British Airways
Overview
Problem: BA wanted to display live voting
results to shareholders immediately.
Solution: IML’s AGM Service
Attendees cast their live votes using IML’s electronic Communicator
keypads and the IML system calculates all results instantly.
Results can be displayed live to attendees immediately after a vote
has closed.
Case study
The Challenge
BA previously employed a 'Ballot Box' system to poll more than
600 poll cards. Keen to demonstrate a commitment to
shareholder confidence, BA's primary objective was to incorporate a
method of calculating these votes and displaying the live poll
result in seconds to the meeting.
The Solution
Computershare were able to utilise IML’s expertise and
technology to develop an interactive solution specifically tailored
to meet with BA’s AGM requirements.
The solution resulted in a simple and effective AGM service that
afforded BA with a number of tangible benefits which included:
Automated registration
Registrars used
IML’s automated system to scan delegates’ bar-coded attendance
slips on arrival, registering them in seconds.
Instant identification
All Shareholders
were issued with personal Smartcards, automatically linking them to
their voting rights.
Before casting their votes, shareholders simply inserted their
Smartcards into an electronic keypad and selected either For,
Against or Abstain (represented by numbers 1, 2 and 3) on their
electronic keypads.
Rapid results
All votes were immediately
calculated by the system, avoiding time-consuming manual counts.
Shareholders could see the outcome of a vote within seconds and
reports were printed instantly, negating the need for BA to
advertise results in the following day’s broadsheets.
Accurate results
IML’s system is fully
compliant with the data protection act and is proven 100%
accurate.
Automated data capture and computerised checks enabled BA to answer
enquiries fully and quickly.
Detailed audit trail
A full audit trail of
attendance and voting was made available as well as a live and
proxy vote breakdown, enabling every part of the voting process to
undergo detailed scrutiny.
Certainty
All results were made available
on poll, rather than on ‘show of hands’, creating a far more
democratic process and removing the need for contingency
arrangements in the event a vote was lost.
Confidence
Once a vote had been received
by the system, the Communicator keypad screen displayed a message
confirming to the shareholder that their vote had been
registered.
BA said:
“It is crucial for BA to demonstrate a pro-active approach to
reform in order to highlight our unwavering commitment to living up
to the expectations of our shareholders.
IML’s electronic keypads modernised our AGM and kept it in-line
with changing times and technology. More importantly, they have
held us and our practices fully accountable and transparent.
I firmly believe that electronic voting is the future of AGMs
and will become standardised practice at all AGMs, providing
shareholders with a familiar format they can have complete
confidence in”.
Sarah Billington, Manager Shareholder Services.