Two-way Communications: "Use interactive design to enhance the story... Can technology be used to provide clarity and context to the numbers? Can video or animation b ring life to the story..." Baker Hughes' online annual report demonstrates this - specifically with an interactive map. Pride International reinforces the successful execution of its business strategy through an interactive online annual as well. Even outside of IR sites, you are seeing many companies use interactivity, animation and video to help tell the story.

Usability & Navigation: "The site should be easy to navigate and intuitive." – well, every site should be that way! Transocean does a particularly good job of segmenting the IR homepage to the most common linked to/accessed areas. Another feature that I am seeing more of, and appreciate, is "mini" advertisements for quarterly earnings or for special events. GM and Baker Hughes do this on their homepages.

Timeliness: "We are in the real-time era. Each company should make its financial information and data easier to find." All of the sites mentioned above do an excellent job of this (of course thanks to companies like Thomson, Shareholder.com, B2i, SNL, etc. for "real time" data feeds). However, it is up to the IR and communications team to make sure that the right information is getting out there at the right time – specifically when the information can provide more context to the numbers being provided from the data feed provider. Dell is the one (and only) company that goes above and beyond by supplementing its IR site with an IR blog, "Dell Shares."