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How to Communicate Your Company’s Strategy Effectively

• David Lancefield

Ditch the lofty purpose statements and lengthy slide decks.

For too long, communicating strategy has been an afterthought. Executives have shared long, bombastic documents or withheld critical information and expected people to just “get it.” And it hasn’t worked. Greater external uncertainty, collaboration, employee anxiety, and organizational openness demands a change of approach. The author presents five actions that will improve the clarity and quality of communication, enabling stakeholders to make a more substantive and meaningful contribution to the strategy.

Most people can’t recall the strategy of the organization they work for. Even the executives and managers responsible for strategy struggle, with one study reporting that only 28% of them could list three strategic priorities.

• David Lancefield is a  catalyst, strategist, and coach  for leaders. He’s advised more than 40 CEOs and hundreds of executives, was a senior partner at Strategy&, and is a guest lecturer at the London Business School. Find him on LinkedIn (@davidclancefield) or at  davidlancefield.com , where you can sign up for his free “Mastering Big Moments”  workbook .

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How to Write an Effective Communications Plan [+ Template]

Published: January 05, 2023

Remember the " Tide Pod Challenge ?" That horrendous time at the beginning of 2018 when adolescents filmed themselves ingesting laundry detergent?

While it was a funny (albeit dangerous) start to the new year, this small boost of infamy was a PR mess for the detergent brand in question, Tide , whose crisis communication team had to figure out how to respond to America's teens swallowing their toxic product. Tide's parent company, Procter & Gamble, was swift in their response, thanks in large part to their communication plan .

In this post, you'll learn how to create an effective communication plan that prepares you and your company for any situation.

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What is a communications plan.

A communications plan enables you to effectively deliver information to appropriate stakeholders. The plan will identify the messages you need to promote, to whom you're targeting those messages, and on which channel(s). Communications plans can be used in times of crises, but they are also used when pitching new initiatives or launching new products.

Communication plans can help you clarify the purpose of a product launch or new initiative and officially determine the messages you want to deliver to your intended audience(s).

Additionally, a communication plan can help your business during a time of crisis if a previous marketing message or business decision damages your reputation with internal stakeholders or customers.

If companies don't have a communication plan , they'll be unprepared when disaster strikes. It may be unlikely that your company will find teenagers eating your product for internet fame, but not so unlikely that you'll never find yourself needing a procedure to effectively handle difficult situations.

Need a free, easy-to-use communication plan template? HubSpot has 12. Check out this toolkit for everything you need to build your own.

This is part of a template offered in the toolkit. For this particular template, the organization is separated into phases, a description of that phase, and who needs to complete that action.

Download These Templates for Free

Now that we've gone over how a communication plan can be helpful, let's learn how to write one that will be effective.

How to Write a Communications Plan

• Conduct an audit of your current communications materials.
• Set SMART goals for your communications plan based on the results from your audit.
• Identify the audience to whom you plan to deliver your communications plan.
• Outline and write your plan, keeping your audiences in-mind.
• Determine the channel(s) on which you need to deliver your messages.
• Decide which team members are responsible for delivering the message.
• Estimate a timeline for how long each step should take.
• Measure the results of your plan after presenting to stakeholders, and determine successes and areas for improvement.

1. Conduct an audit of your current communications materials.

Before sitting down to get rollin' on your plan, you need to first decide where it'll fit into your business. So it's important you complete a "state of the union," or an audit of the current climate of communications within your company. This can help you identify any problem areas.

For instance, let's say you need to create a communications plan for a new product launch. To create your plan, you'll first need to perform an audit to identify gaps in your current marketing approach.

After performing the audit, you might find there is a major gap in your marketing materials in which you rarely discuss a topic that aligns well with your new product. You'll want to ensure this topic makes it into your communications plan.

Crisis Communication and Management Kit

Manage, plan for, and communicate during your corporate crises with these crisis management plan templates.

• Free Crisis Management Plan Template
• 12 Crisis Communication Templates
• Post-Crisis Performance Grading Template
• Additional Crisis Best Management Practices

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Free Communication Plan Template

Fill out the form to access the template..

To conduct an audit, you'll need to carefully gather and interpret data on your current marketing plan performance and build a path forward based on those results. Additionally, you might consider hosting focus groups or sending surveys to your audience to find gaps in your current communications materials.

Of course, you'll want to have the goal of your communications plan in-mind when conducting an audit. In the example above, noticing you're lacking material on a certain subject only matters if your goal is to drive leads and conversions to a product that aligns with that subject.

For instance, if you're launching a new email marketing tool and you notice you're lacking content on Google Ads, this might not be relevant information for your communications plan. However, if you're missing content on email marketing best practices, that's important information you can use to tailor your communications plan appropriately.

2. Set SMART goals for your communications plan based on the results from your audit.

After your audit, you'll want to lay out a few goals based on the data from the results. What do you want to achieve with this plan?

When in doubt, remember that your goals should be SMART : Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based.

For instance, if a small agency is writing a communications plan for its client, they might write a goal along these lines: "We plan to increase employment applications for our client by 25% over the course of one quarter."

Alternatively, perhaps your HR team needs to write a communications plan to pitch designing a new growth matrix for individual contributors who don't want to become managers.

If that's the case, your HR team will need to identify specific goals they hope to achieve as a result of their plan, even if the results are less quantifiable — for instance, their goal might be to "increase employee retention rates by 10% over the next year" or even "increase employee satisfaction, as indicated by their next NPS scores." They'll need to pitch these goals to stakeholders to get leadership on-board.

Download Your Free SMART Goal Template

3. Identify the audience to whom you plan to deliver your communications plan.

Good communication starts with knowing and understanding your listener. In this case, if a crisis communication plan is for stakeholders, which one(s) are you writing for? Stakeholder examples include employees, investors, customers, local government officials, or media outlets.

If you're writing for media outlets, a press release detailing your goals is a good idea for that audience. There should be a process for who will speak to the media outlets, an outline of what they will say, and an action plan put in place moving forward.

Alternatively, if your audience is your employees, you might want to create an up-to-date internal document for employees to refer to, as well as the contact information for the internal DRI if they have follow-up questions.

4. Outline and write your plan, keeping your audiences in-mind.

When you're ready to outline and write your plan, it's likely easiest if you start with a table or chart to identify the messages you need to promote, to whom you're targeting those messages, and on which channel(s).

Once you've created a general outline, here's how you'll want to structure your communications plan (feel free to copy these sections into a Table of Contents for your own plan):

• Purpose (what is this communications plan for)
• Escalation Framework (including 'first line of defense' and 'greater response team')
• Roles and responsibilities of each employee
• Do's and Don'ts
• How to maintain an effective response plan

(If you need help writing a communications plan, download our free, ready-to-use communications plan templates .)

When writing your communication plan, work with groups or representatives from your stakeholders to improve accuracy. Strategies should solve for goals or potential risks.

For instance, if you work for an agency aiming to promote a client's product, a risk might be spending money on paid ads without a guaranteed ROI. To solve for that risk, the agency should detail different steps to ensure the ads are effective before going public.

5. Determine the channel(s) on which you need to deliver your messages.

The channels you choose to communicate with your audience depends on your message, and to whom you want to deliver that message. For instance, if you're creating a communications plan for internal employees, you might send out your communications plan in a company-wide email, use a team communication app , or in-person team meetings to deliver your message.

Alternatively, if you're communicating with customers, you might determine it's best to communicate via an email newsletter, or via a press release.

Of course, the channel(s) you choose will depend on your goals, but it's important as you're writing your communication plan that you keep your distribution methods in-mind.

6. Decide which team members are responsible for delivering the message.

Once you determine your audience and channel(s) on which you'll deliver your communications plan, figure out the DRI for delivering the message.

For instance, if your HR team is pitching a new growth matrix to leadership, you might ask your Director of HR to deliver the initial pitch in the first meeting. Once leadership is on-board, you might ask each HR representative to deliver one training session for each internal team to ensure every employee understands what's changing internally, and why.

7. Estimate a timeline for how long each step should take.

You should have a ballpark estimate of how much time each step in executing your strategy will take. For instance, if your plan needs to go from the higher-ups down to the employees, it's good to take into account how long going through the chain of command will take. It's also smart to infer how long a media cycle will last.

For instance, for a minor slip-up on an ad campaign, the advertising agency might estimate the cycle for controlling the issue will take a month — including meeting with the client, stakeholders, and employees to discuss steps moving forward.

8. Measure the results of your plan after presenting to stakeholders, and determine successes and areas for improvement.

There's always room for improvement. Measure the results of the plan after presenting it to stakeholders, and determine aspects that went well, and areas for improvement next time.

For instance, the ad agency might not have met its goal of increasing prospective applications by 25% within a quarter. They might rework their goals to give themselves more time or pivot their quarterly focus to fit those goals.

Alternatively, if you notice certain language in your communications plan evokes a level of stress or fear with internal stakeholders, consider how you can re-word next time to ensure your communications plan feels helpful, beneficial, and positive.

Some aspects of building a communication plan can be a "choose your own adventure" journey. The key is choosing aspects that best reflect what your business needs in times when effective communication is key. What do your stakeholders need to know, and how are you going to best communicate that?

Communication Plan Examples

• Strategic Communication Plan
• Project Communication Plan
• Marketing Communication Plan
• Corporate Communication Plan
• Crisis Communication Plan

Communication plans can get tricky, but writing an effective one will prove itself with its longevity. The following communication plans include analysis for stakeholders you'd respond to and the procedures for what to include in those communications.

1. Strategic Communication Plan

Bright Hub Project Management's communication plan explains how, when, and why communication happens within its organization.

This example is great because it details how communication managers write crisis plans and acknowledges that sometimes the busy marketer or project manager takes on this responsibility.

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2. Project Communication Plan

Here's an example of a Billing Upgrade Project from Simplicable . This communication plan maps out all the important meetings and documents needed for the project. As you can see, it also includes necessary sections including audience, goals, format, and DRI.

3. Marketing Communication Plan

A marketing communication plan is essential for communicating to your target market, especially when launching new products or initiatives. This example from Smartsheet allows you to plan marketing communications strategies for customers, sales prospects, media partners, internal stakeholders, and events.

4. Corporate Communication Plan

Corporate communication plans outline how organizations communicate internally and externally. This example from Smartsheet is a nine-step roadmap that includes space for a mission statement, executive summary, situation analysis, key messages, and more.

5. Crisis Communication Plan

This communication checklist below, by Prezly , gives a great overview of the details of a crisis plan from beginning to end. It can be used as an effective guide when drafting a crisis management strategy.

Communication Planning Tips

Communication planning can be tricky, so here are some extra tips to keep in mind to help your plan shine: when describing procedures for handling crises, include who the situation involves. This lets stakeholders envision decision-making processes.

Additionally, if you're part of a larger company with a broad stakeholder list, it's okay to split up target audiences for your plan.

For instance, maybe your audience is more than just "consumers." Split stakeholder groups for easier comprehension and more distinct solutions.

Ultimately, your communications plan needs to clearly and succinctly provide necessary information to everyone involved in the business decision, product launch, or PR crises. Use the strategy mentioned above, as well as our communication plan templates , to ensure yours is as effective as possible.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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How to write a communication plan (with template and examples)

Communication is one of the product manager’s primary responsibilities. After all, a PM can’t do their job without effectively communicating risks, dependencies, and changes.

In small companies, communication is somewhat more intuitive and often easier to manage. The problems begin to appear when the company grows.

A bigger company means more teams, more stakeholders, more initiatives, and more of everything. Beyond scale-ups, communication often becomes either too chaotic or too infrequent.

In cases like that, having a robust communication plan can be a life saver. In this guide, we’ll demonstrate how to write a communication plan in six easy steps. You can also use our free communication plan template , which contains both a blank spreadsheet for you to fill out and a practical example to help you get started.

What is a communication plan?

A communication plan is an inspectable artifact that describes what information must be communicated as well as to whom, by whom, when, where, and via what medium that information is to be communicated. In addition, a communication plan outlines how communications are tracked and analyzed.

A communication plan can take various forms. For example, it might take the form of a(n):

• Weekly checklist
• Spreadsheet
• Automated Trello board

In general, a communication plan should be whatever works for you and your team, as long as it allows you to inspect and adapt your approach to communicating with others.

Benefits of a communication plan

Investing time in creating and maintaining a communication plan brings many benefits. A communication plan serves as a(n):

Checklist and reminder

Inspectable artifact, alignment with stakeholders.

Who hasn’t forgotten to inform some critical stakeholder about a recent change/discovery?

Product management is such a fast-paced and dynamic profession that it’s very easy to let small details slip. Unfortunately, it’s these small details that often matter the most.

A written communication plan serves as a checklist that ensures minute details don’t slip too often. Whenever something relevant happens, you can easily refer to your communication plan to double-check whether you’ve connected with everyone who needs to be in the loop.

A tangible communication plan allows product managers to slow down, inspect, and adapt their current processes.

Whenever there’s a communication mishap, they can review what led to it and adjust their approach to communication. A concrete plan makes a vague and sometimes intimidating term such as “communication” more tangible.

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A communication plan, when done well, brings alignment and facilitates input from other stakeholders. It also lays out expectations of how communication is being handled and executed.

If stakeholders feel they aren’t getting all the relevant information, they can quickly check the communication plan to see what they are missing and what is lacking in the communication process that is causing them to miss that information. If they find the communication inadequate, they can share their feedback with the communication plan owner.

It’s easier to facilitate feedback and alignment when something is on paper.

How to create a communication plan in 6 steps

As mentioned above, there are various ways to create a communication plan.

A simple way to write a communication plan is to answer six questions:

• What type of information do you produce?
• Who should receive that information?
• How often should they receive it?
• What channels are most appropriate for this type of information?
• When is communication done for that type of information?
• Who should make sure it happens?

1. What type of information do you produce?

Start by reviewing what information you produce and process.

If you manage roadmaps , you probably produce a lot of information regarding roadmap changes, delays, and anything else that may relate to roadmaps.

If you manage releases, you also produce information regarding the release progress, stage, and anything else that related to releases.

Capture it all.

To make it easier, start with the broader, more general concepts. And if you notice the need for more precision, split them into more detailed communication positions.

2. Who should receive that information?

For a given type of information you produce or process, who should receive it? These are usually people who are:

• Direct stakeholders
• Dependent on the initiative
• Contributing to the initiative

Investing some time in defining the receipts has two main benefits.

First, it ensures you don’t miss a critical person in your communication flow, but it also helps you answer the question of who is not interested in certain information. Over-communication creates noise and should be avoided.

3. How often should they receive it?

You should identify the frequency of updates being sent out depending on the information being shared and which stakeholders are included. Should it be daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly?

You probably won’t nail it at first, but that’s OK. What’s important is to search for a sweet spot between over-communication and under-communication.

Although it might seem excessive at first, finding the right balance will be increasingly important as the amount of and need for communication grows over time.

4. What channels are most appropriate for this type of information?

What medium is most suitable for a given type of information?

For example, it would be silly to inform someone about a mission-critical dependency in a comment under a Jira ticket. At the same time, you shouldn’t spam other people’s Slack with every minor change.

Before sending out an update, ask yourself:

• Where would people seek such information?
• How fast should it reach the audience?
• How critical is it?
• Is it a one-sided update or a potential conversation starter?

The answers to these questions will help you find the best channel for the given information piece.

5. When is communication done for that type of information?

Many people fall into the concept trap that once you send out a message, your communication responsibility is over. This is not always the case.

If you send a company-wide FYI update, then yes, your job is probably completed when you press send, but what if you have roadmap changes that impact multiple teams. Shouldn’t you be making sure everyone on those teams are informed?

In cases like that, you can’t say you are done just because you’ve sent a message. You should chase all key stakeholders and ensure that they have read and understood your message to avoid any misconceptions.

Let’s face it: messages sometimes slip. Your job isn’t to send messages, but to ensure everyone is on the same page. It’s not the same thing.

I’m a fan of having a simple definition of done for communication items. Sometimes, it’ll just mean pushing an update. Other times, it might mean getting a signature of approval from another stakeholder.

6. Who should make it happens?

Last but not least, if it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure communication happens, then it’s no one’s responsibility.

Although the whole team should be responsible for ensuring effective communication, I believe in having a dedicated owner for a given communication stream. The owner can be permanent or rotate every sprint.

If you have communication owners in place, the chance of communication actually taking place increases dramatically.

Communication plan example

Let’s take a look at an example of a communication plan created using the framework I just outlined:

This communication plan can now serve as an artifact for alignment, process improvement, and double-checking if everything is communicated as needed.

Since some of the items in the communication plan happen as needed, it’s imperative to review the artifact on a regular basis. Otherwise, details are bound to slip sooner or later.

Communication plan template

To make it easy to get started with creating your own communication plan, we’ve created a communication plan template for you. Click File > Make a copy to customize the template.

When you start, ask yourself:

• What you want to communicate
• By what channel
• When you consider the communication as done
• Who should own the given communication item

Although it may lack in the beginning, use it as an inspectable artifact to improve your communication approach every sprint. I promise you, it’ll make your job as a product manager significantly easier.

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10 communication plan templates—and how to write your own

There's a warning on the box my steam iron came in that says, "Do not iron clothes while wearing them."

This gave me pause for a few minutes, but it got me thinking about the kind of lawsuit that prompted lawyers to include an otherwise obvious warning on the box and the kind of crisis communication plan that came to exist in the aftermath.

Add that to the "pudding will get hot when heated" warning and the trademark "shower cap fits only one head" disclaimer, and you've got yourself an era in which communication plans are not only a helpful organizational tool but a very necessary one.

Successfully running a company requires clear communication across the board: with employees, customers, investors, and any other stakeholders. Any gap in communication can lead to difficulties that range from minor project blips to absolute disaster. And while they're necessary for crisis management, communication plans have plenty of other uses beyond ensuring your consumer doesn't give themselves third-degree burns.

Table of contents:

Communication plan templates 

How to write a communication plan

Communication plan essentials, what is a communication plan.

A communication plan is your blueprint for delivering key information to appropriate stakeholders. It outlines the information that needs to be communicated, who it's meant for, the channel it's delivered through, and the folks in charge of it to ensure clear, consistent, and purposeful communication.

This document can look different depending on what it's used for. Here are some examples to give you an idea:

If I were creating a crisis communication plan for the unlikely event that someone irons their shirt while wearing it, I'd consider all the steps we'd have to take to avoid scrutiny and legal issues, like seeking medical attention, designating a spokesperson to represent our company, or press release strategies to address the issue. (I'd also consider whether the box should come with a logical analysis puzzle the user needs to solve before they can open it, but that's just me trying to fix the world one steam iron at a time.)

A marketing communication plan plays a different role. It's designed to outline responsibilities and initiatives within the grand scope of the marketing strategy to keep teams aligned and informed. One initiative I'd underline twice for our steam iron product would be to produce marketing imagery that clearly demonstrates how to iron a shirt—i.e., on an ironing board, not a body.

