Internal communications has a vital role to play in driving the value of business relationships. Amidst tighter wallets and shrinking budgets, the need for businesses to make the most of their marketing manpower is stronger than ever.

1. Refreshing the role of
internal communications:
A critical business response to
our quickly changing times
Francesca Brosan, Chairman,
Omobono Limited.
February 2010
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

2. Times have changed. Internal communications
are critical to the way in which companies need
to respond.
Internal communications has The recession has put the This promotion-centric view of
a vital role to play in driving marketing community in a marketing and internal
the value of business difficult place. With increasing communications is the one that
relationships. pressures on budgets, and from is challenged in the research
boards demanding proof of ROI, recently undertaken by The
marketers have found Judge Business School, of
themselves having to answer Cambridge University, on behalf
the question, „what does a of Omobono, the digital B2B
marketer do without any communications agency.
budget?‟
Omobono‟s belief, that it is
Internal communicators face the relationships that drive business
same predicament. Like many and that the ultimate role of
marketing disciplines, internal marketing is to drive those
communications budgets are relationships, was examined
pulled when times get tough and against both academic theory
departmental staff follow shortly and business practice. What
afterwards. emerged supported Omobono‟s
belief in the need and benefits of
looking at an organisation‟s
relationships holistically in order
to increase their value. This
view, coined Enterprise
Relationship Management
(ERM) by Omobono, had some
major implications for the role of
the internal communicator.
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
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3. ERM research puts internal Omobono has been working This disconnect means that as a
communications centre with corporate clients since its result, and far too often, internal
stage inception in 2001 to increase communications as a function
internal engagement with sits low down in the food chain,
corporate objectives and struggling to make senior
believes it is a key contributor to management aware of its critical
business success. contribution.
As Harvard Business Review The Judge Business School
put it: research, which looked at ERM
across three sectors (service,
‘“It is a truth of business that
public sector and
if employees do not care
manufacturing), found a need
about their company, they will
for far more importance to be
in the end contribute to its
placed on the internal
demise.” 1
communications function.
But increasingly this represents
a backward looking view of the
role of internal communications -
one in which the function is
there simply to communicate
whatever it is that the
organization has already
decided to do. Effectively,
internal communications teams
are involved in conveying the
message, but not in developing
the strategy behind it.
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

4. Relationships matter in The research, conducted with However, the critical
business senior marketers within a dozen relationships are not just those
world class companies, between an organization and its
confirmed that relationships are customers, but between the
central to the success of organization and its workforce,
business. As Hakansson & its suppliers and a wider
Ford expressed it in 2002: stakeholder group. (see Fig 1)
“The overall performance of a Whilst success depends on how
company will depend on how good the relationship is, this is in
well they are able to manage turn influenced by how well it is
2
their own relationships.” . managed by the organization.
As Professor Evert Gummesson
of Stockholm Business School
and father of relationship
marketing puts it, “The quality
and nature of the relationship
depends on the quality of the
interaction process.”3
Fig. 1
Source: Morgan, R.M. and Hunt, D.H. (1994)4
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

5. Managing relationships As the research also confirmed, And if success in the future
relies on the ability to use success depends on the relies on marketing being not
everyone as part time interaction being an ongoing just a job for the marketing
process right across the department, then
marketers
company, not the province of communications is not the only
one particular department such thing internal
as marketing or sales. This is communicators should be doing.
an approach also propounded
by Gummesson, who goes on
Service is what‟s driving the
to break down the contributors
economy
to the interaction into „FTMs‟
(full time marketers) and „PTMs‟ Another key insight revealed by
(part time marketers). the JBS/Omobono research
project was the impact of the
Looking at success through the shift towards a service economy
lens of Enterprise Relationship on every business sector,
Management it is clear that demanding a new set of
internal communicators have a behaviours and a new marketing
significant contribution to make, approach. Businesses, then, are
working with senior not pushing a product but co-
management to ensure that creating value by sharing
these „PTMs‟ are aligned behind knowledge, service systems and
organizational goals. networks across their
relationships. (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2
Source: Godson, M (2009)5
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

