A study released earlier this month confirms something senior communicators have believed for a while: Companies increasingly consider them a go-to source on risk.
Nearly 90 of 100 senior PR pros from companies in N. America and Europe say they have more responsibility for identifying and mitigating risks than previously (see chart).
One of the communicator’s domains is online, where, among other things, they monitor social conversations about the company. As such, corporate leaders see them as having intimate knowledge of social and they’re the first call where online risk is involved.
Funds and Tech Needed
Unfortunately, communicators consider themselves and their companies inadequately equipped to monitor online risk, not to mention the deep, or dark, web, an area generating concern in the C-Suite. Indeed, 68 percent of respondents expect to encounter new and unknown risks online, the survey says.
As such, it’s troubling that the communicators say their companies monitor just 6.4 social media platforms and even fewer closed social media channels, where much disinformation is said to start.
Even worse, 75 percent of the communicators say they’re unsure if their company has the technology to get ahead of online risks. And 69 percent say it’s getting harder to anticipate or identify risks surfacing online.
In spite of the risk, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) say their company has failed to invest enough resources in technology to thwart new digital issues. The picture worsens; communicators say social media has overtaken cyber threats, extreme weather and supply chain issues as the most pressing risk.
The firms Crisp and Kroll collaborated on the survey of communication leaders, 60 percent of whom work in companies that post revenue higher than $500 million annually; 52 percent have a turnover of more than $1 billion.