I’ve come over an very interesting report these days. It’s about Ragan’s third annual Communications Benchmark Report (https://www.ragan.com/white-papers/communications-benchmark-report-2021/).

Ragan’s Communications Benchmark Report is based on responses to an online survey conducted between Jan. 13, 2021-Feb. 7, 2021. The survey yielded 755 qualified responses from internal and external communicators worldwide.

Here are some findings:

• There will be an increased focus on communicating with remote workers. There will be a greater reliance on social media. Workplace wellness will occupy a large role for communicators, though a shared role with other departments.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion will especially increase as a focus.
• Artificial intelligence will rise in importance, as will mobile communications.
• For respondents, there are many obstacles to producing more effective communications, but the most significant—by a wide margin and across both internal and external comms and large and small companies—is too many last-minute requests. Other obstacles include lack of staff, lack of budget and too many distractions.