, document signing, search | Templates, attachments, voting | Customizable templates, version control, annotations, voting |
| Voting | Unanimous and individual, multiple motions, results display | Unanimous and individual, multiple motions | Electronic voting, real-time results |
| Minutes management | Note-taking, export (PDF/DOCX), external upload, approval timestamps | Note-taking, export, approval | Automated minute generation, AI-powered summarization, approval workflow |
| Documents management | Drag and drop upload, bulk upload, progress bar, 50+ formats, access control, annotations | Search, upload, annotations | Version control, secure sharing, bulk upload, document expiration |
| Support | 24/7 phone and email support | 24/7 support | 24/7 support, dedicated account manager, training |
| Ease of use | Intuitive interface, seamless experience | May require training | User-friendly interface, mobile optimization |
Conclusions
In summary, consider these key factors when choosing the board portal software:
- Align features with the needs, size, and specifics of your company.
- Prioritize security and compliance with legal regulations.
- Consider options with transparent pricing without hidden costs.
- Focus on user experience and whether the solution is user-friendly for boards with different technical skills.
- Explore reviews and feedback to measure user satisfaction.
- Ensure the platform accommodates future growth in your board’s structure or complexity.
Additionally, capturing detailed end user information on software satisfaction is crucial for evaluating and comparing board portal solutions.
Our website provides a complete comparison of the top board portal providers. This guide’s insights will help you effortlessly find the right fit. Explore each platform in further depth: visit their websites, take advantage of free trials or demos, and don’t hesitate to contact them with specific concerns