The digitalization of communication is clearly seen as an opportunity. Social media has established itself as an important factor in the management of communication tasks. However, companies need communication governance in order to be able to manage all levels of communication in companies efficiently and professionally. This is shown by the initial results of a comprehensive survey of leading Chief Communications Officers (CCO), the members of the Harbourclub. The results are a further development of the "CCO Compass", which was launched a year and a half ago in collaboration with the GFS Bern research institute. The Harbourclub is a Networkwhich brings together the CCOs of the most important Swiss companies and organizations.

With the "CCO Compass", the Harbourclub takes an in-depth look at digitalization and its impact on communication. At the beginning of 2016, the Harbourclub conducted a survey among its members for the first time to delve deeper into trends and changes in the communications sector. The result was a practical assessment of the value contribution and understanding of communication by CCOs in Switzerland.

Companies need communication governance

In the survey, heads of communication clearly advocate a clear concept for managing communication with guidelines and defined processes, responsibilities, topics, channels and stakeholder groups, aligned with a company's vision, purpose, strategy, organization and culture. 68 percent fully agree with such communication management. Only 13% disagree that communication can be better managed with governance. However, there is still a gap between agreement and actual implementation in the company. This is because less than half (46%) of CCOs already have a clearly defined and practiced control element.

Heads of communications expand their influence on company management

83% of CCOs stated that they had more personal influence on reputation communication than three years ago. According to their own assessment, not a single member lost influence. This reflects the steadily growing importance of communication on strategy, brands, products, perception and culture in the age of digital upheaval on all fronts. The trust of managing directors and CEOs in their communication leaders is becoming a success factor. It is not only the personal influence of CCOs that has increased; the CCO Compass survey shows that 93% also provide communications consulting services "partially" or "fully" to other areas of the organization beyond top management.

Digitalization with more opportunities than risks

40 percent of CCOs in Switzerland clearly see more opportunities in digitalization and give it an even 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. The average score is a high 8.6 points. Although the opportunities of digitalization have been recognized, companies do not yet seem to have fully adapted to the new communication requirements. Only 20 percent of companies have a dialogue strategy to deal with the changes in communication brought about by digitalization. However, 40 percent have recognized the signs of the times and are "working on it". Still 30 percent do not have a dialog strategy.

No other stakeholder group has driven the change in communication as much as customers. 88% of respondents also see them as the main drivers of the last three years from a corporate communications perspective, followed by employees (78%). The media (53 percent) lag far behind. From the CCOs' perspective, investors/capital providers (13 percent), politics/authorities (8 percent) and trade unions (3 percent) have little influence.

Social media and visualization create attention

Communication managers are meeting these increasing challenges with the help of one channel in particular: social media is increasingly being used for these purposes by 78%. The internet in general is gaining in importance for 53%, followed by relationship management/networking (45%) and traditional media relations (40%), which is used to a much lesser extent. Social, personal exchange with customers and employees still reaches 33%, personal discussions 23%.

The battle for attention has increased with the additional communication channels. Today, 58% of communication managers invest "significantly more" in the visualization, emotionalization and simplification of content. Still 40 percent spend "slightly more" on this than three years ago.

Trust in communication remains high

In the course of the digitalization of everyday life, companies in Switzerland are extremely aware of transparency, honesty and credibility. 73% of heads of communication state that these attributes are very important to management and senior management. 23 percent describe them as "high". CCOs have a more differentiated view of the impact of digitalization on communication in terms of trust. Only a quarter believe that transparency, honesty and credibility in communication have "increased significantly" as a result of digitalization, 45% rate this as "somewhat increased", while just under a third see no change in the last three years.

The Harbourclub's "CCO Compass" survey includes a practical examination of the topics of governance, digitalization, status and communication sovereignty, change and future viability of communication departments and their heads of communication. The further results will be published in the course of 2016.