SLID webinar on 'Company Secretary in the Digital Age'

• Published date: 09 August 2022
• Publication title: Daily Financial Times

The Board Secretaries Forum of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) together with its strategic partner - the Institute of Chartered Corporate Secretaries of Sri Lanka (ICCSSL) recently organised a webinar on 'The Company Secretary in the Digital Age' to share experiences on how digital innovation is helping the Company Secretary to be more efficient and effective.

The webinar was moderated by SLID Board Secretaries Forum Chair and ICCSL Deputy President S. Sudarshan, while the keynote was delivered by Seylan Bank PLC former Company Secretary Nisha Najumudeen.

Nithya Partners Precedent Partner Naomal Goonawardena together with BizEX Consulting Ltd. Director and the Chairman of many public companies Sunil G. Wijesinha, were the expert panellists.

Introducing the topic, S. Sudarshan said that the Company Secretary's work related to administrative responsibilities used to consume a significant amount of time which reduced the capability to focus on important areas such as strategy, research, problem solving, and representation and coordination of company matters. 'The opening represented by technological advancements offers the opportunity to manage the ever-increasing governance challenges and compliance requirements faced by all organisations. Through digitalisation I believe that the company secretary can discontinue certain traditional office work mechanisms and implement digital services. Digitalisation has undoubtedly changed the way Corporate Secretaries work, both in scope and execution. As Boards go digital, corporate secretaries must work closely and ensure a seamless transition.'

In her keynote, Nisha Najumudeen said, 'Individuals like me who began our careers in the '80s have seen how the work that we have been doing has evolved beyond recognition over the three decades due to technological development and rapid digitalisation. Automation enabled me to perform my duties with ease. Technology has become pervasive, and digitalisation is an indispensable element for any professional and company secretaries are no exception. In the good old days, company secretarial functions were predominantly manual, laborious, and the processes were paper based.

'Before the onset of lockdowns, all meetings were held physically, and forms were typed and filed with the Registrar of Companies (ROC). The availability of the eROC portal to submit forms online and automation of the share trading process of the CSE with the establishment of the CDS provided great...