A proactive approach to public affairs yields measurable results for business by avoiding threats in the operating environment, creating business opportunities, protecting an organisation’s reputation, and growing the bottom line.
These are the findings of the fourth annual global public affairs survey from the Interel Global Partnership, launched at the Interel Global Public Affairs Summit in Brussels.
The Survey is an annual benchmarking survey on the state of the public affairs industry, identifying key trends in the industry and the regulatory challenges and opportunities which are driving change at a global level. Participants are CEOs of independent public affairs consultancies who are members of the Interel Global Partnership, and public affairs executives from client businesses.
So what do public affairs experts achieve for businesses according to our survey?
- 72% have helped the business avoid a significant threat in the last year
- 57% have helped the business capitalise on a significant opportunity in the last year
- 47% have made a measurable difference to the operating environment in the last 12 months
- 33% have contributed to an increase in revenue for the business in the last 12 months.
These figures show that public affairs is increasingly a business-critical function, but it still has a way to go before the function’s leadership is widely seen as having a seat at the top table.
However, the survey also found that public affairs budgets are growing generally and optimism is high. 96% of Interel Global Partnership member firms expect their business to grow over the next 12 months and 76% say their revenue grew over the last 12 months. There are opportunities in the industry too, stemming from the fact that 48% of respondents say that globally, legislative and political challenges are making it more difficult for business to operate, up from 44% in 2016.
.jpg)
This is all good news for the public affairs industry. However, Fredrik Lofthagen CEO of Interel says: “We believe that even more needs to be done by consultants and in-house public affairs professionals alike to make the case for the strategic value of public affairs as a business-critical function.
“The evidence shows that it’s as important to business as marketing and communications but not generally receiving similar budgets. The political landscape is more complex that it has ever been and a proactive, strategic approach to public affairs, can shape the environment for business, protect its licence to operate and deliver impact for the bottom line.”