A product launch communication plan helps keep everyone on the same page regarding brand messaging, intended effects, and progress throughout the launch. Let's take Apple as an example. They're known for their meticulously planned and executed product launches. Their communication strategy involves creating anticipation through teaser campaigns, leveraging secrecy to build excitement, and hosting live events to unveil new products.

Bottom line: communication plans run the gamut. When it comes to format, some plans may be in a table format, outlining talking points and deadlines. Others may contain more of a narrative, meant to inform and update the reader on how a situation is being handled.

You can use a communication plan for both external and internal communication. An employee communication plan, for example, is only meant for your team's eyes. On the other hand, public relations communication plans can be used internally and can also be shared with relevant third parties for outreach and marketing purposes.

Communication plan templates

A communication plan is that one bookmark every employee clicks at the beginning of their day until they associate its main page with the smell of coffee.

Knowing what it is and why it matters is one thing, but understanding the different ways you can use a communication plan is another. Since there are so many different types of plans, I've put together a few templates to highlight the differences. Pick your (well-labeled) poison.

1. Marketing communication plan

This communication plan outlines your marketing initiatives for each audience. It tracks relevant information, including the person or team in charge of the project, tasks, timeline, communication channels, audience, and notes.

It also organizes this information based on each aspect of your marketing strategy, whether it's targeting existing clients, potential leads, investors, events, or any PR third parties. 

2. Crisis communication plan

No organization is immune to unexpected and challenging situations that can potentially harm its reputation and operations. This communication plan outlines a systematic approach to addressing crises, including key team members, their responsibilities, communication channels, and the predefined strategy.

It should include clear guidelines for rapid response, methods for updating stakeholders, and ways to mitigate potential damage to the organization's image. The plan should always outline the key crisis management team, their roles and responsibilities, procedures for identifying the crisis, and how to work with media outlets and external entities.

3. Internal communication plan

This communication plan is designed to ensure employees receive timely and relevant information, have clear visibility of organizational goals, and stay informed about key developments within the organization.

It includes details on communication channels, such as newsletters, meetings, and virtual seminars. Typically, it outlines how the leadership team communicates with employees, how frequently they can expect updates, and methods for gathering feedback to enhance internal communication across the board.

4. Social media communication plan

A social media communication plan guides a company's strategy in utilizing social media platforms for its communication goals. It's important for building a strong online presence, engaging with your target audience, and managing your company's reputation in the digital world.

This plan includes an overview of your social media content strategy , detailing the type of content you intend to share, how often you should publish posts, and the voice of the message. 

To make the most of your social media communication plan, define the target audience on each platform, outline KPIs for measuring success, and establish helpful guidelines that can tie into your crisis communication plan and leverage social media in case of an emergency.

5. Change management communication plan

If your company goes through grand-scale change such as mergers, rebranding, restructuring, or process optimization , a change management plan is crucial for ensuring your team is informed, engaged, and supportive of the changes. 

The team's going to need an explanation and a plan of action now that Janice is walking down the office toward the door marked "manager" with a big smile on her face.

Its goal is to facilitate a smooth transition and should always include clear messaging regarding the reasons for the change, the anticipated benefits, and how this could affect employees. It outlines the timeline for the change, strategies for addressing concerns, available communication channels, and any feedback regarding the process.

6. Non-profit communication plan

Non-profits operate differently from other organizations, and their communication plans reflect that. The document effectively conveys the non-profit's cause, engages stakeholders, and develops support. 

Since it's designed to build awareness, foster donor relationships, and maintain a level of transparency about the organization's impact, a non-profit communication plan should include well-crafted messaging that aligns with the org's values, outlines the strategy for reaching and mobilizing donors, and plans how to make the most of communication channels such as social media, newsletters, and events.

For a unique touch that sets your non-profit communication plan apart, emphasize storytelling to humanize your cause and connect with your audience on an emotional level. For example, you might include an initiative that triggers an automatic email when a donor registers or makes a contribution—something that reflects their impact on the cause.

7. Product launch communication plan

Developing a new product is a stressful and tedious process on its own. Introducing it to the world can be its own hassle, but a good communication plan can help simplify the process by creating anticipation, generating excitement, and breaking down the approach for a successful product launch.

Your plan should include key features and details about the product, the target audience, and market positioning . To nurture and engage that anticipation, you should also include a timeline for communication activities and strategies that cover the channels you intend to use, like social media, email marketing, and press releases.

To take it a step further, include messaging that addresses potential challenges and opens up the opportunity to receive feedback and gauge your customers' response to the launch.

8. Public relations communication plan

This communication plan is ideal for organizations that want to manage their brand reputation and build relationships with the public. Your brand image is an important aspect of business that can affect operations on every level, and nurturing it requires strategic communication, especially with media and public inquiries. You want the public eye to see you in your nice, freshly-ironed shirt.

A public relations communication plan includes key messaging, a media relations strategy, and a calendar of planned PR initiatives, as well as goals, target audiences, and metrics for monitoring the success of your PR efforts.

9. Employee communication plan

Any organization with a team bigger than six people can face major communication challenges, to say nothing of companies that employ staff in the hundreds and thousands. Company news, updates, policies, and initiatives that employees need to be aware of can be difficult to disseminate properly.

Sure, you can take your chances on a company-wide email, but it'll likely end up buried unopened somewhere in everyone's inbox, and you'll be standing there with the corporate equivalent of eating mango-scented shampoo.

An employee communication plan helps foster organizational transparency and workplace alignment within your team. It'll contribute to your company culture and enhance your employees' sense of belonging and connection to company goals.

This plan includes channels for internal communication as well as a content strategy that touches on employees' needs and concerns. While an internal communication plan focuses on the company's business goals, an employee communication plan addresses the company's internal development initiatives. 

10. Event communication plan

This communication plan guides your organization's efforts surrounding an event, ensuring effective promotion, coordination, and engagement. It's useful for managing the flow of information before, during, and after an event.

The plan includes key messaging, the timeline for the event's communication activities, strategies for putting channels like social media and email marketing to use, and how to properly approach inquiries and feedback from event attendees.

Each type of communication plan contains a different set of elements, but the process of putting a communication plan together, regardless of its purpose, remains the same. 

1. Set communication goals

I hate sounding like every therapist ever, but communication goals are very important. If your roommate doesn't understand that your scream of pain from the other room means you might have accidentally ironed a shirt while wearing it, help isn't coming, and your room will smell like barbeque. 

Your goals can range from increasing brand awareness and engagement to notifying stakeholders about a new product launch or managing an emergency. Setting these goals beforehand lays the foundation for the entire plan and defines communication channels, messaging strategies, and evaluation metrics. Focus on setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) business objectives .

If I were ironing a shirt, I'd outline my goal for a smooth, freshly-ironed shirt free of wrinkles, and I'd prepare for that by neatly placing the shirt, being conscious of those pesky corners, and keeping it nice and aligned before getting started. In the same vein, If I were writing a communication plan that focuses on brand awareness, I'd outline goals for social media campaigns and content marketing strategies. I'd aim to increase user engagement on each social media platform by a certain percentage, increasing visibility, ad clicks, and interaction with my brand.  

Clear communication goals give your organization a sense of direction and allow your team to accurately measure success, making adjustments based on tangible results.

2. Identify the audience

Each audience you're trying to reach through your communication plan will have its own unique expectations and concerns. The plan and the message within need to align with the audience's values and interests.

If you're writing for investors, the plan needs to outline your communication goals for them specifically, touching on relevant topics and important points. It would also designate how the information will be conveyed, by whom, and how to move forward if any variables were to shift. 

Conduct thorough market research , and collect relevant insight into your target audience's demographics, behaviors, and preferences. What data are you sharing with your investors? What kind of information would be both relevant and important to share with them? How can you best phrase that communication so it has a positive impact?

Who's telling the board that a customer ironed their shirt while wearing it?

A good practice is to segment your audience and create detailed personas to ensure your message is not only read but understood and embraced.

3. Outline key messages

The key information you're distributing through your communication plan is a delicate balance between the organization's goals and resonance with the audience. 

For example, a product launch communication plan doesn't really need your 25-year company trajectory outlined and explained. The key information here would pertain to the product itself, the process for the launch, steps to take, tasks to perform, and the timeline for the entire project.

Make your messages clear, concise, and compelling to leave a lasting impression. 

4. Choose communication channels

Outline which communication channels are best suited to execute your plan. For example, an employee communication plan should utilize private internal channels like meetings, internal platforms, or emails. Product launch communication plans should leverage external channels as well, like websites, social media, newsletters, and press releases.

Choose communication channels that fit the plan and can be integrated for a cohesive communication strategy that aligns with both your company's goals and the audience's preferences. Ask yourself: 

Who's meant to read this? 

How can I reach them? 

Is this private internal communication or is it meant for public distribution? 

Which channel would have the best visibility for my audience? 

5. Create a timeline

For the plan to be effective on any level, you need to outline its execution in a detailed timeline that sets the start and end dates of each initiative or item on the document.

Details such as specific dates for key events, launches, and regular updates anchor the plan and facilitate a proactive approach. The timeline is your audience's visual roadmap, and it is handy for allocating resources when you're executing your communication plan. 

6. Allocate resources

Putting the plan into action will require resources like budgets and staffing needs. Even time is a resource that needs to be considered. For example, your budget should account for advertising costs, materials, technology investments, and communication channels.

Allocating resources as soon as the timeline is clear ensures the communication plan runs smoothly and delivers the intended message across all initiatives. 

7. Designate responsibilities

If you run into an unexpected crisis situation while at the helm of an organization, even the most detailed communication plan won't make a difference if no one knows what they're supposed to be doing.

Designate responsibilities and outline who owns which task so that when the plan goes into action, your team can just refer to the document to know who's taking care of each task, who to reach out to, and what their part in the operation is.

This is important even in non-crisis situations. Let's say you're launching a new tech product. Your plan should designate your marketing director as responsible for presenting the new product concept and strategy to the company's executive board. It should also designate your marketing coordinators as responsible for any workshops or seminars for external partners like retailers and distributors. 

8. Create contingency plans

Always prepare for the unlikely. Create contingency plans to deal with challenges that might come up when you're executing your plan. What should the team do in the case of negative public reactions or technical difficulties? Who's taking charge of directing efforts in each aspect? How do you address potential issues should they arise? How do you pivot or proceed if you don't achieve your goals?

Be prepared for gaps in the execution, and outline proactive responses to bring the plan back on track.

9. Set metrics for evaluation

Measurement and evaluation are key for the development of your communication plan. You want to track and gauge how well the efforts outlined in your plan are performing.

You can monitor public perception and sales volume before and after implementing your crisis communication plan, or you can monitor KPIs like audience engagement, reach, and conversion rates when your new marketing plan goes into effect. In the case of internal and employee communication plans, you can monitor the change in processes and how it affects your team's efficiency and comfort levels. 

Leverage your communication channels to identify these metrics and areas for improvement, so you can keep adjusting your plan as you go.

10. Perform testing and gather feedback

While testing and gathering feedback are encouraged throughout the process, this relates more to testing your communication plan before you launch it.

For example, you can test how effective your communication plan is and how well it would be received through focus groups, pilot programs, or even internal experimentation.

Once you have feedback from your target audience, you'll be better positioned to refine your messaging and its presentation, and address pitfalls before you execute the plan.

You don't want your communication plan to be just another document in your arsenal of organizational tools. The goal is to make it a piece of your strategy that actively contributes to better communication and company-wide transparency. In order to write an effective communication plan, here are some essential points to consider:

Establish messaging and branding guidelines: Stick to your organization's tone, style, and visual uniqueness to keep your brand identity alive in all communications.

Monitor and adjust: Keep an eye on the plan's performance. Make efforts to adapt based on emerging trends, feedback, and unforeseen challenges.

Report and review: Set KPIs and review them to gauge the effectiveness of the communication plan and better prepare for future strategies.

Document your plan: Keep your plan detailed and well documented , so all team members are on the same page regarding your strategy.

Consistency and long-term planning: Maintain and encourage consistency in your messaging and plan for the long term. Align initiatives with your long-term communication goals.

You can launch exceptional initiatives with a communication plan template and set a unique process that's invaluable for your company's strategy in marketing, PR, change management, and crisis situations. The right plan can make your operations smoother, a bit like a steam iron would your shirt if you're conscious enough to not turn yourself into an ironing board.

Most importantly, it defines how your organization communicates—both internally and externally. It sets the pace and tone for future initiatives. As you become more accustomed to how they work, you'll be able to customize and create your own document templates for other aspects of your business. As you establish the foundation for business communication, you'll be able to automate every part of your project management flow and communicate those goals seamlessly. Find out how Zapier can help you streamline project management . 

Related reading:

The 6-step client onboarding checklist (with template)

7 meeting minutes templates for more productive meetings

One-pager examples and how to create your own

An exhaustive guide to customer acquisition strategy (with 13 examples)

20 free proposal templates to ace your pitch

How to create a sales plan (and 3 templates that do it for you)

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Hachem Ramki

Hachem is a writer and digital marketer from Montreal. After graduating with a degree in English, Hachem spent seven years traveling around the world before moving to Canada. When he's not writing, he enjoys Basketball, Dungeons and Dragons, and playing music for friends and family.

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How to make a business plan

Table of Contents

How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.

1. Create an executive summary

Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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5 Ways to Make an Exciting Business Communication Plan

By Daleska Pedriquez , Sep 28, 2021

Good communication is a very important aspect of our lives.

A business with struggling internal and external communications often lags behind in growth and suffers from poor employee retention.

That is why most organizations learn how to create a  business communication  plan.

This ensures that the company won’t fall prey to any of the pitfalls above and ensures seamless communication.

Don’t know how to start creating a communications plan? No problem. With Venngage’s plan templates, you can design effective plans without design experience.

START CREATING FOR FREE

Click to jump ahead:

• What is a communication plan in business ?

What are the benefits of having a good business plan communication?

Examples of business communication strategies, business communication plan templates, what is a communication plan in business.

Business communication can be divided into two categories: internal and external.

Internal communications deal with how effectively anybody within the company communicates with each other.

It deals with issues regarding the flow of information, processes, and ideas in more specific terms.

On the other hand, the external part deals more with communication with the shareholders and the customers.

However, an internal communication plan, like this project plan template , is effective if the target audience in the organization understands and embraces it.

CREATE THIS PLAN TEMPLATE

It is not as simple as putting all those strategies in a manual, handing them out to your employees, and telling them to go nuts with it. Obviously, that won’t work.

A good communication plan needs to be able to seep itself slowly but effectively into your company’s culture and values.

Employees need to eat, sleep, and breathe good communication.

This is the reason why you need to have solid communication strategies in business . Be strategic about it, like with this crisis communication plan, and include some out-of-the-box ideas.

A business communication plan needs to have consistency, variety, informativeness, and entertainment.

That is what we want to help you with today. We want to give exciting business plan strategies that you can implement to boost your organization’s communication exponentially.

But before we go into that, let us dive into the importance of a communication plan.

Once your branding has been imported, you can add your  brand colors  to all templates with one click.

Related: 8 Steps to Create an Actionable Employee Development Plan [with Templates & Examples]

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Let us get to know first what great things will happen if communication is seamless within the company.

Things get done faster.

You can also use this template to convince investors and partners about the benefits of working with your company.

Design infographics like the above example using Venngage’s extensive icon library. We offer 40,000 icons as well as diverse people icons .

With a good business communication plan, the target audience within the organization knows the proper flow of information and absorbs the key messages.

Employees will also know whom they can talk to about certain things and whom they can’t talk to. The result? The communication strategy will help tasks around the company get done faster.

Solving issues and problems is quicker.

Problems and issues will always arise if you have a thriving business. Whether it’s logistics, sales, marketing, operations, etc., challenges abound almost daily.

For example, this sales action plan outlines how the business works, as well as performance indicators. This will help team members understand the budget and their goals.

With good communication channels, any issues with workflow get solved faster, and the company keeps moving forward and growing.

Design plans effectively with Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature, available with every Venngage Business account.

Employees feel more valued.

A company that fosters great internal communications with its people will always gain the latter’s loyalty. That loyalty can kick-start a lot of things like better efficiency and output.

Teams will also grow closer and form bonds. That is when the company can maximize even a small workforce.

Related:  How to Improve Employee Engagement with Visuals

Customer service improves.

Good communication plans also extend to one’s target audience. Customers always love swift, timely, and helpful responses.

A customer service mind map, like this example below, will make it easier for businesses to keep customers happy.

CREATE THIS MIND MAP TEMPLATE

If your company knows how to communicate its key messages with customers properly, you will react quicker than if you do not.

Employee retention rate increases.

What happens when employees feel more valued and have an easier time communicating with each other?

You get a lot of people willing to stay for a long time.

Bad employee retention rates cost companies a lot of money and task stagnation. Create an internal communication plan to manage this strategy, like this performance review process mind map.

Pair the communications strategy with effective communication channels to boost employee retention.

Create personalized documents with the  Venngage for Business  account. You can upload your own images to the editor. Or use one of the images from Venngage’s stock photo library.

Now that we have learned the benefits of a great business communication plan, let’s find out some of the most effective and exciting strategies out there.

Integrate fun videos into your communications strategy

If you want a good business communication plan example, then think of a video.

It’s no secret that videos can help people be more engaged, learn effectively compared to reading and writing, and understand key messages faster.

This one is really a no-brainer for external and internal communications.

An example of video communication is this video series about racial healing.

Other good examples of using videos in your business plan communication are monthly messages from the CEO.

Challenges and appreciative messages from the head of the company can easily be relayed to the employees. This is something that your people will surely love.

What is a communications strategy that works? Scheduled open meetings.

Scheduled open meetings are helpful for the company’s growth and can be something employees really look forward to.

How are they impactful for internal communications? And why should they be included in a communications strategy mind map, like this one? There are several great benefits that we should talk about.

First, open meetings encourage employees to share their thoughts and ideas.

This allows people to help grow into leadership roles while helping the company flourish by getting lots of fresh ideas.

Secondly, it can also be a place for employees to give their feedback. This helps the company continuously learn how their people feel so they can adjust accordingly.

Lastly, open meetings help empower employees and make them feel that they have a voice within the company. Issues also get resolved faster through these meetings.

For these reasons, every internal communication plan should include room for open meetings.

How to create a communication plan? Employee newsletters.

Another asset that should be added to an internal communication plan is employee newsletters , like this example.

CREATE THIS NEWSLETTER TEMPLATE

These help teams easily assimilate information in an entertaining and informative way.

Employee newsletters should be equal parts informative, professional, and sometimes silly.

If you look at an internal communication plan example from a company, it should include newsletters.

They are a great way to learn about new protocols, new products, and emergency news around the company, like in this reopening guide email.

With a  Venngage for Business  account, you can access the export as HTML feature. This makes it easier to import your design into Mailchimp or Outlook for a clickable email campaign.

Don’t forget to put stuff like fun and inspirational news about your people, whether it’s a bit personal (as long as it is still within respectable boundaries) or professional.

Related:  65+ Engaging Email Newsletter Templates and Design Tips

Good business plan communication strategies make training interesting.

During internal communications planning, the first thing that you need to think about is training or, more specifically, how you continuously and effectively train the workforce.

