From agenda to minutes: How Belimo digitalised meetings

Anyone who is responsible for organising meetings can quickly feel overwhelmed by the enormous amount of time and effort involved. When all the steps have to be taken on the same day, efficiency is critical. In a situation like this, leaders desperately need support.

Conny Oberholzer, Assistant to the Board of Directors at Belimo Holding AG, is only too familiar with this. She organises meetings of the Board of Directors (BoD), including meetings of the committees of the Group's BoD. An important part of her job is to draw up the agenda and take meeting minutes. In the past, dealing with a large volume of confidential documents took its toll - and resulted in mountains of files and a heavy workload.

The need for a faster, more efficient, and more organised solution was apparent, and the road was paved for a different pace in meeting management - which is where Sherpany comes in. In addition to the time saved in the creation and distribution of meeting minutes, Belimo also selected Sherpany for security reasons.

Library centralises document management

Let's take a look at what the implementation of our software has resulted in at Belimo: "We now no longer share confidential documents via email, instead we use Sherpany's document library," reports Conny Oberholzer. So it offers significant advantages as all documents are in one place in our highly secure meeting management software.

With regard to circular resolutions, with up to 12 of them resulting from at least 20 meetings per year, Conny Oberholzer notes many improvements. Thanks to Sherpany, legally binding resolutions can be passed with just one click per participant - before, during, or after a meeting.

Meeting minutes have become much easier and more efficient

Conny Oberholzer identifies three key benefits of using Sherpany:

1. Preparation takes place in a structured manner, which increases productivity.
2. Meeting documents and strategic management information are available in the library at all times.
3. The minute-taking process has become more standardised. Previously, too much time was needed, with a great deal of time spent on formatting.

Accordingly, Oberholzer is particularly enthusiastic about the meeting minutes process: 

I have the agenda as a template, we can then add comments, and have draft minutes prepared immediately after the meeting - it's fantastic.

Conny Oberholzer

BoD Assistant Belimo Holding

In addition, Sherpany has brought consistency to the way that Belimo creates and distributes meeting minutes, giving participants a clear and holistic overview. There is no longer the need for any formatting, and Microsoft Word and Excel files are avoided altogether; everything runs directly in Sherpany. The minutes can be adjusted and approved immediately after the meeting - digital signatures help to make this seamless. As a result of the efficiency gains, the simplified processes have been adopted very quickly by all those involved.

Efficient agenda management: The enabler of meaningful discussions

Belimo keeps a precise annual schedule so that meetings, and all the information related to them, can be found quickly using Sherpany’s search function. "The CEO and the Chairman of the Board set the agenda together," Oberholzer says. "I then transfer everything into Sherpany."

Before Sherpany, the meeting preparation process involved a considerable amount of effort due to the large volume of documents that had to be compiled from various sources and software programs. Thanks to the fast, streamlined document uploading process, meeting preparation is vastly simplified. Meeting participants are able to thoroughly prepare themselves individually before meetings begin.

Now Belimo benefits from asynchronous preparation in Sherpany: Based on the agenda, participants prepare for the meeting, read the uploaded documents, and clarify open questions. As a result, meetings ultimately fulfill their desired purpose - as the venue for substantive discussions and tangible outcomes.

Physical document folders are a thing of the past  

Before implementing Sherpany, Conny Oberholzer says that the administrative burden of organising meetings was far greater. "I used to print out seven to eight physical binders in advance of meetings," she says. This represents a huge volume of physical documentation over the course of a year.

With Sherpany, printed documents, which were costly and time-consuming, are a thing of the past. "We can now concentrate fully on the content." This way, everyone involved can find everything without having to deal with their filing individually - a significant efficiency gain. "We always have the latest documents in circulation and the drag & drop feature works great."

Excellent connection between Sherpany and MS Teams

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, like many businesses, Belimo switched to remote meetings almost over night. According to Conny Oberholzer, this was handled excellently by Belimo. The company combines MS Teams and Sherpany to improve meeting management and collaboration in a remote context. This enables them to combine thorough preparation, effective follow-up, and a holistic overview of meetings with in-app video conferencing and instant chat capabilities. Sherpany is a proud Microsoft partner and is committed to helping its clients get the most out of the combined features.

Furthermore, Conny Oberholzer appreciates Sherpany’s user-friendliness . "I was amazed at how quickly I found my way around." She is also extremely satisfied with the customer support. "They give very quick, accurate answers." If something is not clear, she receives an answer from Sherpany’s Customer Success Team immediately in an instant chat. Conny Oberholzer also greatly appreciated the direct participation of one of Sherpany’s Customer Success Managers in one of Belimo’s digital onboarding sessions, in which they received valuable tips.

For the future, Belimo now plans to use Sherpany's presentation mode and, in perspective, MS Office integration.