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Online annual reports: what’s next?

Nexxar graph FTSE 100 Annual Reports

Nexxar posted this graph via Twitter today, showing the change in the presentation of annual reports by FTSE 100 companies over the last few years.

It shows very clearly that an increasing number of companies over the last couple of years have decided to go for an online HTML annual report, rather than purely PDF or JPG implementations.

We think this is good news. Although we like to see PDFs available for download on the corporate website (ideally indexed, so that visitors can select just the part of the report that interests them, if they choose, rather than the whole unwieldy document), this is in addition to an online annual report. Having the report online, rather than just in PDF, saves the visitor time and makes it easier for them to find the information that they need.

Even now, many visitors will still be using dial-up services rather than broadband – either by choice or because that is all they have access to – and a big download can take a long, long time. Even in those areas of the country where broadband is available, it isn’t usually the superfast kind that a few urban areas of the country have access to.

So an online annual report makes it much quicker for the visitor to find information. It also makes it easier, because better cross-linking and navigation can be put in place in an HTML implementation, along with clever tools that enhance the information provision with elements of interactivity.

And it seems that despite the recession, companies agree that the HTML report is preferable; as shown by the Nexxar graph. This is rapidly becoming the de facto standard, not an extra.

So, when everyone has an online annual report, how will you make yours stand out?

Websites Offering Business Management Tools

Maybe you landed a new job or got transferred to another unit in your company and you need to “”bone up” on management tools. You could read some books but you don’t have the time. Once again websites come to your aid.   My first suggestions are websites offered by two of the largest management consulting companies — Bain & Company, and Booz & Co.

Bain

Let’s say you need to learn more about such items as the Balanced Scorecard or Customer segmentation. Go to Bain’s Management Tools to find an overview of these tools and more —

Note the menu of tools and articles. You don’t have to register, Bain makes the tools freely available. OK maybe this is a promotional technique, but it does develop good will. Thanks Bain.

(As always, click on the images to expand them.)

Next Booz & Co. offers some interactive tools. Not as many as Bain but more comprehensive —

Booz

Note the topics are on target for the current business environment. These tools are well done, something you would expect from Booz. They are easy and fun to use. The Working Capital Profiler allows you to test various scenarios and immediately portrays the results. As with Bain, no registration needed and no ads. Kudos to both firms for offering useful tools.

Need to understand the three primary financial reports: income statement, balance sheet and cash flow? Go to New York based Baruch College’s “Guide To Financial Statements” for a 45 minute tutorial. OK, this will not make you a CPA but you will at least understand the basics.

SkyMark

Back to comprehensive. A vey comprehensive offering of management methods is offered by SkyMark, a software and consulting firm.

A bit more designed to get you to use their products and services but still well done. Note the wide menu of references. Good job SkyMark.

Need more? Try UK based BusinessBalls. Be careful, this one is loaded with information.

Now go to that new job or assignment with confidence.

Italy’s Edison — A Model Website

I have reviewed many corporate websites. Many are acceptable, some quite good, but few are model or benchmark sites that really stand out. Edison, an energy company based in Italy is truly a stand out.

First, look at the Home page.

There is much information but because of a good design, it is not overwhelming. Noteworthy items starting from the upper left —

  • A noteworthy corporate award is prominently displayed
  • Share price
  • Links organized by stakeholder class
  • Bravo, an interactive Annual Report is available

Many other information sources are also nicely displayed.


Next, another aspect of an effective corporate website is that Edison describes its Strategy and performance measures. (Click on the image for a clearer view)

You don’t have to give away the “Corporate Jewels”, but companies need to communicate where they are headed. Edison does this well.

Next, navigate to the the Management Structure section and see an organization chart. Do a mouseover on the titles–

A picture of the senior manager appears along with links to more information. Good communications via the corporate website must include telling visitors about the leadership team. Venture capitalists look at who runs the company before reading the business plan. This is also true for stakeholders of an existing company.

Edison’s website includes much more. For example, The Market section includes —

Once again, more information for stakeholders to learn more about the company.

Final comments, visit the Governance page and note the use of word clouds and page reader options. Bravo Edison for a website that is comprehensive, well organized and provides a model for other companies.

Writing Content With Clout

Rob Ashton explains why it’s vital that your web writing gets straight to the point.

Ever seen the TV game show Supermarket Sweep? The premise is pretty simple. After answering a series of questions, the contestants are instructed to find certain groceries in the supermarket. Not surprisingly, no-one methodically paces through the aisles. With the clock ticking, they race around frantically searching for visual clues that point to their prized items.

Red PencilBrowsing the internet is much the same. Studies have shown that we adopt the same ‘search and seize’ approach when looking for information online. In fact, only one in six people actually read websites sentence by sentence. Instead, most people scan the text for keywords, bullet points and subheadings.

Some studies have even shown that people read only the first two words of headlines before losing interest. And it’s generally a given that you only have a maximum of 10 seconds to impress your readers before they click to another page or site.

The key is to make your writing as direct as possible. As any Twitter fan will know, if you can’t say it in 140 characters or less, it simply isn’t worth saying. Apply that principle to all your web-based writing and you’ll be onto a winner. That’s not to say that you can’t elaborate on points, make explanations and create coherent arguments. It’s just that long rambling sentences are best left to novelists or poets. When it comes to the web, short and sweet is best. Prune through your writing and cut out any meaningless words. And rearrange your sentences so that they’re as punchy as possible.

The tips below will help you to create a high-impact writing style

A clear focus

Know your audience. Ask yourself who you’re writing for and what information they want to read. Then focus on one main message per web page. If you’re not sure what your main message is, write down the headings who?, what?, where?, when? and why? Then brainstorm your ideas to help clarify your thoughts.