Jazz up your seminars by using entertaining tools like  infographics  and short videos. Infographics like a  project timeline template are also a great way to improve internal communications.

CREATE THIS INFOGRAPHIC TEMPLATE

Infographics are a fun and effective way to summarize data and information through the use of charts and eye-popping graphics.

Fire up the Venngage app and start making an infographic using hundreds of ready-made templates.

Use the large database of images, icons, and charts to give your training that much-needed punch.

Next, try to implement fun video slideshows in their training to keep their visual minds stimulated.

Videos are by far more effective than oral learning, so use those to your advantage.

Keep things consistent. Training shouldn’t be done just once and never again. Have a monthly training session if you can. And use visuals like this microlearning infographic.

Just make sure that you keep them entertained while you are at it.

Remember, when it comes to training, if they snooze, you lose.

Related:  How to Make Engaging Training Materials with Visuals (+ 20 Template Examples)

Another good business communication plan example? Use digital workspaces.

Digital workspaces allow teams to work and complete projects in a more efficient and timely manner.

That is why it is always a great idea to use those apps as part of your business plan communication strategy. You can adapt the communication plan below to accommodate digital workspaces.

With digital workspaces, everything is done online, so people can work faster even if they are at home.

This also allows them to communicate and post updates wherever they are.

Best of all, every step of the project is recorded with timestamps, so everyone can easily backtrack tasks and conversations.

Related:  18+ Project Management Infographics for Pain-Free Project Planning

You now know the importance of a communications plan. Here are some templates that will help you build better plans for your company.

Nonprofit campaign communications plan template

Using colors and lines, the template divides each section so the team is completely aligned. And you can adapt the visual for other types of companies, as well.

Marketing plan template

There are so many processes in a business. Keeping managers and team members on the same page can be a challenge.

This template can be customized for a variety of purposes, including creating a communications plan for a company.

Business update newsletter

We’ve already mentioned how useful newsletters are for boosting internal and external communications.

This customizable newsletter template is perfect for sharing updates with customers. It can easily be adapted to share news within a company, as well.

 Informational infographic template

Sharing information with employees doesn’t have to be boring. With this template, you can educate your target audience effortlessly.

The template has plenty of room to share information via text. But you can also add a diagram to illustrate your point.

Did you know you could create Smart Diagrams  with Venngage? Look for the Smart Templates tag in the Venngage library and start creating for free.

Customer onboarding plan

What’s one of the most important facets of a customer-facing business? Onboarding the customers efficiently.

Boost your communications plan by adding the following customer onboarding process infographic .

This template uses text, icons, and colors to make it more readable. These elements also make the steps in the infographic easy to follow and implement.

Good communication goes a long way.

Learning how to create a communication plan means that you need to understand how to make things fun for people.

That is why you need to implement some out-of-the-box ideas and refine the more traditional ones.

Get successful at this, and your company will reap the big benefits.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan

By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021

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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:

• Product goals and deadlines for each month
• Monthly financials for the first two years
• Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
• Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years

Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.

While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.

For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .

Business Plan Steps

The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:

• Executive summary
• Description of business
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Description of organizational management
• Description of product or services
• Marketing plan
• Sales strategy
• Funding details (or request for funding)
• Financial projections

If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.

Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.

Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?

Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.

How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business

In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.

Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:

Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?

There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.

The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans

A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.

In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 1: Executive Summary

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:

• What is the vision and mission of the company?
• What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?

See our  roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.

Step 2: Description of Business

The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:

• What business are we in?
• What does our business do?

Step 3: Market Analysis

In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:

• Who is our customer? 
• What does that customer value?

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:

• Who is the competition? 
• What do they do best? 
• What is our unique value proposition?

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management

In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.

Questions to answer in this section are as follows:

• What is the product or service?
• How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?

Step 7: Marketing Plan

In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:

• Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
• What channels will you use to reach your target market?
• What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
• If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
• How will you measure success?

Step 8: Sales Plan

Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts. 

Start by answering the following questions:

• What is the sales strategy?
• What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
• What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
• What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
• What are the metrics of success?

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:

• How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
• How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
• What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?

Step 10: Financial Projections

Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years. 

While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:

• How and when will the company first generate a profit?
• How will the company maintain profit thereafter?

Business Plan Template

Download Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.

For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy. 

If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.

How to Write a Simple Business Plan

A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.

Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .

• Write the Executive Summary This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what’s in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. 
• Add a Company Overview Document the larger company mission and vision. 
• Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
• Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
• Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
• Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
• Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
• Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
• Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting. 
• Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel |  Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.

Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates . 

How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup

A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.

While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:

• Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
• List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
• Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
• Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
• Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.). 
• Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
• Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
• Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF

Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.

See our wide variety of  startup business plan templates for more options.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan

A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.

In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.

Download free financial templates to support your business plan.

Tips for Writing a Business Plan

Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.

• Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
• Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
• Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
• Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
• Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”

Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.

Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.

“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”

Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.

Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.

How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business

A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships. 

Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.

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How to Write a Communication Plan in 10 Steps

A communication plan can help you effectively communicate with your audience, employees, and stakeholders. Read this guide to learn the basics.

Effective communication can help improve every aspect of your business by enabling you to share information with customers and the public. However, your communication shouldn't be spontaneous because saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can damage your reputation.

How do you communicate with your customers? Successful businesses know they can't respond to every customer inquiry, concern, or public relations issue as they happen; you must have a communication plan to help you prepare for answering tough questions.

A communication plan can help you respond to customers and the public, get the word out about new products and services, deliver your key brand messaging, and recover when there's a public relations blunder. If you're wondering how to market your business , you'll need to start with a comprehensive plan of action.

What is a communication plan?

A communication plan is a thorough plan explaining the actions you'll take to communicate information to stakeholders. It ultimately identifies your essential brand messaging, including branding basics like your value proposition, while using different types of storytelling to share information with the public. In addition, every communication plan has a crisis management strategy built in to help you respond in times of a crisis, so it's important to have conflict resolution skills .

Communication plans can be used for almost every aspect of your marketing strategy throughout different types of marketing , enabling you to communicate your key messages. It may also help you identify which personalized campaigns you'll use to share this information. Your communication plan will cover everything from discussing product launches with the media to handling a crisis.

Companies without plans are unprepared when there's a potential threat to their reputation. For example, if your product was misused and caused harm, you'll need a strategy for how to deal with the repercussions, including how to answer journalist questions. Most small businesses don't have to worry about worldwide PR nightmares, but reputation management is still vital to any effective communications plan.

How to write a communication plan

Your plan is part of your communication strategy. It'll need to cover several elements, including how you'll talk about your products and services and how your business will handle a crisis. For example, a project communication plan can help you discuss new products with investors, while an all-encompassing plan can be used to support key stakeholders deal with potential disasters.

Here's how to write an effective communication plan.

Review your existing methods of communication and guidelines

Your strategic plan should reflect on existing communication methods and guidelines to determine what works and doesn't. Some small businesses might not have a plan at all, allowing them to start fresh. However, if you have a plan, you'll need to go through it to determine if any areas are still relevant to your company.

For example, if you're writing a project communication plan for a new business, you'll need to convey different messages to stakeholders, such as deadlines and action items. Meanwhile, if you're writing a communication plan for a product launch, reviewing your marketing strategies to ensure they align with your new messaging is a good idea.

Identify the objectives based on your findings

Always define your goals after analyzing the existing communications materials. During your audit, you may have missed key marketing collateral like flyers or packaging designs to launch your new product effectively. Laying out your goals after identifying gaps is crucial to ensure you have a successful plan in place.

It's best to have specific and measured goals before starting your communications planning to ensure it can accomplish all essential objectives. For example, a company launching a new product might have a goal of increasing sales within the first month by 15%.

Different departments in your organization might have different communications plans. For example, your warehouse management team may have a plan to pitch new packaging to save money on shipping costs. This team would then need to identify specific goals, such as reducing shipping costs by x amount.

No matter the goals, they can help you have something to aim for with your communications plan. They'll also give you something to measure against after you get your initial baseline metrics.

Pinpoint your target audience

Identifying your target audience before writing your communications strategy is crucial because you need to understand who the plan is for. If you're writing a crisis communications plan, you'll write it for stakeholders like the CEO or a PR representative to speak on behalf of the company. In addition, if you're writing a communications plan for launching a new product, you'll need to consider who your customers are and how you'll market to them.

Make a draft

Now that you know your goals and who you're writing for, you can begin your first draft. If you already have a template to work from, you can start filling it in. However, if this is your first time writing a communications plan, you can begin with an outline to help you identify the essential messaging points.

Your communication plan should have information detailing what the plan is used for. For example, if it's used for product marketing, it should clearly state its purpose and appropriate times to use it. It should also include a crisis communication plan describing how potential problems will be handled and by whom.

Depending on your communication plan type, you may also specify different marketing campaigns or ways you'll achieve your goals, including steps to reach your objectives.

Obtain feedback

Get feedback from the appropriate team or audience to help you identify pain points and areas of improvement in your plan.

For example, if your communications plan is meant to help stakeholders deal with crises and threats to the company's reputation, you can talk to stakeholders directly about different responses to common issues. Many project stakeholders are experts in their fields and may have experienced some of these crises within their careers, which can help you get valuable feedback on handling them.

Additionally, if you're creating a communications plan for employees, you can speak to them directly or send them your draft to obtain feedback.

Determine which communication channels you'll use to distribute your message

How and where you distribute your message depends on the type of communication plan you have. For example, if you create a communications plan for employees, you'll likely distribute it internally via email.

However, if you make a communications strategy for stakeholders, you can discuss it with them in person to help them understand what it's for and how to use it.

Meanwhile, if you're trying to share your message with customers, you might use email marketing newsletters, leverage social media, or put it on your website in a strategic place, depending on what the message is.

Create a schedule

The timing of your message is just as important as the message itself. For example, if there's a crisis and you don't act fast enough, it can be challenging to recover, which is why a plan is vital in the first place.

Let's say you have a PR nightmare on your hands, and the media is making misleading claims about your company. In this case, you'll need to act fast to refute those claims and use various small business PR strategies to get your message out, including using social media to communicate with customers and the public and scheduling interviews with journalists to tell your side of the story.

The same is true if you're launching a product. Timing your message can help generate buzz and excitement before the release date. Then, when your product launches, you already have customers interested in purchasing it.

Know who's responsible for delivering the message

The type of communications plan you create will dictate who is responsible for delivering the message. For example, if you're launching a new product, your marketing team will likely market it through various strategies and channels. Meanwhile, if there's a reputation crisis, your CEO or a representative from the company will probably deliver the message to the public.

Conduct a final review

Once you've finished your communications plan, give it one more review with the team to ensure everyone is on the same page. By now, you should have all the information you need in terms of feedback, but reviewing it one more time can help you catch any potential issues, including grammatical mistakes or confusing action items.

Test and analyze your results

Once your communications plan is complete, you can start testing it and measuring your results. As you already know, you should always continue improving on your strategies. You can measure the results of your plan after it's presented. For example, if you launched a new product intending to increase sales by 15%, you can measure your progress throughout the campaign.

If you don't reach your goals, you at least now have a baseline to help you create more realistic objectives for your next communication plan.

Top components of an effective communication plan

To build an effective communications plan for any department, you'll need these elements:

• Intended audience: Who is your message intended for? Depending on your goals, this could be anyone, from customers to internal employees.
• Message format: What will your plan look like? The format of your message depends on what you've used in the past and what has worked. For example, you may use a simple PDF structure when working directly with stakeholders so everyone has a copy.
• Distribution: How will you share your message? How you share your message depends on what type of message it is. For example, if you're sharing news of a new product, you have many channels to choose from, including ads and social media.
• Timeline: When will your plan begin and end? Your plan timeline varies depending on the project, but you should always have a start and end date to ensure you can effectively measure your performance and progress.
• Message source: Who will share your message? The person who shares your message could be anyone, from the head of HR to the CEO, depending on your type of communication plan.

Why is communication planning important?

Communication planning is important because it can help you effectively communicate with your audience, giving you the right thing to say at just the right time. It can also help everyone understand their role in the strategy. For example, for a product launch, product development is responsible for creating the product, while marketing is in charge of getting the word out to the public.

Communication plans can also improve stakeholder and client relationships by helping everyone get on the same page and plan easily. With a good communication plan, no one is left in the dark. Additionally, it can help those using the communication plan to articulate smart responses quickly, which can be beneficial when your reputation is at risk.

To summarize, a few of the advantages of communication planning include:

• Effectively communicate with your audience
• Understand individual and team responsibilities
• Improve stakeholder and client relationships
• Articulate smart responses quickly

Avert a crisis with comprehensive communication planning

Communication planning is key to the success of any company because it can improve internal communication and your relationships with the public. Anyone can write a communications plan and share it, but what's most important is the message.

Ready to share your communications plan with customers, employees, or stakeholders? Draft your communications plan and share it with Mailchimp. With our email editor, you can design simple yet elegant emails to share messages with your audience.

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How (and Why) to Create an Effective Communication Plan

Get tips on how to create an effective communication plan. Having a communication plan is critical for every organization. Find out why.

July 25, 2022

Explore other posts on these topics: Compliance Contact Center Security Unified Communications

Every day, your business must communicate with a variety of stakeholders. Having a plan to do this is critical. Without a communication plan, you’ll be in reactive mode should a crucial incident occur. The requirement for communicating can range from something as mundane as product updates to something more severe like a cybersecurity attack.

No matter why, you should develop a strategy for how you’ll communicate. In this post, we’ll offer you tips on building a versatile and effective plan.

What Is a Communication Plan?

Having a plan matters. Your company has them for just about everything they do, and communication should be no exception. A communication plan defines how you deliver information to appropriate stakeholders. It will include:

• Messaging basics
• Whom you’re targeting
• Channels you’ll use

Communication plans often bring clarity to complex situations. They help you by building a framework for clarity of messaging and ensuring it reaches the intended audience.

In times of crisis, they can be instrumental in responding. This response often needs to be fast but well thought out. A communication plan provides the foundation for this. You can plan for anything, but until it happens, you won’t be in active mode. These times can be hectic and taxing on an organization. You can make it less so when you have a documented communication plan.

How to Develop a Communication Plan

Now that you know why you need one, you’ll want to view these steps to get started with yours.

Audit Your Current Communication Strategies

Before you can write your plan, you’ll need to assess the state of your communications. By doing this, you’ll have context around messaging and positioning. You’ll be able to identify if gaps exist.

For example, if you’re rolling out multifactor authentication for your software, you’d want to visit all your user content and security information. You may find that you already have some messaging around this or have none. In auditing, you can quickly determine what new information you need to communicate.

Define Your Audiences

Every company has lots of audiences. You may have customers and subsets of those, prospects, partners, investors, and employees. Each has specific attributes and needs in terms of communication. For each group, you’ll have different ways to communicate in terms of channels and messaging. You may even have communication plans for two groups for the same topic.

For example, if you’re rolling out a new product feature, you’ll need internal communications regarding how it works, pricing, launch dates, and FAQs. For customers, some of the information will be the same, but it will be specific to the impact on them as a user.

Use an Outline Checklist

Now that you’ve defined messaging and audiences, next is creating an outline with specific components. Those should include:

• Purpose: What are you writing a communication plan about?
• Framework for escalation: This element is crucial for things like incident and disaster recovery. Document how you’ll tier responses based on urgency and priority.
• Roles and responsibilities of your team: Who will do what when the time to communicate begins?
• Dos and don’ts: Describe the things you should do and those you must avoid.
• Maintenance schedule: How will you maintain your communication plan, and when should you update it?

Filling all these areas out gives you the basis for how you’ll craft the actual communication materials.

Decide What Channels You’ll Use to Communicate

Choosing channels relates to who your audience is. If internal, you could use email, but you may also want to message through internal chats specific to the topic. You could also use video meetings to introduce the communication and follow up with links.

For customers, email is likely always at the top of the list. SMS messaging could be an option, too. If you have a unified communications platform that allows for outcoming dynamic notifications, it’s a great channel. People respond to text messages even better than email. The engagement rate for text messages is six times that of email.

Another option is social media. It’s public; however, that shouldn’t deter you. Many well-known brands use social media to talk about challenges or issues. Many do this because it’s where their stakeholders engage with them, and it’s a sign of transparency.

Select channels based on customer preferences. Use multiple ones to drive recall and get customers to respond accordingly.

Create a Timeline for the Plan

From the moment you’re aware communication is necessary to actually deploying it, how long will it take? Depending on the message, audience, and channels, it can vary. Putting in a fair estimate can help you understand when to begin the process since approvals, editing, and design need to happen.

Measure the Performance of Your Plans

Once you kick a plan into motion, you’ll want to monitor its progress and eventually evaluate the performance. You’ll want to have what you’ll measure as part of your plan. Those can consist of:

• Click rates
• Actions taken
• Engagement rate (social media)

As you learn about the effectiveness of your communications, you can make changes based on data. As a result, you could see improvements in your metrics.

Communication Is Everything

Every business needs to excel at communications. It’s the bedrock of your brand. Not prioritizing communication and a plan for it can be risky. Whether talking to employees about internal processes or engaging customers with big news, a communication plan will serve you well.

Get more communication tips by reading our post on customer communication trends .

The Intermedia Team

Intermedia helps over 135,000 businesses connect better – through voice, video conferencing, chat, contact center, business email and productivity, file sharing and backup, security, archiving, and more – from wherever, whenever. And, as a partner-first company, Intermedia goes to work for over 7,300 channel partners to help them grow their revenue and maximize their success.

• Project planning |
• Why a clear communication plan is more ...

Why a clear communication plan is more important than you think

More often than not, clear communication can make or break successful projects. Clear communication in project management isn’t just about where you should be communicating—it’s also about which team members should be receiving which types of messages.

The good news is, creating an effective communication plan isn’t difficult. All you need to do is define your communication channels and align on when team members should use each. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to set up a communication plan and show you a template so you can create your own.

What is a communication plan?

Sharing a communication plan can give your team clarity about which tools to use when and who to contact with each of those tools. Without a communication plan, you might have one team member trying to ask questions about work in a tool that another team member rarely checks. Rather than being able to clearly communicate and move forward with work, each team member would end up frustrated, confused, and disconnected from the work that matters. Then, if they don’t have clear insight into who is responsible for each channel, they might end up reaching out to an executive stakeholder with questions that person can’t answer. What started out as a simple miscommunication has spiraled into three frustrated team members—and all the while, work isn’t moving forward.

What should a communication plan include?

Your communication plan is your one-stop-shop for your project communication strategy. Team members should be able to use the communication plan to answer project questions like:

What communication channels are we using? What is each channel used for?

When should we communicate in person vs. asynchronously?

What are the project roles? Who is the project manager ? Who is on the project team? Who are the project stakeholders ?

How are important project details, like project status updates, going to be communicated? How frequently will these be shared?

What shouldn’t be included in a communication plan?

A communication plan will help you clarify how you’re going to communicate with your project team and project stakeholders—whether these are internal team members that work at your company, or external stakeholders like customers or contractors.