6. The need to share Whilst each of the sectors This presents the internal
knowledge across the surveyed by Omobono had communications function with an
organization is common to specific issues they needed to opportunity to set up structures
address in terms of how their which enable knowledge
all sectors.
relationship focus would need to sharing, becoming the deliverers
change in response to this of corporate strategy, not simply
market shift, the need to share the people that tell employees
knowledge across the about it. (Fig. 3)
organisation was common to all.
In fact, this sharing is critical in
Public Sector
order to deliver an improved
experience to customers, staff
Not-for-profit organisations
and other key strategic
meanwhile typically have a
partners,.
functional structure where each
department specialises in
Fig. 3
providing a particular service to
customers. The key problem
with this structure is that
Source: Omobono 2009 different departments hardly
Service interact with each other.
Customers on the other hand,
For service organisations, want a one-stop shop from
knowledge is the fundamental which they can receive all the
source of competitive advantage services they need. This is
so the ability to share driving public sector
information across the organisations to reorganize,
organisation is paramount. aligning to deliver to customer
needs, rather than according to
But knowledge is not simply government funding or legacy
about knowing something. It is structures.
also having the application skills
to put action into practice.
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

7. Fig. 4
Source: Omobono 2009
This new partnership working is Manufacturing
This is a sea of change for many
not something public sector
in the sector as it relies heavily
organisations are well versed in, In the manufacturing sector
on the company‟s ability to
and again the opportunity is for goods have become
share. Internal communicators
internal communicators to take commoditised, leaving
will be needed not simply to tell
the lead in putting structures in manufacturers constantly in
employees what‟s going on but
place to share knowledge and search of new value
to instil new ways of working,
processes across the propositions in a highly
interacting and behaving.
organisation. (Fig. 4) competitive global market.
(Fig. 5)
Service propositions in which
partnerships are formed with
suppliers and end customers
are taking over from simply
transforming materials. In order
to do this they need to a work
not only with internal
departments, but with external
partners, as well as to funnel
knowledge back into the
organization in order to be able
to deliver the service again for
the customer.
Fig. 5
Source: Omobono 2009
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

8. In conclusion Relationships are central to
business success and are driven
by the quality of the interaction
right across the company.
Critical to this, is ability to
successfully share knowledge
and build relationships across
the organisation, connecting
marketing with sales, key
account teams or HR, and
aligning everyone behind service
delivery to customers.
Viewed in the context of how
important enterprise
relationships are for the future
success of businesses and
public sector organisations in
the service world, internal
communicators are critical;
moving out of the space in
which they only think about the
techniques of communication to
one where they directly
contribute to what needs to be
done.
1. Harvard Business Review January 2002
2. Hakansson, H. and Ford, D. (2002)“How
should companies interact in business
networks?” Journal of Business Research,
55(2), 133
3. Gummesson, E. (2008) Total Relationship
Marketing, Elsevier Ltd Oxford
4. Morgan, R.M. and Hunt, D.H. (1994) “The
Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship
Marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol.58
(July 1994), 20-38.
5. Godson, M (2009) Relationship Marketing,
Oxford University Press
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk

9. Relationships drive
your business.
We drive your relationships.
ERM® helps world class
organisations drive
value from their business
relationships by examining the
ways they interact with their
customers, partners and staff; and
how that is measured to help
achieve organisational goals,
deliver to customers and create
mutual value. We look largely at the
contribution online technologies can
play, and how companies can
maximise value from the
infrastructure put in place over the
past 5 – 10 years. By exploring Francesca Brosan is Chairman
alternative approaches to improving and Founder of Omobono Limited,
B2B marketing effectiveness, ERM the digital communications services
enables us to think about marketing company. A former Board Director
differently, to put it back to its of WCRS, her career has spanned
original place; where marketing has consumer advertising, PR, live
a meaning and purpose beyond events and digital. She now
communication and becomes a focuses on B2B strategy for the
business essential, not a business agency’s corporate and public
expense. sector clients. Francesca is the
author of 3 IPA Advertising
Effectiveness Awards and is a
regular speaker and contributor
This whitepaper was previously to marketing forums.
featured on the Melcrum
Publishing website. uk.linkedin.com/in/francescabrosan
http://www.internalcommshub.com/open/cha
nge/casestudies/brosan.shtml
OMOBONO LTD, THE WAREHOUSE, 33 BRIDGE STREET, CAMBRIDGE CB2 1UW, UK
T +44 (0)1223 307000 | F +44 (0)1223 365167
info@omobono.co.uk | www.omobono.co.uk