Misys Banking Systems: Isolating spokespeople

Lack of support neutralises the value of a ‘premium’ information service.

The Site

Misys Banking Systems, a technology and software provider to leading financial institutions, includes a Spokespeople section in its online Newsroom.

Under the heading Meet the Experts this provides profiles of 10 executives and senior managers which include their job title, specialist subjects and ‘product focus’. There is, however, no indication either on the profiles page or elsewhere in Newsroom as to the experts’ availability as spokespeople. Journalists are offered no contact details or form by which they might follow an enquiry or set up an interview. Newsroom itself has no contacts page or heading; while a telephone number is given on the section home page for a named press officer, this is not repeated anywhere else within the section including the Spokespeople page.

The Takeaway

In its eagerness to alert journalists to its experts’ “unique breadth of experience” and “unparalleled understanding of issues faced by banks the world over” Misys Banking seems to have lost sight of the principal function of such spokespeople. That is, to make themselves available to the media for comment.

The lack of contact details for the spokespeople or the means to submit an interview request undermines what is a potentially valuable service for the company as well as journalists, who are always grateful for a quotable source. That this is linked to a general absence of contact opportunities suggests Misys Banking is being overly heavy-handed in setting up its Newsroom as a self-service tool for managing journalists’ questions. While that works for routine fact checking and research, a ‘premium’ service such as Spokespeople still requires a more direct involvement from a press officer. The website should help to free them from the more mundane work to be able to give just that.

First published on 26 September, 2006