NIRI Conference 2002 Special:
CCBN to provide greater IR website customization

CCBN, the biggest IR website hosting provider, is shifting from its restrictive template platform to a more flexible one based on the new XML language.

The move will give public company's greater customization and increased control over their IR websites.

"As the Internet entrenches itself as the primary IR communications medium, companies are seeking more flexibility and customization of their IR websites," said CCBN marketing director Greg Radner.

"By moving our entire platform to one based on XML we are answering the call for more flexibility from our clients."

Marked shift from companies towards customization
As regular readers will know, I have been critical of the rigid templates of the original service offerings of IR website hosting services. In the article 10 Common Mistakes on IR Websites, I ranked cookie-cutter templates as the third-worst mistake companies could make on their sites.

That was more than a year ago. Since then IR communications professionals have come to appreciate the value of having a customized IR website which highlights their companies' unique investment qualities. As such, we've seen a marked shift away from mass-produced sites to ones that look and feel as unique as the companies that own them.

In the past, however, achieving high levels of customization has largely meant investing sizeable sums to build unique sites that often cherry-pick the best services from a number of data vendors. Others have gone to vendors who promise greater freedom of customization through XML.

Now with its move to an XML-based platform, CCBN is putting greater customization in reach of the many smaller companies which make up the bulk of its client base.

Sites to be based on best practices
Of course, with increased flexibility goes the risk that companies may embark on wayward design approaches that could do more harm than good. One of the benefits of cookie-cutter sites was that they established conventions which investors have grown accustomed to. Go against these and you risk frustrating site users and turning them off your site.

CCBN has addressed this by studying best practices among leading IR websites, says Radner. The company will propose specific site structures and designs to clients, but remain flexible to implement unique features at the client's direction.

"We have a starting point of recommended best practices that we present to the company and then we modify it from there," he explains.

"There are no additional costs for new clients. Existing clients may incur additional hourly costs for an entire site redesign, but minor changes won't cost them anything extra."

The migration to XML is being showcased at the National Investor Relations Institute 2002 Annual Conference. People visiting the CCBN booth can see before and after examples of sites that are using the new technology.

One of CCBN's main competitors, Shareholder.com, announced several months ago that it was migrating its clients to a flexible XML platform.

However, Radner said CCBN's decision to ditch its cookie-cutter template technology had nothing to do with competition.

"This has been in the works for nine months. It is about providing our clients with the type of service they want," he said.

For more on XML and IR Websites, see my article Should You Switch to XML?