Andrew Holt talks to new Investis global CEO Don Scales about his plans and the digital challenges for IR professionals
Investis, the digital communications company, recently appointed Don Scales as CEO, overseeing the company’s global business. He takes over from Helen James, who has left the company in a full-time capacity.
Founded in 2000, Investis has built a successful business in the UK and continental Europe, and launched in the US in 2013. After two years of company growth, Scales joined as CEO of North America in March 2016. The company employs more than 500 people in six offices globally, with headquarters in London. Scales will split his time between the London and New York offices.
He has a reputation for improving profitability and expanding market share and he says his background is ‘entrepreneurial’, having worked with a lot of start-up companies, and ‘trying to take them to the next level’.
He says of Investis: ‘What I saw in the US was a fast-growing operation with a number of younger, highly motivated people and a tremendous client base. It has all the parts of a success story. My job is putting all those parts together and making them hum.’
Globally, Investis works with more than 2,000 clients, including businesses such as GE, the NYSE, BP and Rolls-Royce. Scales is therefore in a good position to offer useful advice to IROs when it comes to focusing on digital communications and IR websites.
‘It is about bringing content to investors at the right time, in the right place and on the right device,’ he says. ‘Digital is putting a lot more of the burden on the IR community and [IROs] need to make sure they have an integrated message.’
Are IROs up to speed? ‘The message is getting through,’ Scales says. ‘Possibly I would like to see it get through quicker. [Digital] is going to be much more prevalent going forward, so it is important to be up to speed.’
Expanding on this, Scales highlights that IR professionals need to look at digital strategically. ‘They need to understand it is a content game,’ he explains. ‘It is content beyond just the IR side. And they really need to make sure they understand how digital is migrating to the cloud. They then need to make sure what they are putting in place is sustainable and secure, so they have all the provisions for the content to get to the right people at the right time and in a secure way.’
He admits that this challenging load should be shared by companies like Investis. ‘Some of the burden of this is on us,’ he says. ‘We need to make sure we are providing the best tools and technology, and that the market is receptive to these tools. We are constantly looking at our service offerings. I want to make sure they are appropriate.’
