Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Internal communicators don’t need more tools. We need fewer handoffs, less chaos, and more space to do the work that requires our superpowers of context, clarity, and judgment.

You don’t need another AI tool to test. You need to know which one actually works vs. what’s hype.

It’s 9 a.m. on a Wednesday. You announced this year’s company vision and goals on Monday to get everyone excited and aligned. But stats show less than 30% of the company has viewed it. Aside from that one enthusiastic employee commenting, “Can’t wait!” — it didn’t land the way you’d hoped. Leadership needs engagement metrics by the end of the week. You’re feeling deflated and desperate. Sound familiar?

Your IT team considers the intranet problem solved. SharePoint is deployed, systems are integrated, uptime is solid. But your internal communications team tells a different story — one where “technically functional” doesn't mean “actually useful.”

IT leaders today face a paradox: AI budgets are climbing while employee satisfaction with workplace technology remains flat, or even declines. The problem isn't a lack of innovation. It’s fragmentation.

So, you want better tools — but getting buy-in isn’t easy. Too often, we hear leaders asking, Why can’t internal communication teams use the tools the organization already has? “Why not SharePoint?” “Can’t we post it on ServiceNow?” What they don’t see is that internal comms isn’t just about sharing information — it’s about shaping culture, fueling performance, and enabling change.

We put so much effort and money into finding and hiring new talent. We need to put as much effort into making them feel like they made the right decision — even before day one. A positive first impression during employee onboarding builds a foundation for long-term success.

When I first came to Silicon Valley in the dot-com frenzy of the ’90s, tech start-ups talked about the fast pace of change in “Web years.” In other words, what used to take years now takes quarters. Fast forward to today, and quarters as measurements of change seem sedentary. As we turn to 2026, what HR trends are on the horizon and demand our attention?

Internal communications teams face a familiar problem: They’re drowning in execution while starving for strategy. Hours disappear into drafting announcements, chasing approvals, and coordinating rollouts. Meanwhile, employees ignore most messages, engagement drops, and leadership wants to see proof of IC’s business impact.

Internal communicators used to be seen as the people who sent the emails. They formatted the memos, updated the intranet, and made sure everybody knew about the holiday party. Important work, sure, but hardly an image that necessitated a seat at the executive table. That era is over. Now IC is all about ROI.