How NSM Funds streamlined board reporting and raised the bar on client service

At a glance

The challenge

A growing business, fragmented systems, and not enough time for value-add work

NSM Funds' company secretarial teams do far more than build board packs. They attend meetings, publish regulatory announcements and filings, and support clients on governance matters. Board pack preparation is essential, but it's one task among many. When it takes too long, it eats into the time available for everything else.

As the business grew, so did the pressure. Each team supported multiple clients, each with different systems and expectations. Some clients used board portals. Others relied on email. In some cases, packs were built manually, a process that could take a full day.

With a client base that includes large, listed, and complex businesses, NSM needed a single platform that would make board pack preparation faster and simpler, without compromising governance standards.

Above all, NSM wanted more than a technology vendor. They wanted a partner that understood the practical demands of running boards and managing governance, and one they felt confident recommending to their clients.

The approach

Choosing a partner, not just a platform

NSM conducted a thorough review of their options. Ease of use was critical as was the need for a flexible portal. Some clients already had portal arrangements in place, so the new solution had to complement those while offering a strong alternative where no portal existed.

Several NSM team members had used Board Intelligence before. Their familiarity helped bring the wider team along, and adoption was smooth. Ashley Senner, Manager at NSM Funds, said:

The rollout covered NSM Funds' clients in Guernsey and London, with the platform used for full quarterly board meetings as well as smaller, ad hoc meetings.

Impact

Less time on admin, more time for the work clients value most

Board pack preparation time has been significantly reduced, freeing the team to focus on higher-value work. Features like agenda cloning for recurring quarterly meetings and the ability to add late documents swiftly saved time on the tasks that used to slow the team down most. The platform also gave the team greater agility, making it easier to respond to last-minute requests from clients and advisors.

With less time spent assembling packs, the company secretarial team could focus on the work their clients value most — staying on top of regulatory changes, preparing meaningful governance advice, and delivering a better service overall.

The platform also proved accessible across the team. Junior administrators and senior managers alike could build and manage packs without extensive training, spreading capability more evenly. 

For directors, the flexibility of the platform made a real difference. Those more comfortable using digital tools could use the portal to read and annotate their board packs, while others could receive a PDF version that was still interactive and professionally formatted — with both digital and PDF versions of the board pack taking very little time to create. This removed the need for an extra step from the company secretarial team and stood out as a clear differentiator against other portals.

Why this matters

NSM's experience shows the difference a single, easy-to-use platform can make when it replaces fragmented, manual processes. Directors receive a professional, flexible experience that meets their needs regardless of their technology skills, and NSM’s teams can recommend a trusted platform to new clients with confidence.

For fund administrators and corporate service providers more broadly, the board experience is an increasingly important part of their service proposition. Clients expect a well-run, professional board process, and the firms that can deliver this stand out in a market that's consolidating fast. For any fund administrator managing multiple boards across different clients, the right technology can take the friction out of board pack preparation and create space for the work that really counts.