A company's reputation may make or break its bottom line in the age of fast news and citizen journalism. The company's reputation is the board's top responsibility, and corporate affairs teams oversee handling a plethora of communications in a meaningful, content-rich manner.

Change in corporate communications is critical in the financial services sector. Companies have had to defend and rebuild their reputations while acquiring new skills, perspectives, and relationships to work with demanding regulators.

In the corporate affairs teams, the number of people hired for their government knowledge, ability

Presenting cut-through

As global communications become more complex and decentralised, communications experts must analyse messaging via social media titans. In addition, in the early years of this decade, chat and messaging apps such as Snapchat, WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber, Kik, LINE, and KakaoTalk appeared. These are already replicating traditional social media sites in terms of functionality.

Team composition

Corporate affairs departments have expanded their responsibilities to include nearly anything that affects its brand and reputation. The engagement of the CEO, the use of outside advisors, and commercial performance get based on regulatory compliance or public perception; all influence the size and rank of a corporate affairs team. Titles in various businesses are vague and mean different things. A powerful team, on the other hand, is made up of the following members:

• Brand marketing
• Corporate brand
• Corporate responsibility
• Public policy
• Regulatory development
• Social media engagement
• Thought leadership
• Digital communications
• Employee engagement
• Government/ Public Affairs
• Media relations

Investor relations professionals sometimes get found in the corporate affairs department, but they get more commonly linked with money and tight ties to the media.

Communication experts regularly adapt their skills to work in a variety of industries and organisations. Businesses must bring in fresh experience and ideas from other organisations, sectors, and geographies to meet the demands of globalisation and the rate of change thereby adding some healthy grit to the oyster. They must always have a corporate reputation management strategy in place.

Personal characteristics

The emphasis on human qualities in the communications function is distinctive. Due to the significance of creating relationships with many internal and external stakeholders, judgement, emotional intelligence, and intellectual agility are frequently as crucial as a specific experience. Communications specialists are usually astute, curious, and quick to pick up on the nuances of a company's culture.

While leadership, team structure, talents, qualities, and experience are all required ingredients for a successful function, corporate reputation specialists cannot work in isolation. Their success is dependent on the quality of their materials and the participation of their personnel.

As the corporate affairs function becomes more integrated with other corporate units and contributes more broadly to strategy, its role is rapidly evolving. The financial services business must hire people who can relate to a wide range of people and develop creative solutions to deal with the rapid pace of change and to change public perception