Directors Desk eBay Case Study

Acquired by eBay Inc. in 2011, GSI is a leading provider of ecommerce and interactive marketing services for the world’s premier brands and retailers. GSI offers a broad solutions suite designed to power each aspect of a merchant’s online business and effectively integrate with their other channels. GSI’s advanced technology, fulfillment, customer care and interactive marketing services enable its clients to elevate the consumer experience and cost-effectively sustain it over time.

DIRECTORS DESK SITUATION ANALYSIS Tracey Cappellazzo Mastropoalo, Board of Directors Coordinator at eBay, manages a global board and hosts multiple meetings per month. After a few years of using an internal board portal for meetings, she found herself growing frustrated over the amount of time it took to execute tasks. Aside from the fact that she was using an outdated system, it required extensive human labor to operate and was costly with thousands being spent on board book assembly expenses. Additionally, constant email exchange of large files would often cause computers to crash which meant downtime while waiting for new computers to arrive and be set up. There was also the need to have IT present at all times since the system was not intuitive and required administrative rights to manage. In an environment where changes are frequent, timing is unpredictable and key stakeholders have little to no bandwidth, labor intensive processes are simply not an option.

Overwhelmed, Mastropoalo knew that there had to be an efficient, centralized, and secure board portal out there.

CHALLENGE Working in a board of directors’ environment, one must be prepared to manage multiple tasks in a timely manner, while ensuring ultimate security to all involved. Managing sensitive information such as company financials, product information, and personal details of board members, one must guarantee that whatever platform is used is capable of meeting each need and requirement.

The existing portal being used was secure in that it was internally hosted but what was often overlooked was the fact that printed materials are susceptible to being picked up by anyone which poses a high risk for confidential, internal information to be comprised. Private and sensitive documents were emailed via unsecured hosted channels, causing another high risk for information theft.

In addition to security, cost was another high level concern. With last minute changes being made to documents, board books would need to be reprinted and bound, leaving the existing ones to be properly discarded. Not only was time and cost an issue on eBay’s part, but it was also an issue for the directors and their assistants as well, as the assistants frequently and regularly printed out and bound the board materials. For those residing in different time zones, timing was a challenge as well since some of the offices would have to work late into the evenings which contributed to additional costs for labor, printing and supplies to ensure their directors received the most current version of the materials for the meetings.

Knowing that her demands were only growing and that time was of essence, Mastropoalo liaised with her IT department to find a new solution.

THE SOLUTION As part of an extensive due diligence process, Mastropoalo came across NASDAQ OMX Directors Desk online. Knowing that NASDAQ OMX is the world’s largest exchange company, Mastropoalo says she felt “safe” choosing Directors Desk. From her point of view, competitors did not have the technological capability and high level of security that NASDAQ OMX offered.

Additionally, Directors Desk interface was intuitive and adaptable. It had a similar look and feel to the Windows based applications used on a daily basis and would be easy to introduce to board members. It also had an iPad application that would allow board members to participate in meetings wherever and whenever. The iPad application provided streamlined document flow and real time communications, easily allowing board members to stay updated on time sensitive information as well as being able to make notations to materials while reviewing them on their iPad to be later discussed during the meetings.

“WHITE-GLOVE” CUSTOMER SERVICE We view each customer relationship as a partnership. From the start, Mastropoalo was able to form a strong relationship with the product owner, Kevin Asuncion, and customer service representatives. Together they worked on understanding the needs and requirements to facilitate Mastropoalo’s workload. The implementation process is a tailored and highly customized approach to deploying the Directors Desk solution to the Company and their Board. It can be best summarized in three phases.

PHASE I: Project Planning and System Setup – During this phase, a kick-off call is conducted between the company’s administrators and our Implementation Manager. On this call we discuss the timing of the implementation and gather information in order to create the account.

PHASE II: Administrative Training, Pre-Launch and Content Creation – Once the account has been branded and setup to the company’s specifications, we conduct Administrator training and provide them with in-depth working knowledge of the system.

PHASE III: Board Presentation and Director Training – Director Training is typically done via group web or phone sessions with both Directors and Key Executives. We also offer a Board Presentation if needed to introduce the Board to their portal.

With our highly skilled support teams, we promise to deliver a high quality of service and support to all of our users. Representatives such as Edna Leach and Matt Kenney, engage with customers’ needs whenever they arise.

Ultimate customer service is a key element and driving force in our business model. Our engagement with customers goes far beyond the implementation stage. We aim to be with our customers each step of the way, making their journey ours as well. From Implementation to Support to Product Development, all of these teams work seamlessly to deliver best-in-class Service to all of our clients world-wide.

BULK UPLOAD AND DELETE Unlike other portals that are used solely for board meetings and often lack a high level of security, Directors Desk allows users to use the portal as a content repository. Users are able to take all historical data and save it for future review in a safe environment. No longer does one have to worry that sensitive documents might be viewed or lost because everything is saved in a cloud environment via Directors Desk. Various users have asked Mastropoalo to make their confidential materials available and secure on Directors Desk, making it easy to locate historical data for future use versus saving paper documents in a filing cabinet.

With the bulk and upload functionality, users are able to create an effective and secure content repository by the click of a button.

THE OUTCOME Mastropoalo and her team are now able to manage board meetings knowing all documents are stored in a secure environment and meetings can take place remotely, saving time, money and resources. Now board members can log into meetings anywhere in the world, via the Directors Desk iPad app and participate seamlessly. Mastropoalo can check her iPad at any point in time and determine exactly where the meeting is according to the agenda while also relieving the amount of time and paperwork usually involved in managing a board. Documents can be signed from wherever in the world via the digital signature feature. Lastly, Mastropoalo and her team can now have secure and streamlined board meetings, wherever and whenever.

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