One new technology has dominated headlines in 2024: the emerging importance of AI in everybody’s lives, not just for IROs. The upcoming IR Magazine Forum – AI & Technology is focused on how IROs can following the footsteps of investors, governance and corporate communications teams who are adopting innovative technology, machine-learning and generative AI to support their day-to-day decision-making.
Taking place on December 3 in New York, the event will provide IR teams at publicly listed companies with a blueprint for the responsible use of AI and other innovative technology to supercharge their IR program.
Ahead of the forum, IR Magazine caught up with Andrew Posen, vice president, head of investor relations at WOW! Internet, Cable and Phone, who will be speaking on a panel that will examine how the buy side are using the technology.
You'll be talking on a panel titled ’Keeping up with the buy side: The challenges and possibilities for IROs’ at the AI and Technology Forum. Which aspects of this topic are you keen to explore?
I am really looking forward to this event because I believe that AI is becoming an extremely important tool for investors but is at such an early stage in its development, especially within investor relations. From my seat as head of IR, I have primarily seen concepts of how AI can be used to support my role.
For example, it seems as though most AI products are still in beta or are tools that buyside investors have just started to access, including those that more efficiently and effectively aggregate and analyze alternative data sources. In that sense, AI can be used by investors to gain additional insight into how businesses are performing by analyzing alternative market data. Understanding those tools and the data investors leverage will be critical for IR and management teams who want to stay ahead of the curve.
Given that we are just starting out with this new technology, I am especially looking forward to understanding how other IROs are using AI, thinking about AI and hearing their thoughts on its potential. So far, the tools that I have seen are geared towards improving efficiencies around tasks and core processes in our day-to-day functions, including summarizing transcripts, assessing Q&A and collecting data to enhance our analytical approach and further understand trends in our business, industry and market. From that perspective, I want to hear from my peers how they are taking AI to the next level, not merely as an efficiency tool, but potentially as a new way to approach investor relations. I am also excited to hear completely crazy ideas that push the boundaries so that we can try and expect the unexpected from AI.
Can you tell us about your background in how you are implementing AI in your role and some of the things you're looking forward to hearing about at the event?
Today, I am just starting to play with AI to become more familiar with it. Specifically, I have been using AI to help summarize competitor earnings calls and Q&A to evaluate trends and topics as well gaining insight into how my peers are dealing with common questions. I like to develop a baseline or foundation of understanding regarding where the technology fits within my role and then see where it can take me.
With that in mind, at the forum I am looking forward to the workshops and demos because I have so much to learn regarding the opportunity the AI is beginning to present. I also think it will be great to hear from other IROs with respect to how they use the technology, and where they think it might go.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your profession so far and what do feel is the next big challenge on the horizon?
Without a doubt, the biggest challenge I have faced in IR was at Morgan Stanley during the financial crisis in 2008. I believe that the role of an IRO fundamentally changed as everyone struggled with understanding the exceptionally complex financials and what the market dynamic of the time meant for both companies and investors. It became more apparent than ever that investors and investor relations teams had the same goals and needed to work together in the interests of transparency and expectations on where financial markets were going.
Understanding that shared interest has given me a much deeper appreciation for the buy side and today leads me to work hard to look for additional data points that help investors get a better knowledge and understanding of my business, strategy and the challenges we face as part of our execution of that strategy. AI is the next opportunity that I believe we all must work to better understand and then leverage as part of our general interactions, both internally with our executive teams as well as externally with both the buy side and sell side.
If you were to give your audience at the forum one piece of advice, what would it be?
It’s a piece of advice that I struggle to follow all the time: do not resist things that are still wildly unfamiliar. At each stage of my career, I have moved into an area that I had little experience with or exposure to but dove into it with the same level of enthusiasm. Knowing that these challenges are exciting opportunities, specifically because we don’t fully grasp where the technology is going to take us, is exactly why I look forward to this event on AI.
