These technologies can be used on restricted access, in password restricted areas of the internet, in the events are deemed to be, in some sense confidential. It is our belief, however, that the benefits of restricting access are ephemeral. But the decision about the degree of openness is one of policy for a company, not of technology. Linking teleconferences A sizeable number of companies are already linking presentation slides on the internet with a standard teleconference. The slide might sit in a public area of the website or be hidden from all but the accidental viewer.
Participants then join the conference call with the full documentation on their screens.
The cost savings over faxing documents depends on the likely number of participants, but a streaming audio alongside can vastly expand the audience while retaining the same degree of interaction between management and call participants as the current technology. Yankee Energy Systems used to get about 15 participants on its conference calls. Millennium Chemical used to get 80 participants on a conference call. Broadband Associates, a US technology and communications consultancy, offers a variation on the theme, providing synchronised slides, with a map and list of participants, and online voting and written questioning of the presenters. Although this product, called M.Show , is not specifically an investor relations tool, it is used for that purpose.