The job of an investor relations (IR) professional is all about the next meeting. Whether the meeting is with a potential investor or an analyst or someone at a conference, it's up to IR pros to stay informed about market fluctuations and news so they can compete for capital and investors.
Last year, Nasdaq OMX's Corporate Solutions group rolled out a mobile app to its IR customers to help them prepare for those meetings, but "from a context and user-experience perspective, it left a lot to be desired," says Chris Collett, the company's VP and global head of IR strategy.
The app included basic features such as contacts and a calendar, but when Nasdaq acquired the IR, PR and media businesses of Thomson Reuters in June 2013, it saw an opportunity to upgrade the app.
Nasdaq surveyed its IR customers, including Coca-Cola and GE, and interviewed them over five months to find out what features would help them most on the road. Most customers said they wanted to be able to easily access content related to their company and competitors from within the app instead of having to search for it online.
The new version of IR Mobile, for iOS and Android devices, offers customizable views of stock prices, broker notes and articles. The app can also display up to nine companies side-by-side for comparison. Since the new release in late April, IR Mobile usage has increased 56 percent.
Patricia Baronowski-Schneider, president of IR consulting firm Pristine Advisers, says having content all in one place is a big time-saver for the on-the-go IR professional. "While most firms have an IR website, I often find it frustrating when I have to spend precious time searching around the website to find the information I'm looking for," she says.
Other new features on the app include real-time stock quotes, news, broker research and company ownership information.
The app is also integrated with Nasdaq's desktop CRM system so that meeting notes entered in the mobile app show up at headquarters to keep company executives informed about how the meetings went.
Tracking the meeting results helps to determine whether bringing the company's CEO or CFO to investor meetings was worthwhile, says Mike Cotter, senior vice president of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. "You can see if you're getting a return on your executives' time."
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