A communication plan in project management is not a PR plan. This plan will not help you align on your social media strategy, identify a target audience, or establish key messages for different demographics. If you need to build out those plans, consider creating a  social media content calendar  or a  business strategy plan .

The benefits of a communication plan

Obviously  clear communication in the workplace  is a good thing. But do you really need a written communication plan to do that?

In a word: yes. A good communication plan can help you communicate the right information to the right project stakeholders. Executive stakeholders don’t need to be notified about every project detail—similarly, every project team member might not need to be on a conference call with your external partners. By clarifying where and how you’ll be communicating, you can reduce the guessing game and unblock your team.

Less app switching

We recently interviewed  over 13,000 global knowledge workers  and found that the average knowledge worker switches between 10 apps up to 25 times per day. Instead of focusing on high-impact work or even collaborating effectively with their team members, knowledge workers are sinking hours into simply trying to figure out where they should be communicating.

A communication plan can eliminate this guessing game. For example, if your team knows that you only communicate about work in a  work management tool , they can search for key information there—instead of digging through document folders, Slack messages, and multiple email chains. Similarly, when you know that a team member is only tangentially working on the project—and is only being looped in during high-level status reports—you won’t bother them with a question about when the next  project deliverable  is due.

We have created communication guidelines around what software or what tools are best for what. Asana is for action, Slack is for quick responses or answers to things that are floating around. Email is more official and mostly external facing. By doing that, and creating the proper communications guidance, it really helps reduce the noise.”

Increased collaboration

Team collaboration isn’t an effortless process that happens by itself—it’s a skill that you and your team have to build. One part of creating effective  team collaboration  is clarifying your team’s communication conventions. That’s because a big barrier to effective collaboration is feeling comfortable communicating—especially if you work on a  remote or distributed team . If your team feels unsure because they’re still trying to figure out how or where to communicate, they won’t be fully comfortable talking to one another.

Your communication plan is a chance to clarify where team members should be communicating. Depending on the level of detail, you can also include when team members should be communicating—and clarify team conventions towards setting “Do not disturb” mode or snoozing notifications.

By providing these guidelines, you’re effectively removing one of the biggest barriers to easy communication and collaboration between team members. When team members know where to communicate—and just as importantly, where not to communicate—they can be confident they’re sending the right message at the right time.

Less duplicative work

Currently, knowledge workers spend  60% of their time on work about work  like searching for documents, chasing approvals, switching between apps, following up on the status of work, and generally doing things that take time away from impactful work. Part of this work about work is not knowing where things should be communicated.

If team members don’t have a clear sense of where information is shared—things like your  project plan  or  project timeline —then they’ll have to dig through multiple tools or ask several team members just to find the right information. As a result, team members who are unclear about where they should be communicating about work also have a harder time simply finding existing work.

Work about work leads to more manual, duplicative work and less clarity overall. In fact, according to the  Anatomy of Work Index , we spend 13% of our time—236 hours per year—on work that’s already been completed. By sharing your communication plan, you can give your team clarity into exactly where work lives, so they don’t have to spend all that time finding it themselves.

How to write a communication plan

A communication plan is a powerful tool—but it’s also relatively easy to create. You can create a communication plan in four steps.

1. Establish your communication methods

The first step to creating a communication plan is to decide where your team will communicate—and about what. This includes when to use which tools and when to communicate live vs. asynchronously. Live, synchronous communication is communication that happens in real time. Conversely, asynchronous communication is when you send a message without expecting someone to reply right away. We all use asynchronous communication every day without realizing it—most notably, every time we send an email.

As you define your communication plan, identify what to use each tool for. For example, you might decide to use:

Email to communicate with any external stakeholders.

Slack for synchronous communication about day-to-day updates and quick questions.

Asana to communicate asynchronously about work, like task details, project status updates , or key project documents.

Zoom or Google Meet for any team meetings, like project brainstorms or your project post mortem.

2. Align on communication cadence

Now that you know where you’ll be communicating, you also have to identify how frequently you’ll be communicating. Your communication cadence is your action plan for updating different stakeholders about different project details.

For example, you might decide to schedule:

Weekly project status updates posted in Asana to all project stakeholders and sponsors.

Monthly project team meetings to unblock any work or brainstorm next steps.

Asynchronous project milestone updates in Asana as needed.

3. Add a plan for stakeholder management

Running a successful project often depends on getting stakeholder support and buy-in. At the beginning of the project, you’ll do this during the  project kickoff meeting —but it’s also critical to maintain stakeholder support throughout your project.

Take some time as you’re drafting your communication plan to detail when to communicate with each project stakeholder, and about what. Some people, like your key project team members, will be communicating about this project regularly—maybe even daily. Other project stakeholders may only need to be looped in during project status updates or maybe just at the final readout.

By listing out how you’ll be managing communication with stakeholders, you can ensure they’re being contacted at the right time about the right things. The communication they recieve should answer questions at their level of detail and with a focus on business results and overall, high-level impact.

4. Share your communication plan and update it as needed

Once you’ve created your communication plan, it’s time to share it with your project team. Make sure your communication plan is accessible in your central source of truth for all project information. We recommend using  Asana  to track all project communication and work, so you can talk about work where you’re working.

If any changes impact your project communication plan, make sure you update it and communicate those changes. That way, team members always have access to the most up to date information.

Example communication plan

Communication plan template

Description of communication.

What type of communication is it?

How often will you be communicating?

Which tool will you be using? Is this synchronous or asynchronous communication?

Who is receiving this communication?

Who is in charge of sending out this communication?

Good communication starts with a communication plan

Clear communication can help you send the right message at the right time. Empower effortless collaboration while also ensuring every team member is being looped in at the right times. That way, your team can spend less time communicating about work and more time on high-impact work.

Related resources

Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to drive product development

How Asana uses work management to streamline project intake processes

How Asana uses work management for smoother creative production

6-Step Guide to Crafting the Perfect Communication Plan

A communication plan is a key to developing an effective and consistent messaging strategy.

It helps guide the process of setting measurable goals for your strategy, profiling your target audience and creating and successfully delivering your message.

What is a Communication Plan

Components of a Communication Plan

Steps to communication planning, step 1 – perform a situation analysis, swot analysis, pest analysis, perceptual map, step 2 – identify and define objectives / goals, step 3 – understand and profile your key audience, step 4 – decide the media channels and create a strategy, step 5 – create a timetable for publishing, step 6 – monitor and evaluate the results, common mistakes to avoid when creating communications plans, faqs about communication plans, what’s your approach to writing a communication plan, what is a communication plan.

A communication plan outlines how teams can communicate important information to key stakeholders. It highlights what information should be shared, when, to which audience and via which channels.

Having a solid communication plan in place will help ensure that the communication objectives of your organization are met and that all assets that you send out are aligned with the core communications strategy of the company.

In marketing and public relations, communication plans are used to plan how important information about products and services will be communicated to target audiences, including customers, clients, media and the general public. Companies also use communication plans to maintain consistent and effective internal communications within the organization. These may include internal newsletters, intranet updates and team Wikis. In project management, communication plans are used to highlight how information will be communicated within teams and relevant stakeholders, throughout the lifecycle of the project. Overall, communications plans offer a structured approach to plan, implement and evaluate communication efforts to optimize the effectiveness of communications.

Use this communication plan template to develop your strategy and deploy it.

Why is a Communication Plan Essential?

Clear communication is the backbone of any successful initiative. A communication plan ensures that everyone is on the same page, reducing the risk of confusion, missed deadlines, and unmet expectations. It fosters trust, ensures transparency, and can be the difference between project success and failure.

Who Should Use a Communication Plan?

A communication plan isn’t just for large corporations or project managers. It’s for anyone aiming to streamline interactions, whether you’re a small business owner, a team leader, or an individual looking to improve personal projects. Understanding your audience and tailoring your communication strategy to them is the first step.

When Should You Implement a Communication Plan?

The best time to implement a communication plan is at the onset of a project or initiative. However, it’s never too late. Whether you’re starting a new project, revamping an old one, or looking to improve ongoing communications, a well-structured plan can make a difference.

Where Does a Communication Plan Apply?

While often associated with business projects, communication plans apply everywhere: from community events, educational programs, to personal projects. Any scenario that requires organized communication can benefit.

Your communications plan should include the following key elements.

1. Target Audience

Who is Your Target Audience? All strategic communications should be directed at a specific audience. Accordingly, the message you send out should be tailored to their level of knowledge, understanding and trust in your brand or organization.

What is the Context of Your Message? The next step is to define the context of your message. Identify key events that may be significant to the audience that you are aiming to reach. The context defines what should be included in the message and how your audience will relate and respond to it.

3. Outcomes

What Do You Aim to Achieve with Your Message? The outcome of your message is the ‘call to action’. Define what people need to know, believe and do after receiving the message. Create a ‘message pyramid’ with an attention grabbing headline, followed by ‘reasons why’ and proof points. This helps the audience understand your core message and then consider the proof points which are relevant to their context, and there by act based on your call-to-action.

Which Media Channels Will You Use? Media are the channels through which your message is communicated. These may vary depending on the content, context and audience of the message. For instance, if you want to reach a younger tech-savvy audience, you may choose a social media platform that may be popular among them.

5. Messengers

How Will You Choose Your Messengers? The primary messenger may not always be the most ‘effective’ messenger. The messenger’s ethos should resonate credibility, status and power, expertise and relationship.

Why do most companies get their CEOs or members of the senior management to conduct new product launches or convey important product information? It is because audiences tend to have confidence in people with big titles who have an influence in the organization. They are also experts in their subject area and have a strong relationship with the company.

6. Measurement

How Will You Measure Success? It is important to cultivate strategies to measure the effectiveness of your communications. Include KPIs for your communication activities and document the results. This also helps build a repository of information which will be useful when planning future communications activities.

Whether you are creating a marketing communication plan or a strategic communication plan, the following steps will help guide you.

Situation analysis helps assess the capabilities of and health of things in an organization. It’s the ideal way to understand the current status of your organization’s communication.

You can gather as much information as needed from conducting an audit .

To gather relevant information from situation analysis, you can consult departmental heads, process owners and other internal staff members.

In a situation analysis, you need to examine both the internal and external environments. To do so, you can use the following tools

You can use a SWOT analysis to examine the strengths and weaknesses within your organization, and opportunities and threats that you can find in your external environment.

With a PEST analysis , you can examine political, environmental, social and technological factors, all of which exist in the external environment of your organization, but can have a significant impact on the way things run in your business.

One good competitor analysis technique is the perceptual map. It helps you make sense of how your customers perceive the brands of your competitors in the market compared to yours.

Once you know where you stand, you can find your direction. The next step is to define your goals.

Think of what outcomes/results you want to achieve from your communication plan. These will become your goal/s as you develop your communication plan.

Make sure that the goals you select are SMART :

Who are you creating this communication plan for? Understanding your audience and their requirements, characteristics etc. is key to creating an effective message and delivering it successfully.

Your key audience could be within your organization or your customers. Either way, you should gather information on them and create simple audience personas.

These personas could include a variety of data that ranges from their age and gender to the challenges they face.

As you conduct research on your target audience you would get to know that their requirements and preferences are diverse.

It’s clear that you won’t be able to reach all of them through one media channel or retain their attention with one type of content.

Consider the most effective channels you can think of when creating your media channel strategy. Make sure to select the ideal channel when you are targeting different audience segments.

When do you want your audience to hear your message and how often? Have a content calendar or create a Gantt chart outlining a timeframe for your publishing strategy.

You may also need to take the resources available to you into consideration. If you have one content writer, publishing quality blog posts on a daily basis would be ineffective.

Constantly monitor and track your results in order to understand whether you are any closer to achieving your goals. If you have failed, proceed to mark it down so you can make necessary improvements next time.

Creating a communication plan for your non profit organization? Check out this resource for some great tips.

Overcomplicating the Plan

Trying to include too many channels or too much information may complicate the plan. This can lead to confusion and dilute the effectiveness of your messaging. Stick only to key messaging and channels that are most effective in reaching and engaging the target audience.

Not Considering the Timing

Timing is crucial in communication planning. It is important to consider the timing of the messaging and ensure that they are aligned with key events or milestones. Don’t send out important communications during periods of high volume or noise, such as during holidays or major news events.

Not Adapting to Changes

Communication plans should be adaptable and flexible to changes in environment or audience. It is important to regularly review and update plans to keep up with emerging trends (to make sure that your plan stays relevant and effective). Failing to adapt to changes may cause missed opportunities and ineffective messaging.

How often should a communications plan be updated?

A communications plan should be updated regularly to reflect changes in the organization’s goals, priorities, audiences, or external environment. The frequency of updates will depend on the pace of change in the organization and the industry. A good rule of thumb is to review the communications plan annually and update it as needed. However, if there are major changes in the organization, such as a merger, acquisition, or crisis, the communications plan should be updated immediately to ensure that communication is timely, accurate, and effective.

How can an organization measure the effectiveness of its communications plan?

An organization can measure the effectiveness of its communications plan by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) related to its communication goals and objectives. These KPIs may include website traffic, social media engagement, email open rates, media coverage, customer satisfaction surveys, or sales figures. By tracking these KPIs over time, the organization can assess whether its communication activities are achieving the desired results and make adjustments as needed. It’s important to set realistic goals and benchmarks for each KPI and to ensure that the data is collected consistently and accurately. Additionally, feedback from stakeholders, such as customers, employees, and investors, can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the organization’s communication activities.

A successful communication plan will get your message delivered across to your audience effectively while ensuring that you are on track to accomplishing your business objectives.

Follow the simple steps above to create a winning communication plan. If you have any other tips, do share them with us in the comment section below.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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How to Create a Communications Plan to Benefit Your Business

For any business, having a communications plan is essential. However, far too often, business leaders fail to recognize the importance of one and the benefits that can come from it. 

A common scenario involved with a business plan is when your business needs to communicate with your customer and convince them that your product or service is the best option for them. Now, imagine that you cannot talk or write or make any gestures; it would be nearly impossible for the customer to understand anything at all.

This metaphor shows how vital communication can be for your business. Without having a good one in place, you are leaving out or not conveying all the necessary information to your customers. A lack of communication and planning can leave your buyers confused, not having questions answered, and looking elsewhere. It can be detrimental for your employees too. They deserve to be "in the loop" just as much as your customers. 

Creating a robust communications plan doesn't have to be a strenuous process, but it is crucial. Below, we will go over everything you need to know to craft a strong communications plan.

What is a Business Communication Plan?

A business communication plan can be thought of as a road map for your business's communication needs. It should include everything from reaching an audience and how to convey a message best. This formal strategy plan defines key components that your business will use to communicate with consumers and team members alike. 

An example may include strategies to interact with various audiences, advancement techniques, measurements to evaluate campaigns, and more.

Why Do I Need a Communications Plan?

Think about how any business would operate if communications weren't a major priority among leaders, management, team members, and of course, customers. Nothing would ever get done, no one would ever know what to do next or what is going on, and there would be no email or text message updates, no landlines or contact centers, no direction. The public would have no idea that your business is functioning, what you offer, or that it even exists.

While this is an apparent worst-case scenario, it definitely conveys how important communication is for a business. Communication is a valuable and necessary resource both internally and externally.

Without an effective communications plan, your business could fail to create brand awareness, nurture customers and their loyalty, build a solid and loyal team, and lose sales and revenue. Companies must communicate to deal with sudden and ongoing changes, new products, services, or offers, new business locations, opportunities, and more.

What Should My Communications Plan Include?

A well-organized communications plan allows everyone (internally and externally) to be aware of any new information or ongoing changes because critical data is planned out in advance and should take the following elements into account:

• Business Objectives: What is the purpose of this communication outreach? How can you better communicate with your customers and team members? Be sure to list goals and then plan out how you will achieve them in a predetermined timeframe.
• Target Audience: Assess your current communications and see who your business interacts with most frequently. It could be investors, consumers, shareholders, team members, or government officials. Then, you will be able to prioritize what, when, and how you can best interact with these individuals and organizations.
• Focus: Once you have figured out your goals and target audiences, you can configure your messages for each. For instance, a message to your team should not be the same as the one sent to customers or investors. Messages should benefit and strengthen your business objectives and promote your company's offerings. 
• Strategies: Be specific about the tools and resources used to reach your target audiences. Methods or strategies used to communicate may include websites/chats, emails, social media platforms, press releases, paid advertising, and other systems.
• Evaluation: By continuously measuring results, you will see pretty quickly if your communications plan is working and if it is effective. Your company should be reaching the predetermined objectives you laid out, and if they are not, you may need to go back and edit your plan a bit. When assessing your plan, questions to keep in mind may be: Open rate of emails? Are traffic and sales increasing? What methods are working the best? 

Six Steps to Create and Execute a Strong Communications Plan

#1. choose target audience.

Begin by deciding who your message is tailored to. Most commonly, this will be your new customers or prospective ones, but also team members, business partners, or the community your business serves. If you need to identify a specific sub-group within your target audience, a market research professional will be able to help you prepare a further message. 

#2. Determine How Your Business Stands Out

How is your business different from the competition (nationally or locally)? What does your company do better than the others? Why does your customer base value your business, products, or services? Why is your customer loyalty so high? To help answer these questions, collecting feedback from your customers, partners, team members, and other stakeholders is a great place to start.

#3. Develop a Tagline

Having a concise or even catchy message that describes your business and offerings can create a unique proposition for your company. It's often helpful to come up with an "only" line. "We are the only company that does x." You should utilize this key message across all communications efforts and platforms.

#4. Define Objectives

 Set realistic goals and measurable objectives for your communications plan. For instance, if you identify 10,000 prospective clients in your market, you may set a goal of contacting 10% of them, and of that 10%, 20% become customers in the next year. Setting goals will help you estimate sales, devote proper resources to communications efforts, assess results, optimize efforts, and stay on track.

#5. Choose Which Communication Channels To Utilize

Determine which communication channels are best suited to reach your target audiences. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis and narrow down the best ones to focus on. You will probably want to combine a few conventional and non-conventional methods and include digital channels. Include traditional advertising, multiple social media platforms, newsletters, and others. Don’t forget a robust Unified Communications platform! Check out the complete list of features Simplicity VoIP offers here . 

Tied to our many incredible features, Simplicity offers a wide range of products and services that will help your business grow, including:

• Phones and Equipment
• Simplicity Webphone and SimplicityGo Mobile App
• Online Portal with Messaging
• Video Conferencing
• Wireless Backup
• Managed Services
• SIP & PRI Trunking

#6. Execute Your Plan

Determine who will be responsible for executing your communications plan and hold this person accountable for meeting goals and objectives. If you need additional assistance filling gaps in internal expertise, consider hiring an outside consultant. These may include a marketing consultant, public relations management agent, a writer, or graphic designer.

Start Communicating Effectively!

These are the basics of developing a communications plan to benefit your business both internally and externally. Communications plans are not permanent and can change whenever needed. Listen to your feedback from your team, customers, and stakeholders and make changes accordingly. There is a reason that communication is key!

Our customer service team is ready to help and answer any questions you may have!

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How to create a business analysis communication plan

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Business analysts help companies improve their processes, systems, and operations by analyzing current practices, defining business needs, and proposing solutions. In other words, business analysts (BAs) are in the business of change. 

