In today’s fast-paced corporate world, effective board management is crucial for smooth decision-making and organizational governance. Managing board meetings, documents, and communications manually can be time-consuming, error-prone, and insecure. This is where board management software comes in.
Two of the most popular platforms in this space are Diligent and OnBoard. Both are designed to help organizations streamline meetings, securely share sensitive documents, and improve collaboration among board members. However, each platform has its unique strengths. Diligent is known for its enterprise-level security and compliance features, while OnBoard stands out for its intuitive interface and ease of use.
This article provides a detailed comparison of Diligent and OnBoard, helping you understand which platform best fits your organization’s needs.
What is Diligent?
Diligent is a high-end board management platform that helps organizations simplify and organize their governance processes. It is built for teams that prioritize security, compliance, and operational efficiency, providing a range of tools designed to support enterprise-level decision-making and collaboration. Trusted by board members and executives globally, Diligent ensures meetings and documents are managed in a secure and efficient manner.
Key Features:
- Smart Meeting Preparation: Diligent provides tools to simplify agenda creation and meeting materials, helping directors access concise, actionable insights quickly.
- Complete Meeting Management: The platform allows boards to create agendas, share documents, conduct votes and polls, track tasks, and communicate in real time, ensuring smooth collaboration during meetings.
- Enhanced Security: With features like multi-factor authentication, data encryption, and secure document sharing, sensitive board information remains protected at all times.
- Insightful Reporting and Analytics: Users can generate custom reports and real-time analytics, enabling better decision-making and stronger governance oversight.
- Compliance and Risk Oversight: Diligent helps track compliance, manage audits, and oversee ESG initiatives, supporting organizations in meeting regulatory requirements and governance standards.
Target Audience
Diligent is ideal for organizations that need strong governance and security features, including:
- Large Enterprises: Companies that demand high-level security and strict compliance for their board operations.
- Government Agencies: Organizations that must follow rigorous regulatory and oversight standards.
- Nonprofit Organizations: Boards looking for efficient tools to manage governance while maintaining transparency and accountability.
Benefits of Diligent
- Improved Efficiency: Automates tasks like meeting preparation and minute-taking, saving time and reducing administrative workload.
- Better Collaboration: Enables secure communication and document sharing, allowing board members to work together seamlessly, even remotely.
- Informed Decision-Making: Provides analytics and reporting tools that help leaders make data-driven and strategic decisions.
- Regulatory Compliance: Assists organizations in maintaining governance standards and adhering to regulatory requirements, reducing risk.
What are Onboards?
OnBoard is an AI-powered board management platform designed to simplify complex governance tasks. It provides tools for meeting preparation, document management, real-time collaboration, and compliance tracking, all within a secure environment. Trusted by organizations worldwide, including nonprofits, healthcare institutions, and educational entities, OnBoard seeks to transform traditional board meeting processes into efficient, digital workflows.
Key Features of OnBoard
- Agenda & Minutes Builder: Easily create, edit, and distribute meeting agendas and minutes.
- Document Management: Securely store, organize, and share board materials.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Annotate documents, track changes, and participate in discussions within the platform.
- Voting & Surveys: Seamlessly conduct votes and surveys to collect board member input.
- Task Tracking: Assign tasks and monitor progress to ensure accountability.
- Zoom Integration: Host virtual meetings directly on the platform for better connectivity.
- Minutes AI: Leverage AI-powered tools to generate meeting minutes quickly and accurately.
Target Audience for OnBoard
OnBoard serves a wide variety of organizations, including:
- Nonprofits: Supporting strong governance and compliance in mission-driven organizations.
- Healthcare Institutions: Helping manage complex regulatory requirements and board activities.
- Educational Institutions: Streamlining board operations in schools, colleges, and universities.
- Financial Services: Ensuring secure and efficient board management in financial organizations.
- Government Agencies: Promoting transparent and accountable governance processes.
Benefits of OnBoard
- Increased Efficiency: Streamlines routine tasks, minimizing manual work and saving time.
- Better Collaboration: Enables smooth communication and secure document sharing among board members.
- Strong Security: Provides enterprise-level security features, including encryption and two-factor authentication, to safeguard sensitive data.
- Regulatory Compliance: Supports organizations in meeting compliance requirements with audit trails and secure document management.
- Intuitive Interface: User-friendly design ensures quick adoption by board members and administrators.
