Azeus Systems Philippines Limited (“Azeus” or the “Group”), a leading provider of IT products and services, announces the launch of ConveneAGM, a platform that enables stockholder and member meetings 一 whether physical, virtual or hybrid 一 to be conducted with digitally-transformed best practices.
Because of the pandemic, organizations had to pivot their annual stockholders’ or members’ meetings to virtual platforms. Thankfully, Azeus has been at the forefront of digital transformation, spearheading hundreds of meetings with diverse requirements, including the first few stockholders’ meetings with live voting-in-absentia and digital proxies in the Philippines for some of the top PSE-listed corporations such as International Container Terminal Services, Inc., Bloomberry Resorts, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Aboitiz Power, Metrobank, Metro Pacific Investments, and the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Drawing on Azeus’ extensive experience in helping organizations transform digitally, ConveneAGM offers a best-in-class digital platform aligned with the industry’s best practices for organizations to host their meetings seamlessly both physically and virtually. Having registered several firsts in the industry, ConveneAGM is now transforming the landscape of shareholder and member meetings in the Philippines.
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Empowering all stakeholders to be fully engaged at ASMs
Organizing and running stockholders’ and members’ meetings is highly inefficient and expensive, especially in the unpredictable post-COVID era 一 with consistently high cases and new variants appearing rapidly. The cycle repeats for each meeting 一 a lot of effort is put into planning and setting up, attendees have to follow multiple steps for registration and authentication, and this process is repeated every time a new meeting is planned. ConveneAGM is a gamechanger in the Philippines as it does not treat regularized meetings as a mere compliance exercise. It is a platform that encompasses knowledge retention as past meeting records are kept, simplifies the meeting preparation, and delivers key governance goals in stakeholder participation. Stakeholder rights are preserved as they can engage in fuller engagement in an easy manner 一 all in a single platform without having to leave the site.
Executive Director of Azeus Michael Yap shared, “This first of its kind open nationwide platform aims to transform the way general meetings are conducted and is seamlessly adaptable to changing conditions 一 virtual, physical, and hybrid. It has been thoughtfully designed to regularize and institutionalize the best practices for running general meetings 一 ensuring compliance and preserving the rights of all stakeholders. Every feature is made with the end-to-end experience of the stakeholders in mind.”
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ConveneAGM redesigns the meeting experience for both meeting organizers and attendees. It is the only provider of regularized meetings in the Philippines that offers the following:
- Single platform login: Attendees can have quick access to all their meetings without having to remember different passwords for various meetings.
- Meeting dashboard: Attendees can access the dashboard to see all upcoming meetings hosted by ConveneAGM. They can also easily sign up for upcoming meetings without having to re-enter all their details.
- Digital proxy form submission: Attendees can submit their proxy form directly via the system without having to scan and email or post the physical form. A checking mechanism is also implemented to prevent unauthorized third-party proxy holders. This relieves the burden of meeting organizers, particularly secretaries and administrators, on the verification process.
- Voting-in-absentia for elections: Stockholders and members can exercise their legally mandated right to vote in the election of directors or trustees, with support for cumulative voting. Depending on each organization’s procedures, ConveneAGM can support voting-in-absentia before and during the meeting itself.
- Admin account to track registrants: Organizers no longer have to request a daily update from their meeting provider on the registrant count, proxy form submissions, voting tally, questions received, and more. A comprehensive audit trail is also available in case of disputes.
- Real-time webcasting: Leveraging on proprietary technology, ConveneAGM broadcasts have minimal transmission delay, which means that there will be no miscommunication or dead waiting time when there is live Q&A and/or voting involved 一 an issue plaguing many live meetings.
Meeting organizers are offered a seamless experience with access to 24/7 global support and an experienced product team over a fully compliant and best-practice platform for all their meeting needs 一 ASMs, SSMs, AMMs, etc. They can choose to customize the way their meeting is held based on their preferences and may also consider holding it in the hybrid format to simultaneously host both virtual and in-person attendees. Hybrid meetings can also be converted flexibly into fully virtual meetings in the event of changes to the prevailing COVID-19 regulations.
Mr. Yap added, “Holding meetings should not be a complex affair and certainly should not diminish the rights of shareholders. In the past year, many have criticized virtual shareholder meetings for being clinical and lacking engagement as companies grapple with the adoption of technological solutions. ConveneAGM changes that by offering a seamless, digitally transformed experience aligned with the industry’s best practices.”
Following their ASM, Atty. Mary Adelaine S. Reyes of Metro Pacific Investments’ Legal Team had this to say about ConveneAGM: “The Company chose ConveneAGM because it complies with all our requirements for this year’s ASM 一 from the registration process to the live webcast of the ASM. ConveneAGM provided certain features that improved not only the shareholder experience but also of the system administrators, such as user-friendly validation of shareholder registration and the necessary record match of shareholder registrations, creation of role-based access controls which made it easier for the administration to limit the capacity of certain users, completion of the audit trail for its independent tabulator, and automatic generation of the detailed poll result.”
Learn more about ConveneAGM here: azeusconvene.com/en-ph/virtual-asm
