Traditional reporting will disappear in the next five years, according to Zebra Corporate Communications CEO Andrey Kozhevnikov, putting the impetus on organizations to move to an online reporting model – but this is itself suffering a crisis.
Technology is moving fast and shaping the nature of reports, notes Kozhevnikov. ‘Reports are becoming more mobile-friendly: what we see is many reports becoming really flexible,’ he says. ‘But the proportion of organizations that use this approach is currently below 1 percent.’
What would seem to be a natural move to online reporting is being held back by a picture of digital reporting globally experiencing something of a crisis, he adds: ‘For various reasons, corporates and stakeholders do not see sufficient added value. That creates a vicious circle and does not allow technologies to reach a new stage of development.’
Kozhevnikov nevertheless believes online reporting to be the way forward over the longer term and gives advice on ways to improve it, including objective feedback driven by insights into what stakeholders want to know and into their user experience.
‘You can get insights from data collection and analysis, improving the credibility of data on the report’s impact and reach, and so make improvements to the report at a faster rate,’ he points out.
He also stresses that reports can and should be integrated into a digital AGM or stakeholder engagement system, to benefit the reporting process for the board and company as a whole.
Appropriate software can further help boost the usage and effectiveness of digital reports. ‘Using specialized commercial software can mean identifying visitors to the online report,’ Kozhevnikov says. ‘That delivers a value for low-liquidity public companies. Importantly, special tags inside the personal link help track the user experience, preferences and behavior, and write a cookie file to continue analysis on the report.’