Comparing Diligent vs OnBoard
Let’s break down the differences between Diligent and OnBoard to help you decide which platform suits your organization. We’ll look at key areas such as automation, reporting, pricing, ease of use, and support.
| Aspect | Diligent | OnBoard |
| Automation Capabilities | Automates governance tasks like meeting agendas, workflow approvals, document distribution, reminders, and notifications. Ideal for reducing manual effort and maintaining compliance. | AI-powered automation generates meeting agendas and minutes, tracks tasks, and suggests action items. Saves time and helps boards focus on decision-making. |
| Reporting Capabilities | Comprehensive enterprise reporting: tracks board activity, document access, resolutions, and compliance. Dashboards visualize engagement, voting trends, and operational metrics. Audit trails support regulatory compliance. | Real-time dashboards show task progress, meeting attendance, and engagement. Customizable reports and AI-generated meeting minutes provide actionable insights. Data can be filtered by committees, members, or meetings. |
| Pricing | Customized per organization based on size, board members, and features. Best for enterprises with high security and compliance needs. | Customized based on users, features, and organization type. Flexible and accessible for mid-sized boards seeking AI efficiency. |
| Ease of Use | Feature-rich with a steeper learning curve. Best suited for boards with complex governance needs. | Intuitive and user-friendly. AI features and clear navigation allow quick adoption, even for non-tech-savvy users. |
| Support | Managed onboarding, dedicated support teams, structured training, webinars, and guides. Ensures effective implementation and compliance. | Live onboarding, chat support, AI-assisted help, learning resources. Higher-tier plans include personalized support and dedicated success teams. |
| Ideal For | Large enterprises, government agencies, highly regulated sectors requiring robust compliance and reporting. | Organizations seeking AI-driven automation, simplified workflows, and time-saving board management with intuitive design. |
Conclusion: Diligent vs OnBoard
Diligent is the go-to solution for large, highly regulated organizations and government agencies that demand top-tier compliance, advanced reporting, and full governance control. While it comes with a steeper learning curve, it delivers unmatched reliability and oversight for complex board operations.
OnBoard is a sleek, AI-powered platform designed to make board management effortless. By automating agendas, minutes, and task tracking, it helps mid-sized organizations, nonprofits, healthcare institutions, and educational boards save time while boosting collaboration and efficiency.
Bottom Line:
- Go with Diligent if your focus is on rock-solid compliance, top-notch security, and enterprise-level governance.
- Choose OnBoard if you value smart automation, effortless usability, and time-saving collaboration for your board.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Diligent refers to a board management platform designed to help organizations streamline their governance processes. It provides a secure, centralized environment where board members can access meeting materials, prepare agendas, review documents, collaborate in real time, and track compliance. The platform is especially suited for large enterprises, government agencies, and highly regulated industries that require robust security and oversight. With features like document management, voting, reporting, and automated workflows, Diligent helps boards reduce administrative burden, improve efficiency, and make well-informed decisions while maintaining strict governance standards.
Diligent BoardEffect is a board management solution that helps organizations streamline governance. It offers secure access to meeting materials, agendas, and documents, enables collaboration, tracks compliance, and provides reporting tools to monitor board performance. It’s widely used by nonprofits, healthcare, education, and corporate boards to improve efficiency and accountability.
You can find the youtube link below to get more details on how to use Diligent.
Diligent & Leadership Collaboration
Diligent Software is a privately owned company under Diligent Corporation, with ownership held by a consortium of private equity firms: Insight Partners, Blackstone, and Clearlake Capital. Insight Partners first took Diligent private in 2016, and Clearlake and Blackstone later joined as investors. The platform is widely used for secure board management, and as of 2024, these firms are reportedly exploring a potential sale of the company.
OnBoard is a board management software company that provides a cloud-based platform to streamline governance and improve board collaboration. It offers features like meeting management, document sharing, e-signatures, compliance tracking, and analytics. Trusted by thousands of organizations worldwide, OnBoard combines user-friendly design with enterprise-grade security and AI-driven tools. The platform is widely used across nonprofits, healthcare, education, and corporate boards to simplify decision-making and enhance board efficiency.
Diligent offers offline access to board materials through its mobile and desktop applications. To use Diligent offline, follow these steps:
Download the Diligent App: Install the Diligent app on your iPad, iPhone, or Windows device.
Sign In and Access Materials: Open the app and sign in to your account. Navigate to the relevant Workroom and select the Meeting Book you wish to access.
Download for Offline Use: Tap ‘View Book’ to download the Meeting Book to your device. Ensure you have an active internet connection during the download process.
Work Offline: Once downloaded, you can view the Meeting Book and add annotations even without an internet connection. Any changes made offline will sync automatically when you reconnect to the internet.
Please note that offline access requires prior downloading of materials and may have certain limitations, such as the inability to access real-time updates or perform certain actions without an internet connection. Ensure your device meets the minimum system requirements for optimal performance.
