Beyond the Daily PR Fires: The Case for Communications Operations

The best time to fix your operations was yesterday. The second best time is before your next crisis hits.

In the late 90s/early 2000s, I witnessed firsthand how marketing transformed from being the events and collateral department into a strategic growth driver. Inspired by the book 'The One to One Future' by Martha Rodgers and Don Peppers, the Marketing Leadership (with Jeremy Burton and Mark Jarvis as vivid advocates) at Oracle set out to change the way Marketing was driving value for the business. Marketing Operations played a crucial role in this evolution – not by changing what we did, but by completely changing how we did it. It gave us the framework to focus on strategic initiatives while having dedicated expertise in operational excellence: from selecting and implementing the right tools to optimizing processes and measuring our impact on business growth.

Today, I'm hearing very familiar echoes in my conversations with communications leaders. During our networking event end of January, a Communications leader at a major company told me, "We're drowning in manual processes while trying to handle increasingly complex stakeholder demands." Another confided, "We have brilliant strategists on our team, but they spend half their time wrestling with tools and workflows instead of focusing on strategic communication."

These conversations take me back to marketing's transformation. The challenge isn't about capability – today's communications teams are doing extraordinary work. But they're doing it while carrying the additional burden of operational complexity that shouldn't be their focus.

Consider these scenarios:

Your competitor faces a major product safety issue, and journalists are reaching out for comment. Your team spends precious minutes hunting through email chains for stakeholder approvals while competitors are already shaping the narrative. Or imagine entering a board meeting where executives demand clear metrics on how communications activities impacted the latest product launch – but your data is scattered across multiple platforms and spreadsheets. Or the inevitable crisis situation, trying to work from the crisis plan but reality in executing your communications across various teams in one voice taking hours.

These aren't hypothetical situations. They represent the daily reality for communications teams operating with infrastructure that hasn't evolved to match their expanding responsibilities.

From Tactical to Strategic: The Communications Evolution

The rules of corporate communications are being rewritten in real time. As boards increasingly recognize communications as a strategic function, AI disrupts traditional media, and social platforms amplify both truth and fiction, communications teams find themselves at the center of business value creation. This isn't just an evolution in responsibilities—it's a fundamental transformation in how organizations navigate reputation, trust, and stakeholder relationships. What was once viewed as the press release factory now directly impacts business outcomes, from market reputation to employee engagement. Yet while expectations have soared, the systems supporting communications teams remain stuck in the past.

When a crisis hits, your team shouldn't be hunting through email threads for contact lists or approval workflows. When stakeholders demand insights, you shouldn't need to reconcile data from six different platforms. When board members ask about communications ROI, you shouldn't be cobbling together manual reports from multiple spreadsheets.

Why PR Operations Matters Now

Several factors make PR Operations essential for modern communications teams:

Command and Control

Modern communications departments manage everything from executive communications to crisis response. Without a central operational framework, teams waste valuable time switching between disconnected tools and piecing together information from various sources.

Speed and Agility

In crisis situations, minutes matter. Teams need systems that enable rapid response, not hinder it. PR Operations provides the infrastructure for quick, coordinated action across channels and stakeholders.

Measurable Impact

Communications leaders increasingly need to demonstrate clear ROI. PR Operations creates frameworks that connect communications activities to business outcomes, enabling data-driven strategy and resource allocation.

Enter the PR Operations Role: Architect of Modern Communications

The PR Operations role serves as the architect of efficient, scalable communications, combining technical expertise with strategic understanding of communications needs. This role bridges the gap between communications strategy and operational excellence, ensuring that great communication isn't hindered by poor processes or inadequate tools. Aspects of this new role can be found in Marketing Operations, IT or specific Digital Transformation departments. Key remains to have someone really vested in the operations of the Corp Comms/PR department and processes to identify opportunities for operational improvement.

Key focus areas include:

Building the Operational Framework: Creating an integrated technology ecosystem that gives teams immediate access to the tools, data, and processes they need.

Streamlining Response Systems: Developing workflows that eliminate administrative bottlenecks and enable rapid, coordinated action in critical situations.

Creating Measurement Frameworks: Establishing systems that track and demonstrate communications impact on business objectives.

Enabling Scale: Building infrastructure that allows communications teams to grow without losing efficiency or control.

Communications Professional vs. Communications Operations: Two Sides of Excellence

Traditional communications professionals and communications operations specialists work as complementary forces, each bringing distinct approaches and skills to modern communications challenges:

For example:

• While a Communications Professional develops a crisis response message, the Operations specialist ensures the message can be approved and distributed within minutes through pre-established channels
• As the Communications Professional builds media relationships, Operations creates systems to track every interaction and its outcomes
• When the Communications Professional plans a campaign, Operations ensures all assets, approvals, and distribution channels are systematically organized and accessible

Neither role replaces the other – they enhance each other. The Communications Professional brings the expertise, creativity, and relationships crucial for success, while Operations provides the infrastructure, systems, and processes that allow that expertise to scale and function efficiently.

The Cost of Waiting

Those who move first will set the standard that others follow. Those who wait will find themselves increasingly irrelevant. It's about building systems that can scale, processes that can adapt, and frameworks that can demonstrate clear return on investment.

The question isn't whether to build a PR Operations function – it's how quickly you can begin. Start by examining your current response systems:

1. How long does it take to coordinate responses to (unforeseen) situations?
2. How manual is your crisis comms work flow?
3. Where do approval bottlenecks typically occur?
4. How easily can you access historical communications data and insights?
5. What manual processes are slowing your team down?

These answers will reveal where PR Operations can have the most immediate impact in transforming your communications function from a tactical service provider into a strategic business driver.