Instead of briefing books loaded with paper, corporations are turning to portals to provide directors with the information they need. Commercial solutions may run $20,000 or more a year, but companies can probably develop their own with their existing Microsoft technology.

"Erica Driver, a principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., says companies on the fence may want to experiment with collaboration tools they're already using. For instance, Microsoft Corp.'s SharePoint or a similar product offers basic collaboration software, giving directors shared access to documents online. And these products can perform some of the other functions that board portals offer, like calendar synchronization or email or the ability to vote on agenda items, when linked with another program, such as Outlook."

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