Once BAs define the problems and the solutions, they help initiate changes through careful communication and planning across the organization. Because business analysis covers the entire organization, BAs must facilitate cross-functional communications that effectively speak to the needs for change and the path forward so stakeholders at every level support the initiative.  

That’s where a strong communication plan comes in.

BAs must be skilled communicators, enabled by a robust communication strategy and plan. Without buy-in from employees and leaders throughout the company, change initiatives will fall flat. 

Below we’ll cover what a business analysis communication plan is, why it’s important, and best practices for developing a BA communication strategy.

Why is it important to have a communication plan?

A formal communication strategy helps business analysts communicate change requirements, project initiatives, and business needs clearly and consistently. This is an important part of the communication strategy because business analysts must be able to communicate clearly across the organization throughout the iterative change management process. 

As projects and requirements evolve and different stakeholders engage in the process (or are impacted by the initiatives), communication acts as the glue that holds everything together and keeps everyone on the same page.

A communication plan provides a roadmap to guide messaging decisions and ensure that information is relayed in the right way to the right people. 

In short, a strong communication plan:

• Keeps things organized
• Drives efficiency through a set process
• Ensures the communications reach the right audience

What is a business analysis communication plan?

Requirements communication is an important part of a BA’s responsibilities. Ongoing, iterative communication helps BAs convey key business requirements, findings, and recommendations throughout the business analysis process. 

Business analysis and requirements communication involve numerous activities including:

• Managing conflicts
• Determining the requirements format
• Creating a requirements package
• Presenting the analysis and requirements
• Reviewing requirements
• Obtaining requirements signoff

To successfully communicate through each of these tasks, BAs need a clear communication plan. 

A business analysis communication plan is a framework that helps BAs document: 

• What information needs to be shared.
• Who needs to receive the information.
• When information should be delivered.
• How information will be shared (platform and setting).
• Required stakeholder actions (sign off, review, give feedback).
• Next steps after stakeholder actions.

A communication plan should outline the purpose of the communication, how those goals will be achieved, the audience, the timeline for delivery, and how results will be measured.

Use visuals to outline your communication plans and keep track of key messaging strategies. Visuals like a communication plan chart or communication matrix can help you get started.

Visualizing your communication plan will keep your framework organized into key categories such as stakeholders, deliverables, task or project owners, priority, and delivery method. Take advantage of visualization solutions that are easily shareable and collaborative to disseminate information efficiently and keep everyone on the same page. 

Best practices for developing communication plans

Creating and implementing a robust communication plan takes work. But the payoff is worth it. Use the following tips and best practices to nail your business communication every step of the way.

1. Determine your communication goals

What is your purpose for the communication? For instance, are you managing conflict, creating a requirements package, or seeking sign-off from stakeholders? Each objective will affect how you communicate with your audience and the tools and strategies you use. 

For example, if you are managing conflict surrounding business requirements and stakeholder expectations, you might have to get everyone in a room together to have a meeting to bridge the gap. Or, you may need to prepare a presentation with additional supporting research to back up your initial requirements analysis. 

2. Consider your audience 

How you communicate information will also depend on who your audience is. Consider what communication format and messaging is most effective for each individual or group you’re communicating with. 

For example, your audience may be most receptive to a formal presentation with follow-up emails. Meet your audience where they are while ensuring all requirements are fully documented throughout the process for reference.

Communication methods could include:

• Status reports
• Meeting summaries
• Presentations
• Video conferencing
• Chat or email
• Shared collaboration tools like interactive visuals

3. Pay attention to frequency

Communication can make or break your company’s engagement. While what you say is important, how often you communicate can play an equally important role in building trust and keeping everyone on the same page throughout the change management process. 

Don’t leave people to guess what is going on in the business or how it might impact them. Bring people into the conversation so you are always working from the most up-to-date information and ensuring no one is left in the dark. 

Paying attention to the frequency and cadence of your communications will improve engagement and buy-in from your stakeholders across the organization.  

4. Use visuals to deliver your communication

Communication must be consistent and clear. Avoid text-heavy, complex plans in favor of easy-to-digest roadmaps. While many BAs outline their plans in spreadsheets or text documents, visuals can help you organize and present your messaging plans and information simply and effectively through every business analysis stage.

The following templates can help you get started:

BPMN process flow diagrams help analysts understand current business processes and identify opportunities to improve them. These are a great addition to your BA toolbelt both for analyzing and documenting as-is processes as part of your analysis, as well as communicating your findings to stakeholders. Use these diagrams to illustrate current processes and pinpoint where and how your recommendations fit in.

Current vs. Target Balanced Scorecard

Balanced scorecards help BAs compare current business metrics to strategic goals. These are a great tool for analyzing the gap between where the business is now and where it would like to be. Use balanced scorecards to help communicate gaps in your strategic targets and support your case for recommended requirements.

Business Model Canvas

A Business Model Canvas is a one-page document that summarizes your business plans. This is a great asset for BAs because it succinctly communicates strategy, plans, and vision with enough detail to provide context and clear information about process and decision-making. 

Business Model Canvas organizes the following information in one easy-to-digest visual:

• Value proposition —What problem are you solving
• Key partners —Who needs to be involved in producing and delivering these solutions
• Key activities —What needs to be done to achieve your goal
• Key resources —What you need to deliver these results
• Customer relationships —How do you talk to your market about these solutions
• Customer segments —Who needs your solution 
• Channels —How will you deliver your solution

This visual is a great tool for organizing your plans and communicating the business value of your recommendations to stakeholders at every level.

A successful business analysis isn’t complete without a well-executed communication plan. Use these tips to bring your organization together on key business requirements and make an impact today. 

Create a robust communication plan and strategy to gain employee buy-in and communicate key details with stakeholders in Lucidchart.

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Why Your Business Needs a Communication Plan

by Mike Vestil  

Communication is the backbone of any organization, and having a clear and effective communication plan in place is essential for success. A communication plan is a document that outlines the objectives, strategies, and tactics a company will employ to communicate with its stakeholders.

This plan describes the information that needs to be communicated, who needs to receive it, and how it will be relayed. With a well-formulated communication plan in place, organizations can enhance collaboration, resolve conflicts, and improve overall performance. In this article, we will delve deeper into the importance of having a communication plan and how you can develop an effective one.

Introduction

A communication plan is a document that outlines the strategies and approaches that a company will use to communicate with its stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, and investors. It is a formalized plan that identifies the goals of communication, target audiences, key messages, and timing.

The purpose of a communication plan is to ensure that all communications are consistent, effective, and audience-appropriate. It provides structure and guidance for communication-related decisions and actions, thereby minimizing confusion and maximizing the impact of communication efforts.

The importance of a communication plan cannot be overstated, as effective communication is integral to successful business operations. A well-designed plan can help a company build strong relationships with stakeholders, enhance brand reputation, and achieve organizational objectives such as revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.

The purpose of a communication plan is to establish a framework that guides communication efforts within a project, organization, or team. The plan outlines the goals, objectives, and strategies to be used when communicating with various stakeholders, such as employees, customers, suppliers, investors, and the media.

The plan’s primary objective is to ensure that stakeholders receive the right message at the right time through the right channel. By doing this, the plan helps reduce communication inefficiencies, misinterpretations, and errors, which can lead to negative outcomes, such as delays, disputes, low morale, and lost opportunities.

Furthermore, the communication plan serves as a reference document that ensures consistency in communication across the organization, project, or team. The plan establishes guidelines for language, tone, style, format, and content, ensuring that communications remain aligned with organizational values, branding, standards, and legal requirements. By doing this, the plan enhances the organization’s reputation, credibility, and trust, which are critical in building relationships and achieving success.

The communication plan also helps to identify potential communication risks, such as misunderstandings, conflicts, cultural differences, and information overload. By analyzing these risks, the plan outlines mitigation strategies that help reduce the likelihood and impact of the risks. In addition, the plan outlines the roles and responsibilities of the communicators, ensuring that everyone understands their duties and obligations concerning communication. This helps to avoid confusion, duplication of effort, and omission of critical communication activities.

Overall, the purpose of the communication plan is to provide a roadmap for effective and efficient communication that supports the organization’s strategic objectives, enhances stakeholder relationships, reduces communication risks, and ensures consistency and alignment in communication activities. By having a well-crafted communication plan, organizations, projects, and teams can communicate effectively, build trust and credibility, and achieve their goals.

A communication plan is a document that outlines how an organization will communicate with its stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, and investors. This plan is important because effective communication is essential for achieving organizational goals and objectives.

Without a communication plan, the organization may experience confusion, miscommunication, and ultimately failure. A communication plan can help to build relationships with stakeholders, increase employee engagement, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance the organization’s reputation.

It can also be used to manage crises and mitigate the impact of negative events. By identifying key messages, target audiences, communication channels, and metrics for evaluating success, a communication plan can ensure that the right message is delivered to the right people at the right time.

Key Elements of a Communication Plan

One of the most critical aspects of a communication plan is identifying the target audience. It is essential to know who the message is intended for so that it can be tailored to meet their specific needs, interests and preferences. The audience can be defined by demographics like age, ethnicity, gender, income, or location. It can also include psychographic information such as personality traits, values, lifestyles, and attitudes.

Understanding the audience becomes even more critical for international or multicultural audiences as barriers such as language and cultural differences can lead to misinterpretations, misunderstandings and even mistrust.

Once the audience has been identified, the next step is to determine the appropriate message that resonates with them. Messages can either be informational or persuasive, depending on the desired outcome. The message should be clear, concise, and consistent across all channels. The tone and language used should align with the audience’s communication style and preferences while conveying the intent effectively.

The channels selected to deliver the message should also align with the audience’s behavior and preferences. Traditional channels such as newspapers, radio, and television may not be the best choice for a younger audience as they prefer social media platforms. Likewise, direct mail may not be an ideal choice for an audience that prefers email communication. The channels chosen should provide maximum exposure to the audience, and the mode of delivery should be easy to access and convenient.

Timing is another crucial factor to consider when communicating with an audience. The message should be communicated at a time that is convenient for the audience and aligns with their schedules. For example, if the target audience is working professionals, it may be advantageous to send communications outside of working hours or on weekends when they are most likely to check their emails or social media accounts.

Finally, the responsibility for executing an effective communication plan may vary depending on the size and complexity of the project. It may be the responsibility of an individual or a team to manage the plan and ensure its successful execution. The team members responsible should have clear roles and responsibilities, and deadlines should be set to ensure timely delivery of the message.

The subsection Message is a critical aspect of any communication plan as it is the information being conveyed to the target audience. When crafting a message, it is essential to understand the audience and tailor the message to their needs and interests, ensuring it resonates with them.

The message should be clear, concise, and easily understood by the target audience. The language used should also be appropriate for the audience, avoiding technical jargon and using simple language where necessary. Furthermore, the message should be consistent across all channels to ensure that it is easily recognizable and reinforces the core message.

It is also crucial to consider the tone and style of the message. The tone should match the intent and be appropriate for the subject matter. The message should be positive and convey a sense of authority and credibility to gain the trust of the audience. Additionally, the message should be emotive and appeal to the audience’s emotions as this can help to create a deeper connection with the message.

When crafting the message, it is essential to consider the key messages that need to be conveyed. These are the most important points that need to be communicated and should be prioritized over any other information. The key messages should be simple, memorable, and directly related to the audience’s needs and interests. They should also be consistent with the brand’s values and messaging.

One key consideration when crafting a message is the use of visuals. Images, videos, and other visuals can help to convey messages more effectively, create a deeper connection with the audience, and make the message more memorable. However, it is also essential to consider the appropriateness of the visuals and ensure they match the tone and message of the overall campaign.

In conclusion, the message is a critical aspect of any communication plan and should be carefully crafted to ensure it resonates with the target audience. The message should be clear, concise, and easily understood, appropriate for the audience, and consistent across all channels. The tone and style of the message should match the intent and be positive and emotive. Furthermore, key messages should be prioritized, and visuals should be used where appropriate to help convey the message more effectively.

Channels refer to the various methods of communication used to deliver messages to the target audience. It is important for an organization to choose the most effective channels based on the audience’s preferences, needs, and behaviors.

The most common channels include email, social media, websites, newsletters, blogs, and direct mail. Email is a popular and efficient channel for delivering messages to a large audience quickly. Social media is also a powerful tool for reaching a large audience, especially younger generations who spend a significant amount of time online.

Websites serve as a hub for information and can be used to disseminate a variety of messages. Newsletters and blogs can be used to provide detailed and engaging content about the organization’s activities and initiatives. Direct mail can be an effective channel for reaching audiences who may not have access to digital channels.

The Timing subsection in a communication plan is crucial as it ensures that the right message is communicated to the intended audience at the appropriate time. Proper timing is an essential component of an effective communication strategy. The timing of communication is critical as it can have a significant impact on how the message is received and perceived by the audience. In determining the timing for communication, it is essential to consider the audience, the message, and the channels that will be used.

The audience is a critical consideration when determining the timing of communication. Knowing the audience’s schedule, location, and availability is essential as it ensures that the message is delivered when the audience is most receptive. The timing of communication also depends on the audience’s demographics, such as their age, gender, and occupation. For example, if the target audience is working professionals, it is best to communicate during business hours when they are most likely to be available.

The message itself also plays a crucial role in determining the timing of communication. The level of urgency of the message, its relevancy, and its complexity all influence when it should be communicated. Urgent messages should be communicated as soon as possible, while less urgent ones can be communicated later.

The relevance of the message to the audience also affects timing. Messages that are timely and have a high degree of relevance are most effective when communicated promptly. Finally, the complexity of the message should also be considered when determining timing, as complex messages may require more time or additional resources to communicate effectively.

The channels used to communicate the message are also essential in determining the timing of communication. Different channels have different timeframes for communication, and it is essential to understand the delivery timeline for each channel.

Some channels deliver messages instantly, such as social media or instant messaging. Others, such as email or direct mail, may take longer to deliver the message. Therefore, it is essential to consider the appropriate delivery channel in determining the timing of communication.

In conclusion, the Timing subsection in a communication plan is a crucial aspect of an effective communication strategy. It ensures that the message is communicated to the intended audience at the appropriate time, and it depends on several factors such as the audience, the message, and the delivery channels used. Effective timing ensures that the message is well received, and the intended communication objectives are achieved.

Responsibilities

The Responsibilities section of a Communication Plan outlines the specific tasks and obligations of each team member involved in the communication process. This section ensures that everyone understands their role in the plan and is held accountable for their individual contribution to the project’s success. Responsibilities typically include a designated spokesperson to deliver the message, content creation, audience targeting, channel selection, message formatting, and timing of communication.

Each team member’s responsibility should be clearly stated and agreed upon, with a plan for communication and collaboration to ensure successful execution. It is essential to have an open line of communication to establish a shared understanding of the plan’s meaning and objectives to avoid confusion and errors. Strong coordination among team members ensures an accurate and consistent message across all channels.

Steps to Develop a Communication Plan

Identify objectives.

Identifying objectives is a critical step in developing a communication plan. These objectives define the purpose and goals of the plan, which will help guide decision-making throughout the planning process. Objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) to ensure they are effective and achievable.

When setting objectives, it is essential to consider the organization’s mission, goals, and values while also taking into account the target audience’s needs, attitudes, and behaviors. Objectives can include increasing awareness about a product or service, promoting a particular message, developing a positive image, or improving customer satisfaction. Once objectives are identified, they can help determine the key messages, channels, timing, and responsibilities required to achieve them.

Analyze Audience

The Analyze Audience subsection of a Communication Plan is essential to identify the target audience and shape the messaging to achieve the desired objectives. Audience analysis is crucial because it ensures the message resonates and connects with the audience, ultimately leading to effective communication. To analyze the audience, one must understand their demographics, psychographics, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior patterns.

Demographics refer to the audience’s age, gender, education, income, and occupation. Psychographics encompass the audience’s personality traits, lifestyles, and interests. Values refer to what the audience finds essential, while beliefs encompass assumptions the audience holds to be true. Attitudes refer to the audience’s feelings or opinions about something, and behavior patterns refer to how the audience reacts to something.

Analyzing these factors ensures the audience receives communications tailored to their interests, preferences, and cultural background. Effective audience analysis also involves answering questions such as What information does the audience need? What motivates the audience? What channels are the audience most likely to use to receive information?

Are there any barriers that could prevent the audience from receiving the message? By answering these questions, one gains valuable insights about the audience’s communication needs and preferences. This analysis enables the communication plan to be more targeted, effective, and impactful, resulting in better engagement, feedback, and success.

Develop Key Messages

In developing a comprehensive communication plan, the crucial phase of identifying the objectives and analyzing the audience has to lead to the next step of developing key messages that align with the objectives and resonate with the audience. Key messages are the central ideas, themes, or concepts that you want to communicate to your audience.

It is essential to generate messages that are clear, concise, consistent, and relevant to the audience’s needs, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Messages should use simple language, avoid technical jargon, and be tailored to the audience’s literacy level. The messages should highlight the benefits of the proposed action, idea, or product and address any potential concerns or objections that the audience might have.

They should be framed positively and use active verbs to convey action steps in a concrete manner. Key messages should ideally fit on a business card or a one-sentence slogan to make them memorable and easy to share. In developing the key messages, it is critical to involve the stakeholders who will be communicating the messages to ensure that they convey the messages accurately and consistently.

It might be useful to conduct a pilot test of the messages and revise them based on feedback from the target audience. The ultimate goal is to create messages that inspire action and motivate the audience to move towards the purpose of the communication plan.

Select Channels

The Select Channels subsection is a critical aspect of developing an efficient communication plan. Communication is most effective when it is tailored to the appropriate audience and conveyed through the best possible channels. It is essential to consider the audience’s preferences and habits while choosing channels.

Selecting the right channels can help ensure that the messages are delivered and interpreted correctly. Organizations use various channels to communicate, and the best one will depend on the type of message being delivered, the audience, and the desired action. Common communication channels include face-to-face meetings, phone calls, email, newsletters, social media, websites, and advertising.

Face-to-face meetings provide the opportunity for audience engagement and can convey nonverbal cues such as body language, making them ideal for building relationships and gaining feedback. Phone calls can provide a personal touch when face-to-face meetings are not possible.

Email is useful for straightforward messages, such as meeting reminders, but it is not effective for communicating more complex information. Newsletters can be used to deliver information to large groups of people, while social media is ideal for communicating with younger audiences. Websites are an excellent way to provide detailed information and allow audiences to access it at their convenience. Advertising is beneficial for reaching a large audience but can be costly.

When selecting channels, it is also important to consider the organization’s resources and goals. For instance, if the company has limited resources, it may not be feasible to use high-cost advertising channels. Likewise, if social media does not align with the company’s values or goals, then it may not be the best communication channel to use.

In conclusion, selecting the appropriate channels is crucial for the success of the communication plan. Choosing the right channels can help ensure that messages are delivered effectively, leading to improved audience engagement, and ultimately, achieving the communication objectives.

