Loomion, Markus Bosch, COO

By Alain de Fooz, for Soluxions Magazine (September edition)

Everything is being digitalized, including the meetings and processes around Boards of Directors. Loomion, a Data Security Provider specialised in Corporate Governance, offers a “Powered by EBRC” solution unique on the market.

Loomion improves organization and communication for the Board of Directors and the Executive Committees. Its unique solution, the only one of its kind on the market, makes it easier for administrators to share documents and exchange information with a high security standard. Ultimately, it simplifies the company’s governance. Almost two years ago in Luxembourg, Loomion established a partnership with EBRC, which hosts and operates the solution, in order to bring it to local, Belgian, and French stakeholders.

The aim? Easy and highly secure exchanges of documents. Via Loomion’s twelve Directors Portal, which is based on the de-facto industry standard for document management systems, that is Microsoft SharePoint, the Secretariat of the Board and Executive Committee is able to support and collaborate with the members of upcoming meetings, while enabling them to be better prepared by giving them access to the relevant information and documents. The members of the Board of Directors can access the information and documents online as well as offline from anywhere in the world, in an extremely secure way.

In practice, users will find all the information related to their next meeting: when and where it will take place; how to get there; the documents that need to be reviewed, and more. Loomion makes it easy to find the documents to be processed, to sign them digitally, as well to collaborate more efficiently with one’s peers. Various editing tools are available, from highlighting important content to adding personal comments or making full-text searches in any given document. Finally, amongst its functionalities, the solution offers features to participate in discussions and votings related to the documents, such as decisions through circulars, as well as public or secret polls.

The strong asset of the solution: security

In essence, the whole Microsoft SharePoint environment has been shifted to a banking industry security standard. This prevents any unauthorised access, would it be external or internal. If SharePoint does not fit in with the customer’s IT strategy, Loomion offers managed services at the application level, in partnership with EBRC’s managed operations in its Tier IV certified, highly available and secure Data Centres in Luxembourg.

The member access to the documents is based on the ‘Need-to-Know’ principle, which entirely prevents unauthorised access. Network traffic is encrypted at all times and the documents are securely transferred to the mobile devices. Similarly, the database containing the documents is also encrypted. A powerful log file system records every action of every participant on the portal, ensuring the highest level of accountability at any time.

All Loomion applications are protected by a three-factor-authentication (3FA). Each device is equipped with a unique certificate and the user’s Active Directory identifier. The mobile application uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for access control and communication encryption with the servers.

Although customers are able to host the solution as they see fit, whether on their own servers or in a Data Centre, Loomion developed a partnership with EBRC to accelerate its dissemination.

The solution is currently part of the “Powered by EBRC” programme created for the purpose of accelerating customers’ development and the hybridisation of their business. Accordingly, Loomion benefits from EBRC’s “Trusted Services Europe” solutions as well as its integrated offer from consulting to operations. Thereby, the Swiss data security expert relies on a solid partner holding many certifications as well as the PFS support status, which are guarantees that strengthen its positioning on the market.

Interview with Markus Bosch, COO, Loomion

How did Loomion come to be? What idea was behind the company’s creation?

“Loomion was born from my experience within the Board of Directors of a major pharmaceutical player based in Switzerland. For a long time, we have worked on a solution aimed at simplifying the organization of the Executive Committee work and exchanges of documents among their members. Our objective was to develop a solution allowing simplified creation and exchange of sensitive information, efficient management of meetings and optimal cooperation between the members within a secure environment. Loomion supports a wide range of business processes starting from a single basic principle: security.”

You emphasize the concept of security. Does it help differentiate the solution from other so-called collaborative solutions?

“By nature, we operate in the most data and information sensitive environments. Security is fundamental and of utmost importance. There can be no good governance without strong security! The platform users will be more interested by the features available for exchanging documents, inserting comments, asking questions… and we ensure that these requirements are met at all time but with absolutely no compromise when it comes to data security. In that sense, Loomion is also a user-friendly and trusted collaborative platform.”

What types of organizations is the solution aimed at?

“Loomion works with Boards of Directors of all types of businesses and organizations, as well as project management teams that process highly sensitive information. In addition to banks and insurance companies, which our first awareness-raising efforts were aimed at, we also work with fund managers, family offices and communication agencies. Similarly, we have been identified as preferred partner by government departments and organization but we cannot mention any more about this. In short, wherever sensitive information circulates Loomion is the preferred supplier.”

With EBRC, you have built a close relationship that goes beyond using its Data Centres. Why is that?

“EBRC is not only a supplier, as it first was when we implemented a specific environment to meet the needs of the Board of Directors of the Banque de Luxembourg. EBRC is now a partner for accelerating the solution dissemination. We quickly seized the opportunity to join forces with a strong partner with leading certifications and the PFS support status in order to more easily meet the requirements of every customer, whether they are small or large, by adapting to their needs. This has only made us stronger on the market.”

 

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