Business communication is enjoying its golden era. Chief communication officers no longer play a secondary role; instead, they handle an increasingly wide range of duties and in many cases have become the right hand of major corporations' presidents and CEOs.
Various factors point in the same direction. Both the evolution of this activity within organizations and the growing number of new agencies and consultancies specializing in these services definitely prove that the way an enterprise communicates and interacts with its various communities is crucial for its development. According to a study by the Association of Chief Communication Officers, Dircom, 78% of companies have communications departments. Businesses have realized that in today's extremely competitive environment, they need to offer more than just a product. A great relationship with all of their communities may provide a substantial advantage. That is the explanation behind the sector's growth both within companies and externally, due to the emergence of numerous third-party providers, communication agencies and consultancies that are important allies to management in this area.
The point is that CCOs' duties and responsibilities have, over time, spread far beyond answering media queries. Consequently, qualifications required of them are no longer limited to the ability to organize a press conference and put together a press release. They also need to know how to stay ahead of the game, have entrepreneurial and strategic vision and offer advice to the entire organization. CCOs' new responsibilities include brand management, event management, marketing and staff relations. In that sense, it has taken many years for entire business organizations to accept and embrace communication departments' involvement and realize that their work is an essential part of company strategy.