Determine Timing

The timing element is an essential aspect of developing a communication plan. Timing concerns when messages should be conveyed and which events or occasions need to be addressed. Choosing the correct time to deliver messages is just as important as the content of the message itself. The timing of a communication plan must also consider the target audience and their schedules.

A message delivered at the wrong time may not receive the desired response from the audience, and may even result in alienating them. Timing may be sensitive in certain scenarios, such as when announcing a promotion, a merger, or a layoff.

When scheduling messages, it’s critical to consider possible conflicts, potential cultural and religious holidays, and other significant events that may affect the message’s effectiveness or cause people to miss it. For example, If a corporate event is announced the same day as a national holiday, the message may be overlooked, ignored, or generate minimal response. Therefore, the timing of the communication plan must be carefully determined with consideration for the audience, message content, and external factors.

Assign Responsibilities

Assigning responsibilities is a critical component of any effective communication plan. This involves identifying the specific tasks that need to be completed and determining who is responsible for each task. It is important to ensure that each member of the team has a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities to avoid confusion or overlap in tasks.

A clear, comprehensive document outlining roles and responsibilities should be created and communicated to all team members. It is also crucial to continuously monitor and evaluate the progress of each team member to ensure that tasks are being completed on time and to the expected standard.

Assigning responsibilities also involves closely collaborating with team members to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to provide training or support as needed. By clearly defining and assigning responsibilities, team members will feel empowered and motivated to contribute to the communication plan, ultimately resulting in a more successful implementation.

Implement Plan

The implementation stage involves putting into action what has been planned in the previous stages. This is where the communication plan is executed through consistent and proactive communication. It is crucial to have a clear understanding of the objectives, target audience, key messages, channels, timing, and assigned responsibilities before implementing the plan.

One way to ensure the success of the implementation stage is to establish a centralized communication hub to keep all team members informed and up-to-date. The hub must be accessible to everyone involved, and it should contain all the necessary information, including deadlines, content, the target audience, and communication channels.

The implementation stage requires meticulous attention to detail and effective communication among team members. All communication should be consistent, be timely and appropriate for the target audience, and follow the key messages.

To effectively implement the plan, each communication touchpoint must align with the plan’s objectives, and all team members should be aware of their assigned responsibilities’ details. This is a critical stage in the communication plan, and it is essential to monitor feedback regularly and continually review the plan to ensure its effectiveness.

The success of this stage is measured by how effectively the messages are communicated and received by the target audience. Metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, email open rates, and other relevant data should be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the communication plan.

Based on these metrics, adjustments can be made to improve the plan’s overall effectiveness. The implementation stage requires continuous monitoring and improvement to ensure the communication plan’s overall success, leading to the desired outcomes.

Evaluate Effectiveness

Evaluating the effectiveness of a communication plan is crucial to refine its strategy, assess its impact, and determine its success. It involves measuring the progress towards achieving the set objectives, analyzing the feedback and response from the targeted audience, and identifying areas that need improvement.

The evaluation process enables the team to make data-driven decisions and adapt the plan to suit the changing needs of the audience and organization. It helps to ensure that the plan aligns with the overarching goals of the company, and the message is delivered cohesively across all communication channels.

To evaluate the effectiveness of a communication plan, the team should first define the metrics that they will use to assess the performance of the plan. These metrics should be based on the goals and objectives identified earlier, so that they are relevant and measurable. Depending on the organization’s priorities, these metrics can include a range of factors such as engagement rate (click-through, open rate), conversion rate, audience reach, and feedback received. By tracking these metrics, the team can determine the success of the plan and adjust it accordingly.

Another crucial aspect of evaluating effectiveness is analyzing the response from the audience. This can be done by collecting feedback from various sources such as surveys, focus groups, social media, and customer service channels. The team should carefully review the feedback received, identifying patterns, and areas that require improvement. By doing so, they can make data-driven decisions and tailor the communication plan accordingly. Additionally, conducting audience research can be beneficial in understanding the needs and preferences of the audience and refining the key messages in the plan.

Regularly monitoring the plan’s progress is also critical to evaluate its effectiveness. This involves setting up checkpoints and milestones throughout the campaign to assess the performance against the pre-defined metrics. By doing so, the team can proactively identify any areas that require attention, adjust the plan, or take corrective action before it’s too late.

In conclusion, evaluating the effectiveness of a communication plan is a critical component of ensuring its success. By defining measurable metrics, analyzing feedback, and monitoring progress, the team can refine the plan and make data-driven decisions that align with the organizational goals. This process also allows the communication team to adapt to changing needs and ensure that the message is delivered effectively to the audience.

Examples of Communication Plans

Internal communication plan.

Effective communication is a crucial element in any organization, and a well-implemented internal communication plan can prove to be immensely beneficial. An Internal Communication Plan is a documented strategy that outlines how information is disseminated and received within an organization.

The aim of this plan is to ensure that employees get the necessary information in a timely manner, that there are open channels of communication, and that employees feel engaged and involved. Such a plan aims to build a culture of transparency, trust, and collaboration within the organization. An effective Internal Communication Plan must identify the key communication objectives, target audience, channels, and frequency.

Essentially, the plan aims to promote employee engagement, ensure smooth flow of information, and facilitate decision-making processes. Some of the key benefits of a well-executed Internal Communication Plan are improved employee satisfaction, increased teamwork and collaboration, enhanced organizational culture, increased productivity and improved morale.

Crisis Communication Plan

The Crisis Communication Plan is an essential component of any organization’s communication strategy. This plan outlines the protocols and procedures that an organization will follow in the event of a crisis or emergency situation. A crisis can take many forms, such as a natural disaster, workplace accident, product recall, or reputational damage.

The purpose of a Crisis Communication Plan is to minimize the impact of the crisis on the organization and its stakeholders by providing timely, accurate, and consistent communication. The plan should address several key elements, including the chain of command, communication channels, messaging, and spokespersons.

The chain of command in a Crisis Communication Plan defines the roles and responsibilities of different members of the organization during a crisis. This includes the crisis management team, public relations staff, and other key personnel. The plan should also specify how communication will flow within the organization and to external stakeholders.

The communication channels that are used will depend on the type of crisis and the target audience. For example, social media may be an effective way to reach customers during a product recall, while traditional media outlets may be more appropriate for communicating with investors or the general public.

The messaging in a Crisis Communication Plan must be consistent, clear, and transparent. The plan should specify the key messages that will be communicated, as well as the tone and language that will be used. It is important to be upfront about the situation and to provide regular updates as new information becomes available. The Crisis Communication Plan should also address potential challenges, such as rumors or misinformation, and provide guidance on how to respond to them in a timely and effective manner.

Finally, a Crisis Communication Plan should identify spokespersons who will be responsible for communicating with the media and other stakeholders. These spokespersons should be trained and prepared to handle difficult questions and to provide consistent messaging throughout the crisis. The plan should also outline the procedures for media interviews, press conferences, and other public appearances. By having a well-designed Crisis Communication Plan in place, organizations can minimize the impact of a crisis on their reputation, their stakeholders, and their bottom line.

Marketing Communication Plan

A Marketing Communication Plan is a comprehensive document that outlines an organization’s approach to promoting its brand, products, or services to target customers. It is a subset of the larger communications plan, and it typically includes strategies for advertising, public relations, sales promotions, direct marketing, and personal selling.

The plan must identify the target market, positioning, and key messages, as well as the marketing mix that will be used to communicate these messages. It should also allocate a budget, specify a timeline, and identify the metrics that will be used to measure the effectiveness of each tactic.

The Marketing Communication Plan must coordinate with other divisions of the organization to ensure that their efforts are complementary and aligned with the overall business goals. A well-presented Marketing Communication Plan will increase brand awareness, customer engagement, and ultimately lead to growth in revenue.

Project Communication Plan

The Project Communication Plan is a key component of any project management process, which outlines how communication will be handled throughout the lifespan of a project. The objective of creating a communication plan is to ensure all stakeholders have the information they need to carry out their roles and responsibilities to keep the project on track.

A good project communication plan helps in fostering clarity, teamwork, and promotes transparency. A plan should include guidelines on the types of communication, frequency, format, responsibility, and escalation process. The plan should also identify the stakeholders involved, their interest, contact information, and their communication needs.

The Project Communication Plan should include the purpose and scope of the communication activities to ensure that stakeholders receive the right information at the right time. These may include regular updates on the progress of the project, the budget status, and change orders. The plan should also identify potential communication challenges such as language barriers, time-zone differences, and other cultural differences that may affect the team’s ability to communicate.

The plan should also detail how information will be shared, including the method of delivery and an agreed-upon format. Creating templates for regular communication, such as status reports, progress reports, and meeting minutes, can help to establish consistency in the communication process.

The Project Communication Plan should also identify who will be responsible for communication activities, which includes both the communication deliverables and the communication process itself. Communication roles and responsibilities should be assigned to ensure that everyone involved understands their participation and when they will contribute to the process.

A communication matrix should be established showing who is responsible for which type of communication, how often, and to whom. This matrix should be available to all stakeholders for easy reference throughout the project.

Regular communication with stakeholders is important in managing project risks. Frequent communication helps to identify and address issues before they have a significant impact on the project. The Project Communication Plan should include contingencies for managing communication, such as the escalation process for issues that require immediate attention or the need for additional communication touchpoints during times of crisis or stress. Crisis management should be addressed in the project communication plan, including a communication strategy for dealing with unexpected events that may arise throughout the project lifecycle.

In conclusion, the Project Communication Plan is a foundational tool for effective project management. The plan should include guidelines on the types of communication, frequency, format, responsibility, and escalation process. When creating a plan, it is essential to identify the stakeholders involved, their communication needs, and to establish clear roles and responsibilities. Regular communication with stakeholders helps to ensure the project stays on track, and potential issues are addressed before they become significant problems.

The section on Summary provides a succinct overview of the Communication Plan. It gives readers a clear understanding of what the Communication Plan is, who it is meant for, and its relevance in today’s business environment. It underscores the need for organizations to have a communication strategy that aligns with their business goals and objectives. The summary highlights the key elements that make up a communication plan, including the definition of the target audience, the message to be communicated, the communication channels to be used, and the evaluation metrics to measure the plan’s effectiveness.

Moreover, the summary emphasizes the importance of having a clear communication plan to ensure that all stakeholders are informed and engaged, thereby improving organizational efficiency and productivity. The Communication Plan is essential for managing internal communication within an organization, communicating with customers, sharing critical business information to suppliers or partners, and managing crises, among others. Therefore, companies should take the time to develop and implement a communication plan that is tailored to their specific needs and goals.

The summary also highlights the need for continuous evaluation and improvement of the communication plan to ensure that it remains effective and relevant. In the current business environment, where technology and trends are continuously changing, organizations must be agile and adaptable in their communication strategies.

The summary concludes by reiterating the importance of having a communication plan that aligns with an organization’s culture and values, as well as its business objectives. By doing so, companies can enhance their reputation, improve employee engagement and productivity, and build lasting relationships with customers and other stakeholders.

Future Considerations

In planning for the future, it is important to understand that communication plans should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure their effectiveness. The world is constantly changing, and so are communication technologies and methods. As such, companies and organizations need to remain agile and adaptable to remain relevant in their industries. Moreover, it is essential to monitor the success of communication plans and make the necessary adjustments to achieve the desired outcomes.

Future considerations for communication plans should include an evaluation of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, which have made significant strides in enhancing communication channels.

Other factors to consider include shifts in consumer behavior and preferences, regulatory changes, and disruptions to the market. New developments like the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable technology will also have an impact on communication plans. These technological advances will pave the way for new strategies such as a greater emphasis on personalized communication and the use of virtual and augmented reality to create more immersive experiences.

Another future consideration for communication plans is the need to address the changing demographics of the workforce. Millennials and Generation Z are becoming a larger part of the workforce, and they possess different communication preferences and styles compared to their predecessors. As such, communication plans need to cater to these audiences by incorporating social media platforms and mobile apps that these generations use more frequently.

Lastly, communication plays a crucial role in crisis management. Therefore, companies and organizations should have a crisis communication plan in place to mitigate any potential risks. This plan should include a clear chain of command, predefined communication channels, and a messaging framework that addresses different scenarios. The plan should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure its effectiveness.

In conclusion, future considerations are essential in communication planning to maintain a competitive edge in the constantly evolving business landscape. Companies and organizations that are proactive and adaptable to change are more likely to succeed in their goals. Future considerations may include emerging technologies, shifting demographics, and crisis management plans that are reviewed and updated continuously to remain effective.

Communication Plan — FAQ

1. what is a communication plan.

A communication plan is a document that outlines the strategies and tactics to effectively deliver information to a target audience. It also establishes the roles and responsibilities of individuals involved in the communication process.

2. Why is a communication plan important?

A communication plan is important because it helps ensure that messages are clear, consistent, and relevant to the target audience. By defining roles and responsibilities, it also ensures that the right message is delivered to the right people at the right time.

3. How do you create a communication plan?

To create a communication plan, start by identifying your target audience and what information they need to know. Then, determine the best channels and tactics to reach them. Next, develop a timeline and assign roles and responsibilities to individuals involved in the communication process. Finally, establish a system for evaluating the success of your plan.

4. What are the key components of a communication plan?

The key components of a communication plan include identifying your target audience, defining your key messages, determining your communication channels and tactics, establishing a timeline, assigning roles and responsibilities, and setting metrics for measuring success.

5. How often should a communication plan be updated?

A communication plan should be updated whenever there are changes to your target audience, key messages, or communication channels. It may also need to be updated if there are changes in the organization’s priorities or if the plan is not meeting its objectives.

6. What are some common challenges in implementing a communication plan?

Some common challenges in implementing a communication plan include lack of resources, resistance to change, and difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of communication strategies. It is important to address these challenges by securing adequate resources, involving stakeholders in the planning process, and establishing clear metrics for measuring success.

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About the author 

Mike Vestil

Mike Vestil is an author, investor, and speaker known for building a business from zero to $1.5 million in 12 months while traveling the world.

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Communication plan template

This article provides communication plan templates for businesses, organizations, or individuals to interact with their internal and external stakeholders effectively. It includes tips for creating an efficient communication plan, and the importance of having one in today's fast-paced world. The templates cover crisis communication, launching marketing campaigns, and internal communication plans.

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Communication plans outline how a business, organization, or individual will interact with its internal and external stakeholders to keep them up-to-date on the latest developments.

It includes the who, what, when, where, why, and how of communication strategies and tactics tailored for a specific project or campaign.

In this blog post, we will provide communication plan templates that you can use for your own business whenever you need to get different types of messages across to various shareholders. We will also discuss some tips for creating an effective communication plan.

The importance of having a communication plan

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, it is more crucial than ever to have a clear and concise plan for communication in place ready for when the need arises.

Without one, businesses can easily get bogged down in the details and miss important opportunities to connect with their stakeholders, or fail to do so quickly enough.

A communications plan template can be a valuable tool for organizations of all sizes. Whether you are communicating with your employees, customers, partners, or the media, a communication plan can help ensure that your message is clear, concise, and on target. In this case, a pr template can also help you to structure an announcement if you need to deliver it quickly and effectively.

How to title a communication plan

The title of this document should reflect its purpose, which usually (but not always) means including “communication plan” and some specific details. This way, everyone who comes into contact with the document will know what it is for and can easily reference it when needed.

For example, if the communication plan is for a new product launch or a certain marketing campaign, you may give it a title stating precisely that. Other elements that could be included in the title are the dates that the communication plan will be in effect and the name of the organization or team that it applies to.

Including this kind of information in the subject of the document will inform the relevant parties about the plan for messaging and get everyone involved on the same page with regards to when certain communication activities can or need to take place.

Communication plan subject line examples

New product launch communication plan, [title]: marketing campaign communication plan, [company name] internal communication plan, strategic communication plan: [company name].

• [Project Name] Project Management Communication Plan

New [Change in Company] Communication Plan

Plan for communication with stakeholders: [company name].

• [Start Date] – [End Date]: March Communication Plan

How to write a communication plan

The way a communication plan is started depends on the purpose or type of communication.

Sometimes it is helpful to begin with an introduction that provides context and sets the tone for the communication style to follow, while at other times it makes more sense to jump right into the communication objectives and strategies.

In general, it will be useful to follow the steps below to write an effective communication plan for ensuring that your message hits the mark:

• Carry out an audit of your existing communication strategy (if applicable) – this will allow you to identify any problem areas or content gaps (e.g. missing marketing materials) that need to be included in the new or updated plan.
• Define SMART goals for your communications plan – setting objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bounded will help you to determine its effectiveness.
• Develop your organization’s mission statement, core values, and key messages – these should be the foundation on which all communication strategies and activities are built. They might also be specified explicitly in the communication plan (e.g. business proposals ).
• Identify the target audience segments of your communications plan – knowing and understanding the recipient of your messaging makes it easier to set the right tone for them.
• Decide which channel(s) your messages will be delivered through – whether the best method for reaching your target audience would be via email or a press release, for instance, affects how the communication plan will be written.
• Assign responsible parties – decide who will be in charge of delivering your communications plan on the various channels and to each different audience.
• Calculate how each step will take and thus how long the communication plan will run for in total – this is necessary for clarifying the timeline and allocating a budget to make the necessary resources available.
• Measure the results of your plan after communicating with the relevant stakeholders – recognizing areas for improvement means that you can update your strategy to increase its effectiveness.

What to include in a communication plan

• Purpose – what this specific communication plan is intended to achieve
• Target audience – the target audience of your messaging
• Dates – when it was created and/or when this specific communication plan will apply
• Methods – which communication channels you will send your messages via
• Roles and responsibilities – what tasks each involved party will take care of
• Do’s and don’ts – good practices and common mistakes to avoid when communicating with the project stakeholders
• Framework for escalation – e.g. your ‘first line of defense’ and identifying the ‘greater response team’
• Updates – how and when to modify the document to maintain an effective communication plan

Communication plan examples and templates

[Company Name]: [Product Name] Launch Communication Plan

This communication plan applies to the launch of [Product Name] and is in effect from [start date] – [end date], before and after the launch date of [launch date].

Objectives:

• Ensure that all employees are aware of the launch date and have the necessary information about the product • Generate excitement and interest in the product amongst employees • Provide a clear and concise message to customers about the product • Manage expectations with regards to delivery times and availability

Communication mediums:

• Email • Press release • Social media post – [Channel 1], [Channel 2], …

Launch Phases:

• Pre-Launch Activities • Launch Day • Post-Launch Follow Up

Pre-Launch Activities ([X] months prior to launch):

• [Activity 1] • [Activity 2] • [Activity 3] …

Launch Day:

• Live product unveiling • Interviews with [Media Outlets] • Tracking reactions

Post-Launch Follow Up (up to [X] months following launch):

Roles and responsibilities:

• [Person 1] will be responsible for drafting all communication materials • [Person 2] will be responsible for sending out communication materials to the media • [Person 3] will be responsible for handling customer inquiries

• Create a communication timeline to ensure that all communication activities are carried out in a timely and coordinated manner • Make use of visuals (e.g. images, infographics) to break up text and add interest • Proofread all communication materials before sending them out

Don’t:

• Overload stakeholders with too much information at once – provide updates on a regular basis to avoid overwhelming them. • Forget to include a call-to-action (e.g. visit our website, sign up for our newsletter) in order to engage the reader • Neglect to test communication materials (e.g. send out a test email) before sending them to the entire list of stakeholders

Framework for escalation:

• If there are any problems with the communication plan, please contact [Person Responsible]. • If [Person Responsible] is unavailable, please contact [Alternative Contact]

• This communication plan will be reviewed and finalized on [review date] • Changes may be made to the communication goals, target audience, and channels • Updated communication plans should be sent to the [Internal Team/Department Responsible]

[Company Name] will be launching a marketing campaign for [Product Name] from [start date] to [end date].

