The days of 2024 are running out, but this time we're not summing up the past year, we're hurrying forward. Corporate internal communications is on track for what promises to be a super-exciting and eventful year ahead. Let's start with the basics and then look at the biggest names!
Today, there's no question that effective internal communication is a critical factor in the life of a business, directly impacting employee engagement and productivity. According to last year's report from The State of Business Communication, 72% of business leaders said that effective communication increased their team's productivity, and 52% of employees agreed. Importantly, this is also true in the opposite direction. In other words, the weaker the foundation of internal communication, the greater the chance that productivity will also deteriorate. Therefore, it now requires just as much conscious planning as it does to reach and address customers and clients.
Let's take a look at where internal communication is heading, what trends are expected in 2025, and most importantly: what should HR and internal communication teams be equipped with in the year ahead?
We have incorporated it into our daily lives as assistants, it has been all over the web, and training courses and conferences have been organized around the topic. AI is taking off. The emergence of the internet or social media alone has generated a global interest similar to that of the Internet in both personal and business life.
There is not much future in internal communications without AI. Digital business platforms need to be continuously populated with content, consistently of course, in line with our defined goals. But time constraints and workloads often make this difficult. AI tools should therefore be integrated into internal communication and learned to use, as they can be of enormous help in everyday work. If only because segmentation may be needed in the future as never before.
When we thought we had entered the era of personalized content delivery through the algorithms of advertising, social media, or streaming providers, we probably only got a minimal preview. Hyper-personalization has also kicked the door down to the internal communications profession, and it would be a mistake to ignore it. In Gallagher's last two surveys (2022/2023 and 2023/2024), hyperpersonalization, alongside AI, was the most dominant trend that will shape internal communications in the next 5 years. And for good reason.
In 2025, it will no longer be possible to send the same corporate message to everyone in the same way. Internal communication will also have to follow this hyper-personalization trend and segment news by location or job title, for example. And segmentation will not only cover the precise targeting of content, but also stylistics and language use. We are moving in the direction of the need for personalization in terms of language, format, for example, by generation, white collar and blue-collar workers, etc., as content consumption may be very different in different groups.
In its article on the future of internal communication, Sociabble highlights a simple but very important fact: "The latest workplace communication statistics clearly show that globally 80% of employees do not work behind a desk." Just think of retail stores, manufacturing companies, distribution centres, where a lot of people work. "They are on the move, meeting customers, making phone calls - they do the work that keeps the business running," they add.
And this needs no further explanation: effective internal communication is now unthinkable without a mobile platform, without an app. Access is not only a matter of the internet but also of the device itself. Everybody has a mobile phone (if someone doesn't, the employer has to step in today!), we do everything on our smartphones, our internal corporate communication content must be available on mobile.
Internal communication formats and genres are being updated along with our overall content consumption habits. The days of long-form corporate briefings and dry news releases are certainly over. Short videos and podcasts are taking off all over the world, and by 2025 they will have their place in internal communications. It's not just a matter of adding color and entertainment. Especially for Generation Z employees, without this approach, there is a good chance that successful internal communication will not be possible in the future. They are more targeted, so it's worth producing creative, creative content in 2025.
The communication channel/platform and formats have been revamped, with the needs of the recipients in mind, but let's also take a look at the internal communication team. Technology is a great support for their work, but they would be missing a huge opportunity if they didn't involve their employees more in content production. With an in-house influencer/ambassador team, internal communications can reach a level where it's hard to list all the benefits.
The inevitable benefit is that they help HR and the internal comms team, promoting content that produces measurable results. Less predictable or objective, but all the more important and valuable is the human aspect of it all. You can find fantastic talent, you can spotlight people who have an impact on others, who are listened to, and whose opinions and ideas are sought after by others. They can get the team moving, they can use their talents to influence the culture of the workplace as a whole.
