The document discusses trends in internal and external communications group structures and operations in the pharmaceutical industry. It provides insights from benchmarking research with 39 communications executives from 33 companies. Key findings include that external communications groups prefer assigning staff fully to customers and central locations. They outsource an average of 9% of employees globally. There is a trend toward more integrated internal and external communications groups to increase effectiveness. Email and intranet are seen as critical channels for internal communications in pharma companies.