• [Goal 1] • [Goal 2] • [Goal 3] …

SWOT Analysis:

• Strengths – [Strength 1], [Strength 2], [Strength 3], … • Weaknesses – [Weakness 1], [Weakness 2], [Weakness 3], … • Opportunities – [Opportunity 1], [Opportunity 2], [Opportunity 3], … • Threats – [Threat 1 ], [Threat 2 ], [Threat 3 ], …

• [Tactic 1] • [Tactic 2] • [Tactic 3] …

• Email • Paid search • Display advertising • Social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram • Press release • Blog post • Events and webinars – [Event 1], [Event 2], [Event 3], …

• [Person/Team Responsible 1 ] will be responsible for drafting all communication materials. • [Person/Team Responsible 2] will be responsible for sending out communication materials to the media. • [Person/Team Responsible 3] will be responsible for handling customer inquiries. • [Person/Team Responsible 4] will be responsible for managing the budget.

• $[X] for [Tactic/Channel 1] • $[Y] for [Tactic/Channel 2] • $[Z] for [Tactic/Channel 3] …

Evaluation:

• [KPI 1] will be used to measure the success of this marketing campaign • [KPI 2] will be tracked on a weekly basis and reported to the [Person/Team Responsible] • [KPI 3] …

• [Activity 1] – [start date] to [end date] • [Activity 2] – [start date] to [end date] • [Activity 3] – [start date] to [end date] …

This communication plan will be finalized on [review date] and is therefore subject to change until that date.

Objectives: To ensure that all stakeholders are kept up to date with developments, and to keep communication channels open.

Situational Analysis: Internal communication at [company name] has been identified as an area that needs improvement. In particular, communication between management and staff, and communication amongst team members has been identified as needing improvement.

Stakeholders: all employees of [company name]

Implementation:

• A communication plan will be put in place to improve communication at [company name] • All employees will be made aware of the communication plan and their roles in it • The communication plan will be reviewed on a regular basis and updated as necessary

Teams Involved: Management team, HR team, communications team

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Management team – responsible for communication with staff • HR team – responsible for communication amongst team members • Communications team – responsible for drafting and sending communication materials

Key Messages:

• Effective communication at all times is crucial • Communication at [Company Name] requires improvement • This communication plan will be put in place to effect the necessary changes • All employees have a role to play in the communication plan • The communication plan will be reviewed on a regular basis • Communication is a two-way process • Employees should feel free to ask questions and give feedback

Guidelines:

• All communication should be clear and concise • Communication materials should be sent out in a timely manner • Communication channels should be monitored regularly • Communication should be respectful and professional at all times

Approval: [Person Responsible], [Position], [Creation date]

Executive Summary: This communication plan is for [purpose] and will be in effect from the [start date] until [end date].

Objectives: Maintain effective communication with the various audiences to uphold the mission and values of the company.

Mission Statement: [Company mission statement]

Core Values: [Company values]

Situational Analysis: [Background information and context about the situation or problem that the communication plan is designed to address]

Audience | Message(s) | Media or Channel | Frequency | Timing | Assigned Team Member | Feedback Method

[Audience 1 | [Message 1] | Face-to-face | Weekly | Every [Weekday] | [Person/Team Responsible 1] | Survey

[Audience 2 | [Message 2] | Report | Monthly | Within [X] hours of approval | [Person/Team Responsible 2] | Evaluation Form

[Audience 3 | [Message 3] | Email | Daily | [Time] | [Person/Team Responsible 3] | Review …

[Project Name] Management Communication Plan

Project Name: [Project Name]

Project Manager: [Project Manager’s Name]

Beginning Date: [start date]

Completion Date: [end date]

Project Objectives: Design and build a website and mobile app for the client’s new e-commerce business. Optimize the former for search engine ranking (SEO) and both for conversion, in accordance with [Company Name]’s latest SEO guidelines. Make the website and app user-friendly, mobile-responsive, and visually appealing, including an effective call-to-action (CTA) that encourages users to convert easily.

Communication Goal | Communication Method | Audience | Frequency

[Goal 1] | [Method 1] | [Audience 1] | [Daily/Weekly/Monthly]

[Goal 2] | [Method 2] | [Audience 2] | [Daily/Weekly/Monthly]

[Goal 3] | [Method 3] | [Audience 3] | [Daily/Weekly/Monthly]

Created By: [Person Responsible]

Effective Of: [start date]

• [Change 1] is happening because [reason 1] • [Change 2] is a result of [reason 2] • [Change 3] is necessary in order to [reason 3] …

What does this mean for employees?

[Explanation of how the change will affect employees]

Stakeholders:

• [Audience 1] will be impacted by [change 1] • [Audience 2] will be affected by [change 2] • [Audience 3] will need to adjust as a result of [change 3]

Task | Timeline | Person/Team Responsible

[Task 1] | Day 1/Week 1/start date/etc.] | [Person/Team Responsible 1]

[Task 2] | Day 2/Week 2/mid date/etc.] | [Person/Team Responsible 2]

[Task 3] | Day 3/Week 3/end date/etc.] | [Person/Team Responsible 3] …

Effective from: [start date] to [end date]

• [Objective 1] • [Objective 2] • [Objective 3] …

• [Change 1] • [Change 2] • [Change 3] …

Projections:

• [Projection 1] • [Projection 2] • [Projection 3] …

Stakeholder communication:

• [Channel 1] • [Channel 2] • [Channel 3] …

Contact Details: [Person Responsible], [Position], [Phone number/email address/etc.]

[Start Date] – [End Date]: Communication Plan

Company Name: [Company Name]

Date Created: [creation date]

Contact Information: [contact details]

Introduction:

This communication plan has been created for [purpose] and will be in effect from the creation date.

• [Target user 1] • [Target user 2] • [Target user 3] …

Communication plan good practices

• Start with a table or chart to identify message types – which communication channels you will use, who you are targeting, and the tone, etc.
• An action plan should be created before any communication is sent out – it’s best to be proactive and have strategies for various messages mapped out prior to starting out with your activity or before anything goes wrong.
• Include a crisis communication plan as a part of your larger communication – more on that here ➡️ Crisis communication plan checklist
• Review and update your communication plan regularly as the project moves forward – things will inevitably change and you want your messaging to adapt accordingly.
• Make sure everyone on the communication team is aware of the document and knows their role – action plans are only as effective as the people carrying them out.
• Assign someone to be in charge of communication and make sure they have the time and resources they need to be successful.

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Communication is key to success in any business, and creating a plan for how to do it doesn’t have to be a complicated process.

By following a template, you can write an effective communications plan that outlines how you will message your key audiences in various situations.

With a well written communication plan document, you can get everyone in your organization on the same page about what kind of messages need to be sent out, when, and how.

Having this in place will keep your messaging strategy cohesive and aligned with your business objectives, increasing your chances of achieving your communication goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should i create a communication plan.

As soon as possible or at least early on in a project or initiative, before any key activities have begun. This allows you to think through all of the potential key stakeholders and how best to reach them with your message. If you wait until later in a project to develop a communication plan, it may be more difficult to get everyone’s buy-in and participation.

What is different about a crisis communication plan?

Other types of communication plans may be used on a daily basis, but a crisis communication plan is specifically tailored to handle communications during and after a major emergency or incident. The goal of a crisis communication plan is to ensure that the right information is communicated to the right people in a timely manner regardless of external factors.

How often should I update my communication plan?

It is generally best to revise and update the communication plan at least once a year to keep the information contained within it relevant and accurate, as well as allowing for any necessary changes or additions to be made in a timely manner. However, if there are any major changes or events within the organization that could potentially impact its communication strategy, then an update to the plan should be made as soon as possible instead of waiting for the regular review time frame. This will make everyone involved in executing the plan aware of any new developments or potential risks so that they can take appropriate actions accordingly.

Who can benefit from a communication plan?

Individuals, groups, and businesses can all improve their messaging by clarifying the desired results of communication, specifying the steps needed to achieve those outcomes, and identifying who is responsible for each step. This is beneficial for both those people or organizations, as well as the stakeholders who will receive the messages, since a plan will help to make all communication clear and concise, as well as preventing any miscommunication or misunderstandings from occurring.

Product launch templates

Plan your product launch properly with email marketing templates to generate enthusiasm and attract attention. Use clear CTAs and align your email marketing with your overall promotional plan. Send your product launch email when your product is ready for purchase.

How to build a customer engagement strategy

A successful customer retention strategy should focus on building a strong customer experience from initial contact to post-purchase. Personalization is essential for building customer engagement, as customers want to be treated as individuals rather than being generalized. Defining and promoting a unique brand voice also helps to differentiate from competitors. Creating tailored content is key to keeping customers engaged, with personalized promotions and recommendations being effective for e-commerce brands. Overall, having a solid customer engagement strategy is crucial for establishing a meaningful connection with customers and leads to better loyalty, increased spending, and positive feedback.

What is Customer Communication?

Improve customer service communication by using live chat auto translation, dynamic chat invites, live web analytics, and customized chat windows. Ensure prompt issue resolution and place live chat buttons upfront. LiveAgent software can help manage customer inquiries from multiple channels. Effective communication is crucial for building long-lasting customer relationships.

Business proposal templates

The article discusses various templates and checklists related to marketing and graphic design. It covers product launch templates, invitation email templates, and survey email templates, along with a graphic design checklist for creating high-quality visuals. The importance of personalizing emails, identifying clear calls to action, and offering incentives for survey responses is emphasized. In the end, the article mentions the process of building a LiveAgent dashboard after sign-up.

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Communication plan 101: Overview, content and examples

Last updated

22 February 2024

Reviewed by

Jean Kaluza

Strategic communication plans help businesses to run efficiently by relaying the right information to the right people at the right time. They ensure that everyone who needs to be informed is kept up to date with the task or event at hand, and serve to minimize consequences if issues arise.

Take, for example, a large university hospital spread across many campuses. A project manager in charge of transitioning the institution’s paper record-keeping to a digital platform will need an effective communication plan for a successful outcome. Or, a communication plan will help a retail chain's chief operating officer (COO) navigate and reduce adverse outcomes from retail thefts, inflation, controversial backlashes, and store closures.

After reading this article, you’ll know what a communication plan is and how to implement one effectively. You'll understand the elements of a communication plan and who to include to create a functional plan for a successful outcome.

• What is a communication plan?

The point of a communication plan is to make sure everyone with a stake or interest in a business or project and the outcomes of its actions are informed, updated as events unfold, and made aware of goals and objectives.

This leads to educated decisions and coordinated efforts, resulting in a productive, efficient business or project.

• The importance of communication plans

Communication failure can result in:

Higher costs

Late milestone deliveries

Business interruptions

Misunderstandings

These can have severe consequences for your business. A communication plan prevents such lapses because it defines strict parameters for everyone to follow.

• How communication plans are used

There are various types of communication plans, serving different purposes and with different advantages. These plans can be for:

Information: ensuring the recipients are provided with facts and resources to help them make an informed decision.

Persuasion: changing how the recipients of the message think or behave by using emotional messages rather than factual ones.

Collaboration: useful as a project management tool because it involves two or more parties working together to achieve a common goal. These project communication plans ensure all involved know their communication requirements' precise goals and objectives. It also can be a way for all team members to be held accountable for their part in the collaboration and to measure the progress of the project at each milestone.

Crisis management: these are plans business owners hope they never have to activate but should have in place to respond to unforeseen events. To prepare an emergency plan, identify potential risks and develop communication plans for each.

• Elements of a communication plan

Your plan should provide coordinated and consistent messaging to specific stakeholders or target audiences. It will achieve a clear and strategic purpose when put in place.

What should a communication plan include?

There are certain elements that an effective communication plan must contain.

Stating the communication plan’s objective upfront will direct the rest of the content.

Note who will receive and send content, when and where it will be delivered, why it is required, and how it will be provided.

Also, define communication channels, for example, email, Slack, or phone calls.

What shouldn't be included in a communication plan?

A communication plan should not include sensitive information like passwords, credit card details, or personal information. Also avoid offering personal opinions or displaying biases relating to individual stakeholders.

If your business has to follow compliance standards or government regulations, make sure any information in the communication plan doesn’t go against these.

Your communication plan should not contain ambiguities that might cause confusion or uncertainty. It should be clear and concise about the kind of communication you expect and when it should be supplied or received.

How should you communicate sensitive information?

If you need to communicate sensitive or confidential information, follow cybersecurity compliance standards and assign an appropriate secure communication channel.

Face-to-face meetings or encrypted, password-protected, or multi-factor authenticated platforms are secure methods of transmitting sensitive information. Limit these communications to the stakeholders who need to know that particular information.

• How to create a communication plan

Before you create a communication plan, identify your stakeholders and how elements of the plan correspond with those stakeholders. Communication goals, methods, and frequency may not all be applicable or may differ from one stakeholder to another.

1.  Set a communication goal

Suppose you want to reinforce a positive perception of your brand. Your communication goals might be to persuade the general public, shareholders, and prospective customers of the positive aspects of your company and its culture and to pass on facts that strengthen this claim.

Another communication goal may be to gather reports and other data on whether those efforts are productive.

2.  Choose a format

Communication plans come in various formats, including specifically designed software platforms. However, you can easily formulate a communication plan in a spreadsheet, on chart paper, or on a whiteboard.

3.  Identify stakeholders

Determine the stakeholders to include in the communication plan depending on the goal you are working toward. Identifying the stakeholders may require analyzing stakeholder relationships, such as:

How they are positioned in organizational charts

Their responsibilities and how they relate to your goals

Internal and external information needs

The location of the stakeholders

Once you identify the stakeholders you'll include in the plan, determine their level of demand for information to help achieve your goals and prioritize them accordingly. For example, invested stakeholders who might be involved when trying to reinforce a brand perception could include:

Loyal customers

The general public

Shareholders

The marketing team

The executive team

You would create a plan that includes who will be sending content, who will be receiving it, the kind of content that will be sent and its priorities, how it will be sent, and the frequency of the communication.

The difference between stakeholder engagement and communication management plans

A stakeholder communication plan should not be confused with a stakeholder engagement plan. When your business establishes a communication plan with stakeholders, it's usually a one-way channel from you to the stakeholders and typically does not result in a conversation.

Stakeholder communication plans may include:

Newsletters

Text messages

Social media posts

When businesses create stakeholder engagement plans, their purpose is to form relationships and connections with stakeholders, not just to inform and update them. These plans encourage participation in the form of dialogue or two-way communication between you and the stakeholders. They are usually people with an interest in your business’s decision-making or problem-solving processes.

4.  Identify methods of communication

The method by which information is dispersed will also differ between stakeholders. If stakeholders are not readily available because they're located elsewhere, internal reports, face-to-face meetings, and presentations, may not work under these circumstances.

When including stakeholders in other locations, consider using:

Online databases

Digital communication platforms

SMS texting

Video conferencing

5.  Determine who provides communication updates

Certain members of the business or team will be responsible and held accountable for the results of a communication plan.

For example, if the goal is to reinforce positive brand perception, the chief communications officer (CCO) on the executive team might use press releases sent by email to media outlets to inform the general public. The chief financial officer (CFO) may generate reports for the shareholders or convey information via video conferencing. The marketing team may use websites, advertising materials, and social media to remind prospective and loyal customers of a lasting positive impression.

The marketing team may also research whether the communication efforts are successful. If they find the efforts inadequate, they may advise the executive team and other marketing team members. This may be done through reports, presentations, meetings, and online communication platforms so they can make corrections before the positive perception decreases further.

6.  Determine the frequency of communication

Scheduling the frequency at which you expect team members to update stakeholders is an efficient way to hold them accountable. They can adhere to the schedule without you having to spend time sending reminders.

However, your plan should not include unrealistic or ambiguous expectations. It should also should assign appropriate priority levels to any communication content.

• How do you create a communication schedule?

Depending on your goal, whether a product launch, other event, project completion, or marketing campaign, teams will need to follow a timeline from start to finish. That's when a communication schedule becomes important.

It must display critical times when communication content is due. These timelines make it easy for everyone involved to plan their part in these efforts and deliver their content when the appropriate stakeholders need it.

• How to use a communication plan for project management

Whether you're a project manager for large or small projects, it might be necessary to convey information between team members, departments, employees in different professional roles, government employees, and other roles required for your project.

You can start by creating a directory including the emails, phone numbers, and locations for each role involved in the project. Then, the communication plan you create will identify these roles and your expectations from the people in them.

Don't get lost in the details

Don't include too many details in your project management communication plan, as this can cause confusion or uncertainty. A communication plan's purpose is not to provide a project roadmap but to ensure everyone involved is aware of their expected communication contributions (not their actionable contributions).

Standardize the process

Standardized communication plan formats so they’re the same for all projects will minimize effort and confusion, especially if the same team members work on different projects.

Team members will easily recognize what's expected of them when you consistently list criteria in a communication plan based on a template.

Keep your plan up to date

As goal phases or milestones start and end during the project, adjust the communication plan by adding or deleting stakeholders or changing other elements as needed to reduce wasted effort and time.

• What should you do if your project changes?

If the scope or direction of your project changes, explain to all stakeholders why the changes are necessary and how their communication process and expectations may also have to change.

Alerting them as soon as possible will get your project back on track. In addition, remember to update the plan.

• Communication plans aid efficiency and successful outcomes

Effective communication plans are essential for the profitability and reputation of a business. Whether using communication plans for project management or crisis management, they can help reduce costs, minimize missteps and errors, and efficiently propel your business to success.

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How effective business communication can transform your company

The right business communication solutions and strategies can boost team morale and productivity.

By the team at Slack April 15th, 2024

People spend the vast majority of their workweek—88%—communicating, according to Grammarly’s 2024 State of Business Communication report . So when it comes to company success, a strong business communication strategy can go a long way.

Effective business communication helps promote collaboration, mitigate conflicts and encourage creative thinking among employees. By communicating thoughtfully, you can reduce misunderstandings and errors within your workplace and ensure that every team member gets the support they need.

Let’s explore communication tools and methods that can help you build better relationships with your employees, colleagues and clients.

Types of business communication

Communication can flow in several different directions within a company.

• Upward: Communication flows upward when an employee responds to messaging from leaders or managers, such as when a customer service rep responds to feedback from a supervisor.
• Downward: Downward communication happens when higher-ups cascade information to lower-level employees, such as when the CEO issues an announcement to mid-level managers, who then relay the message to their direct reports.
• Lateral: Communication moves laterally when it flows between colleagues at the same hierarchical level. This might occur among managers in a strategy meeting or HR employees discussing policies and procedures.
• External: External communication flows out of the organization, such as when a sales rep talks to a prospective client or a vendor.

