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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Diligent Boards

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AToday’s directors need fast, informed decision-making and seamless governance workflows. Diligent Boards automates board and committee meeting creation, streamlines preparation and enhances collaboration with secure, integrated tools. More broadly, Diligent solutions provide a growth trajectory on the path to good governance and bundle capabilities that support the evolution of forward-looking boards and leadership teams. Save time by digitizing meeting materials and…N/A

    Microsoft Excel

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.

    $6.99

    per month

    Pricing
    Diligent BoardsMicrosoft Excel
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Excel with Microsoft 365
    $6.99
    per month
    Excel for 1 PC or Mac
    $139.99
    perpetual license
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Diligent BoardsMicrosoft Excel
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsDiligent Board Plans include... Essential: Built for organizations looking to embrace governance best practices and digital transformation Pro: Built for organizations that are looking to embrace end-to-end security around key governance processes like board meeting preparation, communication, and questionnaires. Enterprise: For high performing boards looking to maximize effectiveness of committees and prepare for proxy season.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Diligent BoardsMicrosoft Excel
    Considered Both Products
    Diligent Corporation
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    108 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    83 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    70 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    110 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    73 Answers
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    79 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    54 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Diligent BoardsMicrosoft Excel
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Stackby
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Diligent BoardsMicrosoft Excel
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.6
    (112 ratings)
    9.0
    (78 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.8
    (10 ratings)
    9.9
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    8.6
    (42 ratings)
    8.5
    (23 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.3
    (78 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (6 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Professional Services
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Diligent BoardsMicrosoft Excel
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Diligent Corporation
    We had a meeting and after the meeting, additional information was added to the book and it was easy to navigate just the information that was update. This made it efficient when we had a follow-up meeting to discuss the updates and be able to reference the updated information. This allowed us to have an effective meeting with a purpose.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Diligent Corporation
    • The confidential sandbox is a must, and Diligent Boards provides that environment. Most of the info we put on the diligent board is not downloadable and printable.
    • It is very easy to make notes, highlights important info and bookmark pages. I used these functions all the time.
    • Its excellent organization features.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
    • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
    • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Diligent Corporation
    • not so easy to handle access when we have to arrange a specific, non-standard set up of access: sometimes we have to limit the access to one or few of the members of a particular book
    • calendar function will be useful, but it is an additional cost
    • flexible view options: vertical vs. horizontal
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
    • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
    • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Diligent Corporation
    We find the Boards portal to be an effective tool for our board meeting documents. It is user friendly and allows for amendments, additions as needed without compromising documents that have already been uploaded. Additionally, our Board members are comfortable with the platform and confident in their ability to navigate it.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Diligent Corporation
    Again, it is a very easy program to use. What would I change… There’s some features in the agenda that I would like to have. The ability to add different bullets underneath items. the ability to do an AYE vote. Because sometimes they don’t individually vote, my superintendent or School Board chair will say I’ll say hi or I’ll say, and it would be really nice to have a button that automatically fills for that.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Diligent Corporation
    Diligent helpdesk (Team Topaz) is a click away, their response is very quick
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Diligent Corporation
    Quick service, specially on loading.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Diligent Corporation
    The turnaround time is great, and the customer support team usually resolves queries in one go. However, customer support can improve by suggesting additional helpful activities to improve user experience, rather than limiting it to the specific requests made. Overall, it has been a positive experience with the customer support team.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Diligent Corporation
    Comprehensive. I didn’t feel like I was confused or didn’t have the knowledge to begin using Diligent Boards immediately
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Diligent Corporation
    easy implementation process
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Diligent Corporation
    Diligent Entities is already great, as I used it before Diligent Boards, and it was very helpful and very cost-effective as a product provided to my previous team that used it. So I can only vouch for the platform and note that Diligent Boards is also fantastic. It certainly is.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Diligent Corporation
    the pricing is quite steep and if you under-utilise some products it becomes a loss to you as the user.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    N/A I was not involved in this process.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Diligent Corporation
    It is really worth it.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Diligent Corporation
    Diligent's professional services have been reliable
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Diligent Corporation
    • Ease of dissmeniation and administration of packages (errors can be easily corrected)
    • Directors can read packages from anywhere in the world at any time. It makes prep for Dircetors a lot easier
    • Keeping records of meetings, doing searches for information has become easier and less time consuming
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
    • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
    • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Diligent Boards Screenshots

    Screenshot of collaboration on sensitive documents across the organisation in preparation for the board meeting, while safeguarding information in Diligent’s secure ecosystem.Screenshot of an additional layer of security to known processes with key integrations like Microsoft 365. Documents can be shared and users can collaborate with both internal and external stakeholders.Screenshot of the centralized platform where users can take, record, review and share minutes.Screenshot of board evaluations and questionnaires.Screenshot of D&O questionnaire requirements, which are managed in a single application experience.Screenshot of communication with leadership teams. This occurs in real-time on an encrypted, uncluttered channel to signify importance and urgency.