10 Apr 2008
Boards Increasingly Moving to Online Communications: Thomson BoardLink Captures Three More Fortune 500 Clients
Completes SysTrust Security Audit and Introduces Additional Workflow Tools
New York, NY
Thomson Financial, an operating unit of The Thomson Corporation and a leading provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community, today announced a list of new clients for Thomson BoardLink™ - the highly secure, cost-effective and easy-to-use board portal that offers directors timely access to critical company information, resulting in improved oversight and reduced risk.
The new customers – AutoNation (NYSE: AN, #122), First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF, #289), and Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP, #386) – all members of the Fortune 500, recognize the need for technology to support secure board communications.
In addition to the new clients, Thomson BoardLink also recently completed a SysTrust Audit. The SysTrust program was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) to test a company's ability to deliver in areas including security, integrity and maintainability. A SysTrust audit is based on a predefined set of principles and criteria which have been developed specifically to address key business needs. Thomson BoardLink has been certified on the security and confidentiality principles.
"External third party audits provide current and prospective customers with an additional sense of comfort that the product they are purchasing will be reviewed on a periodic basis," said Marc DeCastro, VP of MIS at Eastern Bank and a Thomson BoardLink client. "The SysTrust audit seemed to be the most logical choice for the BoardLink application."
Designed specifically to address the needs of corporate secretaries and directors, Thomson BoardLink is a powerful and secure online collaboration tool that enables authorized users to gain seamless access to business and financial information. Thomson Financial continuously leverages the latest technologies to enhance BoardLink with additional tools and functionality, including the introduction of the following new features:
Board Evaluations enabling directors and corporate secretaries to:
- Create highly customized surveys for the full board, committees, or individual directors
- Conduct secure board evaluations over the web from any location at any time
- Monitor progress of the evaluation and quickly compile the results for analysis and presentation to the board
Information Rights Management, utilizing Oracle technology, allows boards to:
- Protect documents saved on laptops or computers outside the walls of the organization
- Store files on laptops in an encrypted state, and in any folder you choose
- Enable viewing of board materials in their native file format, both online and offline
- Prevent forwarded documents from unauthorized access
- Revoke access to documents at any time and adhere to document retention policies
"Thomson is an established, trusted partner with a long track record of meeting the communication and information needs of public and private companies," said Greg Radner, senior vice president of Corporate Communications Services at Thomson Financial. "The rapid adoption of Thomson BoardLink by Fortune 500 companies reinforces our goal of delivering technologies that promote more efficient and effective board communications. We are committed to continuously enhancing BoardLink to provide our clients with sophisticated capabilities while leveraging leading-edge security technologies."
With Thomson BoardLink, clients are able to leverage the secure portal to:
- Streamline the task of communicating with geographically disparate board members
- Ease the difficulty of scheduling board and committee meetings
- Enable the secure distribution of proprietary corporate information
- Allow for the remote (online) approval of documents by corporate directors
- Access a deep reference library of third-party resources, including Sarbanes-Oxley background and industry best practices, as well as information from proprietary Thomson Financial sources such as First Call analyst reports and earnings conference call transcripts.
About Thomson Financial
Thomson Financial, with 2007 revenues of US$2.2 billion, is a provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Through the widest range of products and services in the industry, Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 100 countries make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results. Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a global leader in providing essential electronic workflow solutions to business and professional customers. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to professionals in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, scientific research and healthcare.
Thomson Financial Corporate Services
Maximize the value of your company with Thomson Financial’s suite of corporate solutions across the Investor Relations, Corporate Communications, Treasury and Corporate Finance functions. Leveraging more than two decades of experience serving the global corporate marketplace, our solutions are designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your daily workflow to help you reach business decisions quickly and with confidence. Backed by knowledgeable client service professionals dedicated to proactive outreach and training, Thomson Financial is the partner of choice for more than 5,000 corporations worldwide.
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