Beware Snake Oil Peddlers and Salesmen Selling Interactive Online Annual Reports

I'm tired do you know that? And angry. Tired and angry of seeing companies selling products masquerading as competent 'interactive' HTML online annual report solutions. There are several out there - www.interactiveinvestor.com.au and www.republicast.com are two of them (how dreadful of me to tell you!). They are based on printed annual reports that have had their PDF pages 'captured' in HTML. So what do shareholders get?

> Slow and tedious navigation.
> Pages that they need to enlarge in order to be able to read the text.
> Pages they then need to scroll up and down in order to read columns of text.
> Pages that don't make any sense when the print designer decides to run text and images across spreads
> Images of pages that won't work with XBRL (just around the corner)
> No links within the text
> Something that electronic screen readers of the sight impaired don't like

... and I haven't seen one yet that works 100% of the time.

Just wonderful in this first post-Legislation year (in Australia) when you want to seduce your shareholders into accepting the benefits of accessing their annual report information online. Just when you're desperately hoping they will resist ticking the box on the form from the share registry and perpetuate their desire for a printed annual report. Just when you know that each time it happens it will cost you another $5 or so. And add further damage to the environment.

So how much do you value your shareholders? Remember this. If they don't like what you've got online, they're gonna tick that box.

SHAREHOLDER GOES ONLINE > CHECKS YOUR ONLINE REPORT > DOESN'T LIKE WHAT THEY SEE > OPTS FOR A PRINTED REPORT > COSTS YOU MONEY.

Take heed. Online annual reporting demands an HTML annual report built just the same way as a website. That's right. Just like a website. Just like the millions of websites that millions of people access every minute of every day. I guess perhaps that's probably because the website concept works. Probably because people of all ages find them easy to use. Perhaps I could even go so far as to say that it is a universally accepted, competent and easy-to-use solution.

People like Australian bank Westpac aren't silly. Check out their 2007 HTML annual reporting solution and compare it to the 2006 republicast report. Oops it's no longer there. I wonder why? Perhaps it's because the republicast report didn't reside on Westpac's server! Take careful note of this.

There's a big transition going on out there. Traditional print designers are not all competent or comfortable with designing and producing online reports. There's a learning curve involved. And if you're not technically competent there's always the fear that things can go horribly wrong. Then there are the techos. Companies that may be technically brilliant but don't really understand online design and communication. You can usually tell just by looking at their work. You need someone with both skills.

Are there any drawbacks with a 'proper' HTML report? Possibly cost. Hand coding HTML can be a slow process. Time = cost. There is one company in Sydney however that has developed their own software that automates and speeds up the process. Let's say it enables them to code 400% faster. Makes a big difference. Email me and I will let you have their details.

So now you're going to tell me that all this HTML stuff is just too much and you're going to stick with a good old pdf of the printed report. What a loser. You must really love your shareholders. Just de-list and save yourself a lot of grief!

Happy reporting.

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