It's equally important for companies with a large US institutional following as a means of expanding the company's shareholder base and building brand equity. Maximizing the site's impact to keep investors interested is a job for the CFO - not a web designer, he says. As a CFO, he knows that communication is a two-way street, and by supervising headlines, prioritizing information and eliciting feedback, Pai can ensure that the site is effectively servicing shareholders. With webcasting, Pai can reach his international investor base simultaneously and meet US disclosure requirements. What's more, investors can put a face to the corporate machine.
Personal communication is the way of the future.
India isn't the only place where CFOs are embracing the web. The company's site began by offering not much more than a corporate profile and its annual report. But after consultations with analysts and investors, he became convinced that offering more information would pay off. Shareholders asked, and we agreed, to provide operational data each month on the web. While he appreciates having investor comments channeled via the web back to the company, he argues that Asian companies and their US counterparts are at different stages of sophistication and therefore have different requirements.