Company Reports - the next generation

Up until 2008 (and thanks to the Companies Act 2006) it was once a requirement for any UK listed company to send a printed copy of their annual report to every single shareholder. Luckily that is not the case now and a lot of companies have realised that providing their report online (in HTML format) has obvious benefits.

For example:

• It assists their overall Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)Efforts
• It facilitates viewing/downloading only part of the report (useful if the user is on a low bandwidth connection)
• It contributes to a more environmentally friendly company profile

Nexxar, a leader in providing online company reports, carry out an annual survey benchmarking international companies and their use of online reports.
http://www.nexxar.com/marketresearch.html

The report for 2009 which was released this month has found that almost half (48.7%) of those surveyed had a full HTML version of their site and according to them:

HTML is the only way to make full use of the Internet’s potential.

HTML has gradually increased in its usage, compared to just PDF's or images (usually in JPG format). And surprisingly it it UK companies that led the way, with 64% of the FTSE100 found to use HTML.


It is also interesting to note that in a piece of research focusing on Corporate Responsibility done by Radley Yeldar earlier this year, they found only 9% of those companies they surveyed (mainly FTSE 100 and FTSE 250's) used just HTML for their reports, with 47% using HTML and PDF combined.

Even US regulations now encourage company reporting in formats such as HTML, rather than just providing PDF's of the report pages. However using HTML is just the start of what you can achieve with your online company report. Animations and even audio & video (whilst remaining accessible to as many users as possible, so all sound media must have a transcript) add interactivity and help in the communication of company information to shareholders, employees, journalists and others.

So where's the future going for company reports? Well, depending upon who you ask, you get different answers....

• Those who have a CEO & board who are professionally media trained would say you should put as much (relevant) video into your online report
• Those who are standards based would say that you should make a lot of use of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) or at least have sensible tagging of relevant content
• And those who are on a budget will wait and see what works or becomes legislation

Google now indexes audio

Last week Google announced that it has launched yet another service, GAudi, no-doubt named after Antoni the famous Barcelona Architect. Still in 'Beta' (Google's way of saying "we're not sure if this product is good enough to shout about, we'll let you test it first") this service understands ('listens to') and catalogues the audio used in video clips posted on YouTube. It then allows these clips to be searched in a Google-esque manner.


Currently only USA political-based video's seem to be indexed, but it can't be long before Google Labs points this service as the wider YouTube video index can it?

Portable content - more considerations

Although I've previously covered making your company content and assets portable, based on recent feedback, I thought I'd provide some additional information about how to do this.

1. Put your corporate videos up on YouTube
This allows you to still embed the video clips you want into your own site, saves you expensive bandwidth and instantly makes your company video available to a new selection of people. Caveat: All YouTube users will be able to comment on your video, so be prepared to engage in any accompanying dialogue your video creates

2. Put your company photos up on Flickr (Note: Other photo sharing sites are available)
Aside from the potential bandwidth-saving achieved from delivering high quality images to your users from an alternative host, there are other benefits to placing any company photos on one the popular image sharing websites:

• These sites provide easy integration with other Web2.0 sites (e.g. Blogging tools, etc.)
• By using proper descriptions and tagging your photos, you make your official photos easier to be searched for and used
• Links from your photos and profile back to your company website could improve your Search Engine Optimisation efforts

Caveat: Users to these sites, like video sites, will be able to comment on your content. Expect the level of conversation you need to participate in to increase.

3. Extend your audio coverage
Assuming you already provide downloadable audio files such as interviews on your site (hopefully in the ubiquitous MP3 format) then you can easily raise your content's profile further.

• Add an RSS feed and allow subscription via podcasting software
• Syndicate your podcasts via a large/popular podcasting syndication network

Caveat: This whole subject can by quite complex, so it is probably best that I cover this topic in more detail subsequently.