Outsourcing is most common in the United States where three big vendors dominate the IR website industry. But it is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and other parts of the world, too.

When companies use these IR website factories they essentially opt for a communal approach in which there are inherent compromises to be made in terms of individuality and branding. However, the attraction of template sites has traditionally been the ability to have a website that is quickly and easily kept up to date with little reliance on stretched internal IT resources.

While it is difficult to argue against outsourcing with IR departments that otherwise wouldn't be able to manage an IR website on their own, many companies would be better off severing or at least restricting their use of third-party vendors.

A litany of problems
Based on hundreds of site reviews, we are convinced that companies are:

• Overpaying for services that provide modest or negligible value to IR websites.
• Paying thousands of dollars each year for the hosting of low-maintenance pages that they could host themselves for next to nothing.
• Being sold services that have never been tested for usability, or which break established rules of Internet standards bodies.
• Paying for services that should be free because the vendor is already being paid by someone else.
• And compromising the credibility of their sites because they are getting bad advice from vendors.

This article explores the above list in greater detail, providing practical examples to illustrate the argument against completely outsourcing your IR website. These examples also paint a picture of an industry that has profited handsomely from regulatory challenges confronting companies, while doing little or nothing to contribute to the transparency and ease of use of corporate information.