Four things we learned at IR Impact’s AI & Technology Forum – Europe
Many IROs say they are still curious about how they can effectively implement AI into their IR programs. But where do you start? And how do you overcome the security concerns that are still rife around the technology?
Earlier this month in London, IR Impact’s AI & Technology Forum – Europe aimed to answer some of those concerns and give attendees a place to start their experiments with the technology, with one eye on saving them time in the long run.
Through a series of deep-dive discussion panels and hands-on workshops, those in attendance were given plenty of food for thought. For those who weren’t among the 150 IROs lucky enough to be in the room, here are four of the key takeaways from the London event.
It’s never too late to start
One of the day’s most keenly anticipated sessions came at the hands of Bryan Kloster, IR manager at US car dealer AutoNation, who led the room in an interactive workshop illustrating how AI tools can power Q&A prep, competitive intelligence, summarizing analyst reports and even producing a live podcast using NotebookLM.
Kloster noted that he started his AI journey at an IR Impact event some two years ago, before which he considered himself a total AI novice. ‘The barriers to entry here are still at a point where many of us are on the same plane,’ he said. ‘So if you haven’t started yet, don’t feel like you’re really too far behind, because this is new to everybody. I hope that what you see today might inspire you equally to pursue something like this.’
He added that the benefits for IROs embracing these technologies are likely to be exponential: ‘If we think about it, IR is at this unique intersection of quantitative and qualitative research. I think that’s why, as any profession, we stand to benefit the most from the power of this technology.’
Find your ‘Steve Jobs’
A later panel saw two IROs who have embraced AI for different purposes discuss their journey with the technology, from first steps to implementation. Claudia Thome, senior vice president of IR at CompuGroup Medical, said that she had the benefit of working at a company which was bearish on the applications of AI across the business, leading to the development of specific tools to make the AGM process far more efficient, particularly in Q&A preparation.
Thome revealed that her ‘lucky punch’ was identifying one member of an internal software team who became a Steve Jobs figure, emulating the former Apple boss’ evangelism and technological know-how to help put people at ease.
‘I think it was having people embrace the [application of AI] who knew about the risks, like confidentiality and so on [that made it successful]. And having some tech guys to show us early on how to use it, before rolling it out,’ she explained. ‘[They] explained that you have to be expert-friendly, then the AI yields better results.’
Artificial intelligence for competitive intelligence
One recurring use of AI was to help collate and prepare market intelligence, particularly for analyzing what peers were putting into the market and turning it into strategically relevant information. Irina Logutenkova, head of investor relations at Getech, gave the audience several examples of how ChatGPT had helped uncover how other firms in Getech’s industry were perceived, which in turn helped inform her company’s decision making.
‘It gave me a list of a few companies and some had a similar position – but a couple of decades ago,’ she explained. ‘It was really useful because you could learn from those companies that implemented [similar changes]… and learn from their mistakes. You could see the pitfalls to avoid.’
She added that AI also helped turn that analysis into a briefing for her management team, including some short-term forecasts and predictions. It proves that, in reality, ‘there is nothing new under the sun,’ she joked, adding that asking ChatGPT for a steer can be a powerful step in your strategic thinking.
Data concerns still loom large
Despite the number of IR teams who are wholeheartedly embracing AI, an informal poll of those in attendance found that data privacy and security concerns are still holding many IROs back from experimenting freely with the technology. Ranking second were accuracy and reliability concerns, and third was a lack of personal knowledge and understanding.
Several speakers throughout the day addressed their own solutions to many of these issues. For Yvonne Harley, director of investor relations and sustainability at NCC Group, one easy way to avoid internal security issues is to use a personal computer and email address to sign up for those first forays into AI experimentation.
Later Müge Yücel, director of investor relations & sustainability at Galata Wind, said that the best way to fuel that uptake was to become the AI expert, whether that’s by trying different models or even learning some basic coding to understand how various platforms work and what they do. ‘If you don’t put in the time, then there’s really no way of implementing AI in your life,’ she added. ‘And once you do show what you can do with AI, management will automatically buy in at some point.’
