Here's a screen shot of Wal-Mart's investor relations app, which lets its mobile-device-toting shareholders, and anyone else, get some handy and...
Wal-Mart, Others Offer Mobile Investor Relations Apps
Forget about Angry Birds, Pandora and Instagram. The next hot new app category for mobile devices could be investor relations.
Over the past several months, a growing number of companies have been rolling out IR apps that deliver critical shareholder information directly into the hands of smartphone and tablet owners.
One recent addition to their ranks is food distributor Sysco (SYY). Its IR app debuted in
August, in conjunction with its fourth-quarter earnings announcement.
Neil Russell, vice president of investor relations for Sysco, says research about mobile phone usage and the realization that much IR content is tough to access on a mobile device convinced him the time was right for such an app.
"It was a bit of an aha moment for us," Russell said. "It just makes sense. We need to make that information available to the investor on the go."
Russell says many workers nowadays are rarely at their desks, and yet their smartphones, in particular, were not well-suited to displaying PowerPoint slides, PDF files, and audiocasts of earnings calls. Then he read a year-old white paper from consumer research firm Compete that said 20% of investment account owners were using mobile devices to research companies. That number's no doubt risen.
So, Russell turned to consulting firm KCSA Strategic Communications, which earlier this year spun off TheIRapp, a rentable IR application template.
Rather than build an app internally, Russell decided Sysco should instead subscribe to the KCSA spinoff, which requires little more than a high-resolution corporate logo to get a company's IR app up and running.
"I'm not in the business of designing an app," Russell said. "I'm in the business of getting information in the hands of investors."
In the first three days the app was available in the Apple (AAPL) iTunes store and the Google (GOOG) Play apps market, it was downloaded 175 times. That's not a huge number by app standards, but it's a healthy response in a narrow niche.
Not Yet Prevalent
It's hard to determine how many mobile IR apps are available. An iTunes search returns only a few dozen examples, some of which are simply electronic versions of an annual report.
Besides Sysco, in recent months companies such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and SodaStream (SODA) have introduced IR apps, hoping to forge tighter bonds with shareholders.
Jeff Corbin, CEO of KCSA and founder of TheIRapp, expects IR apps to become commonplace as companies search for more effective channels to communicate with shareholders.
Wal-Mart, Sysco, SodaStream Among First With Mobile Investor Relations Apps WMT SODA SYY - Investors.com
No comments:
Post a Comment