Trendspotting: The Communications Landscape

Based on recent work, Feldman & Partners has identified the following trends and insights that we believe will have serious and long-term ramifications on the world of communications. All observations link to the warning bells we now hear: the economy is tightening and many companies will be in for a rough ride. That means more potential crises, more tough issues and, unfortunately, pressure to do more with less.

At the same time, as a recent Page Society report suggested, the environment will only grow in complexity with new digital pressure points, increasing globalization and an ever-growing number of empowered stakeholders.

So what to do?

Vulnerability assessments are becoming critical right now…so they’re embedded in next year’s budgets and they’re underway before a down economy takes its toll. Chief communications officers need to inventory their organizations and identify potential problem areas if the business softens…for example, communications around layoffs, disappointing financial performance, on-line reputation threats, etc.

Due to the current environment, many companies right now are taking the time to tighten their organizations, often in two ways:

Separating underperformers and slashing the lowest ten percent of the work being done in terms of value delivered. The presumption is if it’s the lowest ten percent, it just can’t be that important.

Assessing the communications organizational structure and seeking ways to change it to increase productivity and to get closer to the lines of business. This can include pure organizational redesign or even offshoring certain communications functions. (We’re actually working with three companies right now on this alone. A third party is often helpful in effecting this kind of change.)

The reputation metrics we’ve seen are often sketchy, which leads to uncertain accountability. In tough times, ambiguity of contribution is never a good thing. CEOs support compelling business cases and we are finding more CCOs wanting help in making the case, and we expect that need will be even greater in the next couple of years.

It appears that the more agencies a company retains, the greater the inefficiency. I am not an advocate for one agency worldwide, but we’re seeing an increasing number of companies with more agencies than they really want! Perhaps this is a natural occurrence – various people in different business units and geographies who, at one time or another, concluded they needed their “own” agency. Our experience leads us to believe that many such companies see now as the time to deal with the problem to help improve efficiency in a difficult economic environment.

Talent development remains a major issue, and priority, at world-class companies. We are seeing more and more companies investing in their people and putting in place great development programs. Recruiting and retention will only get more difficult going forward. We have some interesting research and ideas on this subject, so check back in the coming weeks for a summary of our findings.

Ultimately, being expected to do more with less is becoming a practically universal expectation in the communications landscape, so the success of a communications team does, and will increasingly, depend upon its ability to improve productivity, efficiency and impact while lowering its costs.

Bob Feldman is chief executive and managing partner of Feldman & Partners a management consulting firm helping

companies maximize ROI in the communications function through strategy and organizational design.