Frequently asked questions

The same answers as the designed FAQ page, in plain text.

What is Smart-Board.ai?

Smart-Board.ai is board governance software — a board portal — for UK small and mid-sized companies, charities and their committees. It holds meeting agendas, board packs, minutes, decisions and actions in one place, with a full audit trail of who published, approved, opened and downloaded what.

How much does board portal software cost in the UK?

Smart-Board.ai costs £100 per month for up to 5 seats, £180 per month for up to 15 seats and £350 per month for up to 50 seats, in GBP excluding VAT, with one subscription per organisation and unlimited meetings, committees, board packs and storage on every plan. Above 50 seats is priced individually.

Is there a free trial, and will I be charged automatically?

Yes. You get six months free on the full Enterprise feature set, with no card required and no automatic charge when the trial ends. If you decide not to subscribe, your workspace becomes read-only rather than being deleted, so your board records are preserved.

Is it suitable for a charity board or board of trustees?

Yes. Charities and trusts are one of our two core sectors. Trustee boards get the same agenda, board pack, minutes and action tracking as company boards, plus sub-committee support for finance, audit and remuneration committees, and role-based access so co-opted members only see the boards and committees they sit on.

What is the difference between this and running board meetings on email and shared drives?

Email and shared drives leave no reliable record. Smart-Board.ai produces one approved, versioned board pack per meeting, shows who has opened it, keeps annotations and questions with the paper rather than in inboxes, and tracks every decision and action to closure. Papers can only be circulated once a chair or secretary approves them.

How are board packs approved and circulated?

A pack moves through draft, submitted for review, approved and circulated. The secretary or administrator assembles and submits it, an approver (typically the chair or company secretary) reviews and approves it, and circulation notifies board members by email and in-app. Every step is written to the audit trail, and packs are versioned so a re-issue is visible.

How do minutes work?

Minutes are upload-first: you upload the board's own PDF minutes in whatever format the board uses, and Smart-Board.ai keeps revisions and moves them through draft, out for review and approved. Decisions and actions arising are tracked as separate structured registers and can be appended to the minutes as an annexe.

How are actions chased?

Actions have an owner and a due date, and owners receive an email digest of overdue actions and actions due within three days. Each person chooses their own cadence: daily, weekly, monthly or never. It is a digest, not intra-day nagging.

Can one person sit on boards at several different companies?

Yes. Non-executive directors and trustees who serve several organisations see all of their boards grouped by company, and their notifications, actions, meetings and board packs are consolidated across every membership. Access is enforced per board, so nobody sees a company or board they are not a member of.

How secure is it, and where is data held?

Access is role-based and enforced at the database level, two-factor authentication is available for every account, board documents are stored privately and opened through expiring secure links, and every view, download, approval and comment is recorded in an audit trail. Data is processed in the UK and EU region of our hosting provider.

Who do I buy from, and how is payment taken?

Your contract is with SMART-BOARD.AI LTD, registered in England & Wales. Payments are processed by Paddle, who act as merchant of record and handle VAT at checkout. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.

What does the AI board-readiness score mean?

It is an optional review of a single paper that scores it against board-level quality dimensions — clarity of the decision asked for, evidence, options, risk and financial impact — and returns specific recommendations. It is guidance to improve a paper before circulation, not professional advice and not a substitute for the board's judgement.

What happens to our board papers when the AI review runs?

Papers stay in your own workspace. When a review runs, the text of that paper is sent to our AI provider solely to produce the score and recommendations, and it is not used to train any AI model. Nothing is shared with other customers, the review is optional and per-document, and the resulting score is visible only to people who can already see that paper.

Do you sell or share who uses the platform?

No. Membership is confidential. There is no public directory of organisations or people, and nobody can look up whether a person has an account.