Create powerful sentences by speaking directly to the reader. Use words such as ‘you’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’. And use the active voice as much as possible. For instance, ‘we formed the company in 1999’ is far more effective than ‘the company was formed in 1999.’

Ready, aim, fire!

Break up the information into digestible chunks and keep your paragraphs short. Use subheads and make sure that, when combined, they tell the story of your article. Bullet points are also a great tool to use when writing for the web.

Remember that bullet lists always need an introduction (like this one). They are good for:

  • conveying key information
  • breaking down complex lists
  • summarising main points
  • instructions (especially if numbered)

The advantage of using bullet points is that they:

  • make lists clearer, as they are more visual
  • use white space well
  • grab attention
  • help readers scan information
  • reduce word count

Create a call to action

By their very nature, websites are interactive. A static site that doesn’t involve its readers is like an out-of-date concert poster. Keep inviting your readers to contact you or click other internal links for more information. Try to anticipate your readers’ needs and then give them what they want. You can’t stop them jumping around searching for keywords. But if you give them something of value, you can help them to stick with your website for longer.

Remember, be bold with what you’re offering and don’t be afraid to shout out your content. Give your readers the satisfaction of finding the prized information instantly. The secret is to rig the game so that they win – every time.

The Write Stuff

You can get a free copy of The Write Stuff to help you with the writing process. This 60-page guide contains the very essence of good writing. And Emphasis has agreed to send a copy free of charge to the first 100 Corporate Eye readers to contact them.

Visit www.writing-skills.com/contact-us/ to get your copy.

Rob AshtonRob Ashton is chief executive of Emphasis, the specialist business-writing trainers.

Standing Up for the Stakeholder

Oddly, the Sunday Times ran two separate articles about corporate-speak this week, and though I would happily assign most examples of corporate-speak to the bin, I do want to defend some of it, and one word in particular.

Blue sky thinking out of the box

The corporate-speak the ST was decrying falls into three main groups:

  • Long-winded and pretentious phrasing, such as:

    “High-quality learning environments are a necessary precondition for facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing learning process”

    This example is highlighted by the Plain English website, and they translate it as:

    “Children need good schools if they are to learn properly”.

    It’s best to avoid this kind of writing: it is often intended to impress or to intimidate, and usually ends up with the reader suffering from bad brain fog.

  • Management-speak clichés, such as ‘thinking outside the box’ or ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’. These are familiar to all of us by now, but they must have been fresh and surprising at some point.

    Now they’re like Christmas cracker jokes, and just elicit a groan. New clichés, please…

  • Jargon: language characteristic of a particular group or subject. Examples: ring game; toe-loop; pinking; deboss; and scuppers. (These are from poker, skating, sewing, printing, and sailing.)

And jargon is the type of corporate-speak I want to defend.

Technical term? Provide a glossary

3i-industry-glossary3i industry glossary

All industries have their own technical terms. If you are deeply embedded in an industry, these terms don’t seem unusual at all, and each so precisely describes its subject that it would be absurd to use any other. Even though outsiders don’t have a clue what you mean. This is why we recommend using a glossary on the corporate website to explain any that might have crept in without being noticed.

And there is a clear need for using plain English wherever possible, at least if you’re trying to communicate with someone who is not within the industry, and therefore couldn’t be expected to know the technical terms.

This isn’t easy. One of the difficulties many website managers are dealing with is how to provide their information in an easily understandable form, appropriate for the audience they are aiming at.

Betting on the corporate website

Take, for example, our use of the word ‘stakeholder’. This word was vilified in both those articles in the Sunday Times this week.

The original meaning of the word was ‘someone entrusted to hold the stakes for people betting against one another, and required to hand the stakes to the winner’. This would have been someone trustworthy and independent, who probably didn’t have a stake in the bet.

Yet today it often means almost exactly the opposite: someone who does have an interest in ‘the bet’ – and probably a strong interest. In corporate terms, it describes people who are affected by, or who can affect, the actions of the business; those who have a stake in the success of the business. We use it to describe people with an interest in the corporate website. Examples include: investors, journalists, job-seekers, analysts, employees, suppliers …

This sometimes happens to words; the language changes constantly. (There’s a fascinating list of changes here, if you’re interested).

Does it matter? Does this change in meaning confuse people?

I don’t think it does, at least in this case. Using the words appropriate to the situation is important. In this case, using ‘stakeholder’ is a useful shortcut for ‘group of people with an interest in the business and therefore in the corporate website’ and will be understood by our primary audience. Avoiding using it will lead to repeatedly using long-winded phrasing; something to be avoided in itself.

What do you think? Is there ever a case for using jargon? Should all the language on a website be suitable for the averagely intelligent, averagely educated 14-year-old, or can some of it be more complex?

Is it even possible to remove all corporate jargon from the corporate website?

Proud of your website? Win some recognition in the CorpComms Awards 2009!

business people applauding

Are you particularly proud of your online communications this year? Is your corporate website or your online annual report the envy of your sector? Do your stakeholders, from investors through to employees, only have good things to say about them?

Grab some internal and external recognition for both you and your hard-working team by entering one of the online categories in the CorpComms Awards 2009. They are:

  • Best corporate website
  • Best online annual report
  • Best understanding and use of new media

The awards, run by CorpComms Magazine, are now in their fourth year. They aim to ‘commemorate the exceptional work and creativity of this most dynamic of industries’.

The closing date for entries is Friday 10 July 2009, and no entries will be received after 31 July 2009.

The awards event will be held on Wednesday 25 November 2009 at the Park Lane Hotel, London.

For more information, including additional categories, contact details, entry forms and dinner bookings, visit the CorpComms Magazine website.