CorpComms Magazine

It goes without saying that the Noughties saw a significant shift in the role and the importance of the corporate communications director. Our industry survey, which we partnered with this magazine 18 months ago, coupled with our recent  State of the Market Survey, showed the credibility now placed on the role, especially with regards to the perception from senior management.

With the success that has been built up over the past ten years I predict the role of the communications director, a title which I also anticipate will change to chief reputation officer, will be one of a significant player within business and industry over the next decade.

As our report concluded, more than two thirds of communications directors sit on the executive committees of FTSEs, an amazing achievement for an industry that, I still believe, is in its youth. Access to the top has always been cited as a significant development within communications and I believe that more and more 'CROs' will have even more of an important role within organisations, with potentially some of them sitting on the board!

The next decade will also see the continued 'internationalisation' of corporate communications. Most companies work in a 24/7 global media and have global customers and global opinion formers and thus I predict there will be a rise in the number of international communications directors from across Europe and further afield who will be attracted to the improved status of the profession here in the UK. But there will also be an exodus of communications skills and talent. The export of skills and credible communications directors will continue to prevail, and, coupled with the growth of the UK market, there will be a dearth of sophisticated domestic directors.

Having spent several years in corporate communications and PR advisory before moving into consultancy, I have seen a huge change in the sophistication of in-house corporate communicators and their advisers. Corporate communications is alive and well and I predict that participants are going into the next decade with even more potential to achieve a higher status - perhaps one day they could even be the next candidates for a chief executive of a FTSE 100.

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