Condominium corporations across Ontario are facing a new kind of governance challenge, one that isn’t caused by rising insurance premiums, aging infrastructure, or market volatility. It’s the widening digital governance gap and it’s becoming one of the biggest operational risks for condo communities in 2026.

Boards are asked to make faster decisions, manage more complex issues, and meet higher regulatory expectations, yet many are still relying on governance practices built for a different era. The result is inefficiency, miscommunication, and increased exposure to compliance and liability risks.

The growing divide

The digital governance gap is the growing divide between what modern condo governance requires and the outdated tools and processes many boards still use.

Most corporations still rely on:

• Email chains as their primary communication method;
• Paper-based records, payment processing and filing systems;
• Manual tracking of purchase orders, incidents, and approvals;
• Ad-hoc decision-making without centralized documentation; and
• Outdated meeting practices that lack transparency and structure

Meanwhile, the expectations placed on board of directors have increased dramatically. Here are a few:

• The Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO) and Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario (CMRAO) emphasize digital recordkeeping, transparency, and accessibility;
• Owners expect timely communication and professional workflows;
• Buildings require more complex maintenance planning and vendor oversight; and
  Risk management now demands audit trails, documentation, and accountability.

Boards are being asked to operate like professional governance bodies, but many are still equipped like volunteer committees.

How the gap creates real operational risk

From a manager’s perspective, the digital governance gap isn’t just inconvenient; it’s dangerous. It creates vulnerabilities that affect the corporation’s finances, compliance, and community stability.

1. Communication breakdowns

Email chains get lost, misinterpreted, or buried. Decisions made informally aren’t documented. Owners receive inconsistent messaging. This leads to: confusion, conflict, complaints, and delays in decision-making.

2. Compliance exposure

Boards must maintain accurate records, accessible documents, and transparent decision-making. Without digital systems records become fragmented, meeting minutes lack detail, approvals aren’t properly tracked, and corporations risk non-compliance with CAO/CMRAO expectations.

3. Inefficient operations

Manual processes slow everything down. Purchase orders take longer with no formal procurement process. Vendor coordination becomes messy. Incident tracking is inconsistent. Managers spend more time chasing information instead of managing, and payment processing is antiquated.

4. Higher liability

Without digital audit trails, corporations struggle to defend decisions, enforce rules, or demonstrate due diligence. This increases exposure in legal disputes, insurance claims, owner complaints, enforcement actions, and financial auditing.

Why boards struggle to modernize

Boards aren’t resistant; they’re overwhelmed. Most directors are volunteers with full-time jobs, limited time, and varying levels of digital comfort. Some common barriers include the fear of adopting new systems, a lack of training, misunderstanding the manager’s role, a belief that “email is good enough,” and a concern about cost, even when solutions are inexpensive. However the cost of not modernizing is far higher.

What modern digital governance looks like

From a manager’s perspective, digital governance is about clarity, structure, and accountability, not fancy software. A modern board uses centralized communication platforms, digital record management with searchable archives, automated workflows for approvals, notices, procurement and purchase orders, dashboards for financials, maintenance, and compliance, secure portals for owners and directors, templates for consistent communication, and digital meeting packages with linked documents and action logs.

This is the new baseline for professional governance.

The manager’s role in closing the gap

Managers are uniquely positioned to help boards modernize. They see the operational bottlenecks, the communication failures, and the compliance risks firsthand.

Here’s how managers can lead the transition:

1. Introduce structured communication systems

Move boards away from email chains and into centralized platforms that track discussions, decisions, and documents.

2. Implement digital workflows

Automate repetitive tasks such as procurement and purchase order tracking, incident reporting, vendor approvals, notice distribution, and electronic payment approvals and processing.

3. Create digital governance frameworks

Provide boards with communication policies, digital meeting templates, document retention schedules, and decision-making protocols

4. Educate and support directors

Offer training, on-boarding, and ongoing support to help directors feel confident using new tools.

5. Build transparency and accountability

Use dashboards, logs, tags and audit trails to ensure every decision is documented and defensible.

Why boards must act now

The digital governance gap is widening and corporations that fail to modernize will face higher operational costs, increased conflict, greater compliance risk, lower owner satisfaction, and difficulty attracting qualified managers.

On the other hand, boards that embrace digital governance will make better decisions, operate more efficiently, strengthen community trust, reduce liability and support their managers more effectively.

Modern governance isn’t optional anymore. Condo corporations are growing more complex, more regulated, and more demanding. Boards cannot meet today’s expectations with yesterday’s tools. Closing the digital governance gap isn’t just a technological upgrade—it’s a governance evolution, and managers are ready to lead it.

Shane Haskell is the owner/founder of Lionheart Property Management Inc.., where he is responsible for the day-to-day operations. Lionheart is an ACMO2000 organization.

Shane has several years’ experience in the financial industry, marketing, project management, real estate and property management industry. He is a principal condominium manager (PCM) and general licensed manager (OLCM) with CMRAO, a registered condominium manager (RCM) with ACMO, and a leader of The Condominium Institute (LCCI). He is a member of CMRAO’s discipline hearing committee and also sits on the board of directors and chairs the marketing committee of the Canadian Condominium Institute Toronto Chapter. He previously sat on CCI’s national executive board and is current chair of the CCI national advertising, resources and communication committee. He is also the president and Realtor® of Lionheart Realty Brokerage.