Members get iPads as USC changes how it distributes documents
Over the past few years, USC’s board of trustees has had its share of inefficiencies.
In anticipation of meetings, the university mailed its members — there are 22 in all, including three ex officio members — stacks of papers, from background information to confidential proposed contracts, said Amy Stone, the board’s secretary.
“Certainly as you’re preparing for a meeting, you’re going to do a lot of reading and a lot of homework,” Stone said.
But earlier this month, after a year of researching vendors and taking bids, it made moves toward a digital process, and at an information-only briefing meeting, it introduced an online “board portal” and gave trustees new iPads on which to access it.
It’s more efficient, Stone said, quicker than relatively slow mailings, and easier to get to, as well. It’ll be accessible on the university-provided iPads and members’ personal and work computers online.
In all, the service will cost somewhere between $36,000 and $38,000, Stone said. That includes the service, hosted by the New York–based Diligent Board Member Services, Inc. and $300-a-month Verizon wireless coverage for them, though a more detailed breakdown or information on how much mailing documents had cost wasn’t immediately available Wednesday.
USC’s starting the program with a one-year contract with Diligent Board Member Services, Inc., though Stone said she’s “confident going in” that the board will stick with the company beyond that.
Its first test will come next month, at a Dec. 18 board meeting, which Stone acknowledged probably won’t be entirely paperless, as board members get used to the new technology.
“It’ll take us a few months to get everybody comfortable, but we think it’s something that’ll happen pretty smoothly,” Stone said.
The effort accounts for much of a 24-percent increase in the board’s annual budget. This year, $776,976 was allocated for the board, a jump of $150,000 from the 2012 fiscal year, according to data provided by university spokesman Wes Hickman.
Those new funds include $ 40,000 for technology upgrades and $10,000 for technology support, along with $60,000 to pay for an additional eight meetings, including committee meetings, and $40,000 for a new staff member that will focus on the board of visitors, Hickman said.
The overall increase was intended to cut down on how much the board office uses in one-time funds, Hickman said; in each of the past five years, it’s taken more than $100,000 of such money, according to the data.
Last year, it spent $794,301, well above its initial allocation of $626,976. Most of it — just above $600,000 — paid for salaries and fringe benefits in the board’s office, which employs four people full-time and another part-time. How much one-time funding the board office will ultimately use this year won’t be known until the fiscal year ends next summer.