Where in Your 2026 Budget Are You Investing in Alignment?

If you're an Executive Leader or Chief of Staff building your 2026 budget, this one's for you.

Internal communication plays a bigger role in business performance than most dashboards reveal. Yet, too often, the budget covers headcount for a message pusher, not the tools needed to drive strategy. 

That leaves organizations tracking what's accessible—open rates, click-throughs, social engagement—but not the ability to show whether communication is actually shaping 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿, 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.

📊 Ragan Communication's 2025 Benchmark Report found that while 79% of teams measure comms, only 3% describe their practice as mature.

📊 Gallagher's 2025 State of the Sector found that 93% of communicators are now accountable for engagement and strategy awareness, but many don't have the tools and resources to measure progress in a way that resonates with business leaders. 

If your comms data lives only in Microsoft or Google, you're not seeing the full picture:

➡️ What do employees see across channels?

➡️ What do they believe about the strategy and culture?

➡️ How do they act as a result?

These are the signals that matter, and they rarely show up in a click.

So, here's the real question: Are you measuring what matters or just what's accessible?