Written vs. verbal vs. nonverbal communication in business

• Written communications use written words as their medium. These might include company newsletters , marketing emails or blog posts.
• Verbal communication can take place over the phone, in a video conference or in person. Verbal business communications happen during meetings, presentations, business workshops, and even spontaneous Slack huddles and informal watercooler chats.
• Nonverbal communication uses wordless cues such as physical gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice and even emoji to relay information . For example, a manager might react with a 🙌 :thankyou: emoji to a direct report’s progress update in Slack to indicate a job well done.

What are the different methods of business communication?

From direct messages in Slack to external press releases, you can convey information using many business communication methods , but some methods work better than others for certain audiences or types of messaging. Let’s look at some of the most common business communication mediums.

• Business messaging: Platforms like Slack support business messaging in either direct messages or channels . Use threads to organize conversations about specific topics, create a collaborative Slack canvas to record notes from a team meeting and use emoji to convey nonverbal messages.
• Meetings: Meetings are ideal for discussions that require immediate feedback, such as brainstorming or planning sessions. You can conduct a meeting either in person or virtually by using video-conferencing software.
• Phone calls: Phone calls enable quick information exchanges and urgent updates, often in a less formal environment than video conferencing.
• Emails: Email is a relatively quick, efficient and informal way to deliver updates, responses and feedback. However, it lacks many of the collaborative features and dynamic characteristics of an intelligent productivity platform such as Slack.
• Reports: Reports are detailed, formal knowledge sharing documents that present research findings, analyses or updates to either internal team members or external stakeholders.
• Press releases: These are official statements distributed to media outlets to announce new developments, events or achievements.
• Memos: A staple of internal business communication, memos are often used for company announcements such as policy or staffing changes.

Developing effective communication strategies

Regardless of your chosen medium, you should choose your business communication techniques wisely. As you set up a business communication process for your company, keep a few best practices in mind.

Adapt the message to your audience

Customize your message to your intended audience. Regardless of what you’re trying to communicate, you’d deliver the message differently to a group of kindergartners than you would to tech CEOs, or cattle farmers, or personal trainers. Evaluate your audience to make sure you provide an appropriate amount of context and assume a suitable tone.

Consider how you’ll present yourself

Your presentation is particularly important if you’re holding a meeting in person or through video conferencing. Take a few deep breaths, and evaluate your body language: Are you open and inviting? Are you making eye contact (or looking into the camera)? Maintaining a relaxed demeanor can help others feel relaxed too.

Whether you’re communicating in a video conference, over the phone or in person, stay enthusiastic and engaged while you’re speaking.

Manage nonverbal signs to control the message

Consider what you might be communicating with your nonverbal signals. In an in-person meeting, avoid glancing at the clock or the door. In a video meeting, try not to look at your phone or your second monitor. Otherwise, your audience may think you’re not engaged.

Nonverbal communication is even important on text-dominant platforms like Slack. A survey by Slack and Duolingo found that 53% of respondents use emoji when messaging their colleagues, and 67% feel closer and more bonded when their recipient understands the emoji they’re using.

Plus, emoji make professional conversations more efficient. Fifty-four percent say emoji can make workplace communication faster; 58% say emoji allow them to communicate nuanced messages in fewer words.

But not all emoji are appropriate, of course: 💋 : kiss: , 👅 :tongue: , 💩  :poop: and 🍆 :eggplant: rank among the most off-limits emoji to use at work.

Practice active listening when people respond to you

Active listening involves asking questions and giving thoughtful responses to show that you’re engaged with the discussion. By demonstrating your interest in the other person’s message, you’ll strengthen your relationship with them and make it easier to remember details from the conversation. Active listening matters no matter which communication method you’re using.

Ask for feedback from team members

One of the most effective and efficient ways to improve your communication practices is by asking for feedback. Implement a process for delivering feedback, and make sure your teammates feel comfortable using it. This could be a brief post-meeting survey or a thread or quick huddle in Slack .

Handle conflicts respectfully

Even with a flawless communication strategy, disagreements will inevitably crop up. When you don’t see eye to eye with a teammate, manager or direct report, ensure that you continue to communicate thoughtfully and respectfully.

Addressing common barriers in business communication

Communication problems arise due to various factors, including interpersonal differences and tech-related snafus. Let’s explore some of the most common barriers and how you can break them down for better business communication on your team.

Technological hurdles

Technology lets colleagues communicate instantaneously, seamlessly and cost-effectively, even across long distances. But software glitches, connectivity issues and hardware malfunctions are also commonplace and can significantly disrupt communication flow.

Make it a point to:

• Regularly update hardware and software
• Train employees on best practices for using communication technology
• Implement backup methods to ensure continuity in case of system failures
• Establish communication protocols in case primary systems fail

Email overload

Ever find yourself avoiding your email inbox on a Monday morning? Email overload can make it easy to lose track of important messages or fall behind on responding to colleagues.

To curb the negative effects of email overload:

• Use folders, filters and labels to organize email by priority or project
• Limit email checking to specific times of the day
• Unsubscribe from non-essential notifications or newsletters
• Train employees on email best practices, such as how to write subject lines and when to CC other team members
• Shift to a more efficient team chat platform like Slack for quick questions and updates, reserving email for more formal communications

Language and cultural differences

Nonverbal cues, such as direct eye contact, convey different meanings across cultures. For example, Americans regard it as a sign of honesty and confidence, while the Japanese perceive it as disrespectful, even confrontational.

Certain nonverbal cues, idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms may not translate well across different cultures. This even applies to emoji: While many Americans might consider 🍑 :peach: flirty and inappropriate for work, 71% of Korean respondents to Slack’s survey interpreted the emoji as a literal peach. Similarly, 56% of Chinese respondents see 🍆 :eggplant: as simply an eggplant.

To enhance cross-cultural communication in business:

• Invest in employee cultural training to prepare them for the nuances of working with diverse teams
• Use professional interpreters and translators to prevent misunderstandings
• Be ready to adapt strategies, communication methods and decision-making processes to accommodate cultural differences

Send the right message at the right time and place

Effective business communication takes time and effort. It’s up to team leaders to implement strong systems and processes to ensure that communication flows smoothly through their organizations.

Slack provides a feature-rich, scalable, AI-powered platform that easily integrates with third-party applications. No matter where your teammates are located around the world, Slack makes it easy for them to collaborate, stay informed and drive projects forward.

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More From Forbes

18 strategies to improve communication with small business owners and their accounting teams.

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Maintaining transparency and good communication with clients is crucial for financial business leaders. This is especially important when those clients are small business owners, who are often stretched thin with other business priorities. As such, you'll want to streamline and strengthen your interactions with small businesses and their in-house financial teams to keep everyone on the same page.

To help, 18 Forbes Finance Council members share key tactics for improving communication with small business owners and their accounting teams. Here's how you can support mutual understanding and financial prosperity for all parties.

1. Deliver Clear And Succinct Messaging

Small business owners are constantly wearing many hats and need to prioritize their time based on what will bring the business the most value. For this reason, it pays to be clear and succinct when delivering your message to a client. If they can't quickly understand the value of what you are communicating and why it is worth their time, they may be letting great opportunities go by the wayside. - Shaune Scutellaro , CohnReznick LLP

2. Define Objectives And Roles

When working with small businesses, financial leaders should define clear objectives for financial management and establish expectations for communication frequency, reporting formats and decision-making processes. Ensure that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, encourage open dialogue and actively listen to concerns, questions and feedback from the in-house team. - Lawrence Pross , Nexi

3. Support Associations With Financial Partners

One strategy I have used is to support associations that represent various financial partners. For me, working with exchange investors is incredibly important. So, I recently attended an annual conference for this group and had the opportunity to speak about how Delaware Statutory Trusts can help their 1031 exchange clients which provided me with many referrals. - Betty Friant , Kay Properties & Investments

Samsung Issues Critical Update For Millions Of Galaxy Users

Ufc 300 results bonus winners after historic event, ufc 300 results winners and losers from pereira vs hill fight card, 4. explain and sell the transformation.

We need to build bridges for our clients through communication. Tell them exactly what process they can expect. Show them what happens before, during and after their purchase. We talk a lot about features and benefits and many of us do a good job of selling the "transformation" — but not enough of us educate clients on how we get them to that desired result. - Leo Anzoleaga , Leo Anzoleaga Group at NEO Home Loans

5. Gather As Much Information As You Can

As with any personal return, the small business tax-gathering chore should include as much detail as you can find. We would suggest QuickBooks for businesses just like Quicken for your personal tax filing. Assuming that you don't apply or use QuickBooks, you need to assemble as much detail using your business credit card for the business or your personal credit card for your personal taxes. - Richard Martin , Bluestone Wealth Partners

Forbes Finance Council is an invitation-only organization for executives in successful accounting, financial planning and wealth management firms. Do I qualify?

6. Explain The Benefits Of Specific Products

When working with small businesses, financial leaders should explain the benefits of specific banking products and how they fit into small business models. Be transparent about fees and make efforts to connect business owners to wrap-around services, including opportunities to improve their financial fitness. This, coupled with proactive communication, can help strengthen your client's business. - Monique Johnson , Beneficial State Bank

7. Tailor Communication To Each Business

Banks should be saying the right things, at the right time, to the right businesses. Gone are the days when banks could get away with mass generic communications. Now, tech tools enable more bespoke communications that are unique to each business and individual, so banks need to ensure they're using the right tools correctly. - Fiona Roach Canning , Pollinate

8. Explain Options And Offer Suggestions

It’s essential financial leaders are transparent. Explaining the options available and suggesting what best suits each business will build trust and yield the best results for both entities. Services should be tailored with the business's unique offerings and financial circumstances in mind. - Austin Mac Nab , VizyPay

9. Utilize Video Emails

Financial leaders can improve their communication by making use of brief video emails. A video should be three minutes or less and packed with relevant, useful and timely information that the business owner can use. The advantage of video communication is that it tends not to get lost in the sea of emails the business owner and their key team members are inundated with daily. - Ronald Gelok , Ronald Gelok & Associates

10. Explain The 'Why'

Focus on the "why." Ultimately, the decision lies with the small business owner and often they don't have enough information to make it, so they trust what someone tells them. Empowering them with the reasons to or not to consider when thinking about a possible direction will build their confidence as a business leader. - Marjorie Adams , Fourlane

11. Maintain Transparency With A Third-Party Communications Firm

Communication is key to operating any business, whether it be with employees, customers or stakeholders. This is more important when engaging with smaller operators given potential information asymmetry or misunderstandings. To minimize issues, increase transparency either directly or via a third party such as a communications firm, and time should be spent allowing all questions to be answered. - Manoj Jain , Maso Capital

12. Understand Business Models, Goals And Challenges

Understanding a small business's model, challenges and goals requires dedicating time to learn about the intricacies of the operations market in which they operate and the specific financial reporting obstacles faced by the in-house accounting team. Tailor communication in such a way that it addresses the unique needs and objectives of the team and culture to be more relevant and impactful. - Peter Goldstein , Exchange Listing LLC

13. Speak In Person Or On The Phone

Ditch the email. Pick up the phone. Better yet, meet in person. The art of communicating seems to be lost these days as we tend to use emails as our primary means of communicating. - Ken Hodgkins , Metro Testing & Engineering

14. Utilize Cloud-Based Software

Technology can play a key role in improving communication and preventing crucial errors. Using cloud-based software to streamline financial processes and improve transparency or adopting an OCR tool that is also trained to extract information, validate documents and process data with financial logic embedded can reduce manual errors, ensure accurate data extraction and improve communication. - Tomer Guriel , ezbob Ltd.

15. Explain 'Who, What, How And When'

It's critical for financial business leaders to effectively communicate the "who, what, how and when" to small business owners and their accountants. This means not only explaining financial strategies and processes clearly but also ensuring they understand who is involved, what actions will be taken, how these actions contribute to their goals and when they can expect results. - Chris Seveney , 7e investments

16. Actively Listen And Show Genuine Interest

Establishing trust and rapport with small business owners and their financial team is essential. This can be achieved through open and transparent communication, active listening and showing genuine interest in their concerns and goals. - Abiodun Sowemimo , CapitalMetriQ Swift Bank

17. Institute Regular Communications Channels

To enhance communication, financial leaders should institute regular channels, such as scheduled meetings or digital platforms. This ensures ongoing transparent dialogue with small business owners and their financial teams. Regular interactions facilitate timely information exchange, problem-solving and a shared understanding of financial goals and strategies. - Richard Polgar , CFG Merchant Solutions

18. Explain How Growth Plans Depend On Accounting Teams

Bookkeeping and accounting are the building blocks of any company's financial structure and are a basis for making vital decisions by business leaders. Communication can be improved by explaining company goals and growth plans to bookkeepers and accountants and making them understand how decisions like plant expansion or expansion into new geography are dependent on the data provided by them. - Raghavkumar Parmar , MMA Pan Asia Fund Management

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Prudential Regulation Authority Business Plan 2024/25

Related links related links.

• PRA annual reports and business plans
• CP4/24 – Regulated fees and levies: Rates proposals 2024/25

Maintain and build on the safety and soundness of the banking and insurance sectors, and ensure continuing resilience

Be at the forefront of identifying new and emerging risks, and developing international policy

Support competitive and dynamic markets, alongside facilitating international competitiveness and growth, in the sectors that we regulate, run an inclusive, efficient, and modern regulator within the central bank, the pra’s strategy.

Our strategy for 2024/25 will be delivered through our strategic goals, extracts of which are below. For the full detail of our workplan against each strategic priorities, see pages 10 to 41 of this Business Plan . 

Foreword by Chief Executive Sam Woods

Sam Woods Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation Chief Executive of the PRA

First, this will be our first full year operating under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA 2023), which established a new, post-Brexit regulatory framework for the UK. FSMA 2023 expanded our rulemaking responsibilities and gave us a new secondary objective to support the competitiveness and growth of the United Kingdom.

Competitiveness and growth have always been important considerations for the PRA. Nonetheless, this new objective represents a significant change, and embedding it into our approach has been a major priority for the organisation as a whole, and for me personally as CEO. That effort will continue this year.

Our business plan includes a range of initiatives aimed squarely at promoting the UK’s competitiveness and growth. Some of the most significant are:

• Our ‘Strong and Simple’ project, which aims to simplify regulatory requirements for smaller banks, thus reducing compliance burdens without compromising on strong standards.
• The ‘Solvency UK’ reforms of insurance capital standards, which will reduce bureaucracy in the regulatory regime, while also allowing insurers to invest in a wider range of productive assets.
• The Banking Data Review, which aims to reduce burdens on firms by focusing our data collection on the most useful and relevant information.
• Improvements to our authorisation processes – we have made significant progress in improving the speed and efficiency of authorisations without sacrificing the robustness of our controls; maintaining this progress will be a key focus for next year.
• Reforms to ring-fencing, following the independent review led by Sir Keith Skeoch.

The second point I want to highlight is our ongoing programme of work to maintain the resilience of the UK’s banking and insurance sectors, which is at the heart of our role. The events of 2023 (including the high-profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Credit Suisse (CS)) demonstrate the importance of a focus on resilience – and while I am encouraged by how the UK banking and insurance sectors have remained stable through a stressful period, we cannot take this for granted.

A major priority this year will be the implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards, which will complete the long process of post-financial crisis regulatory reform. While I expect the capital impact of these reforms to be limited for UK banks, they will nonetheless play a vital role in maintaining sufficient consistency in risk measurement across firms and jurisdictions – which is the cornerstone of the bank capital regime.

Another major priority this year will be ensuring firms have adequate standards of operational and cyber resilience. Following FSMA 2023, we have new powers to oversee the services provided to regulated firms by so-called ‘critical third parties’, and we will be implementing that regime over the coming year. And in March 2025 we will reach an important milestone with the full implementation of our wider operational resilience policy.

The day-to-day work of supervision will continue alongside these reforms. As always, our supervisory teams continue to work with PRA-regulated firms to ensure high standards of financial and operational resilience, governance, risk management, and controls. Stress testing remains a key element of our approach to resilience, and alongside colleagues from the wider Bank of England we will deliver a desk-based stress test of banks, and a system-wide exploratory scenario, in 2024. We will also work towards the next round of insurance stress tests in 2025.

I have really only scratched the surface of the work we are doing this year, as you can see from a glance at this document’s contents page. In order to deliver this work, we will need to run an efficient and effective regulator, and I am particularly excited by the potential of our data and analytics agenda to create new opportunities to improve how we work. And if past years are anything to go by, we will continue to engage with innovation in many forms across the industry, whether in the form of new entrants or new approaches to doing business in areas like digital money.

I am very much looking forward to the challenges that the next year will bring, and to working together with a team of very committed colleagues at the PRA to deliver on this business plan.

11 April 2024

Overview of responsibilities and approach

The PRA has two primary objectives: a general objective to promote the safety and soundness of PRA-authorised persons, and an objective specific to insurance firms for the protection of policyholders.

The PRA has two secondary objectives:

• the competition objective, which is focused on facilitating effective competition in the markets for services provided by PRA-authorised persons in carrying on regulated activities; and
• the competitiveness and growth objective, which is focused on facilitating, subject to alignment with relevant international standards, (a) the international competitiveness of the economy of the UK (including, in particular, the financial services sector through the contribution of PRA-authorised persons), and (b) its growth in the medium to long term.

In its December 2022 recommendations letter to the Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC), HM Treasury (HMT) set out aspects of the Government’s economic policy to which the PRA must have regard, while building on the important themes of openness, competitiveness, competition, and innovation, as well as delivering energy security and net zero.

In December 2023, the PRA published a consultation paper (CP)27/23 – The Prudential Regulation Authority’s approach to policy , which sets out the PRA’s approach to policymaking as it takes on expanded rule-making powers introduced through FSMA 2023. These expanded powers will enable the PRA to replace relevant assimilated law (previously known as retained EU law) with PRA rules and other policy material, and move towards a more British system of regulation, with most of the technical rules made by independent UK regulators within a framework set by Parliament. In addition, FSMA 2023 introduces new accountability measures that require the PRA to keep its rules under review , and to establish a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) Panel composed of external members, which will scrutinise and provide input into the PRA’s CBA framework. These measures should enable the PRA to deliver policies that are well suited to the UK’s financial sector. In addition:

• In December 2023, the PRA took a significant step towards implementing the remaining Basel III standards in the UK by publishing the first of two near-final sets of rules with policy statement (PS)17/23 – Implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards near-final part 1 , which takes account of responses received to CP16/22 . The near-final rules aim to promote the safety and soundness of PRA-regulated firms and support their international competitiveness by making capital ratios more consistent, comparable, and aligned with international standards. The PRA will publish its second near-final policy statement in 2024 Q2 on the remaining aspects of the Basel 3.1 package, which include credit risk, the output floor, reporting, and disclosure requirements. The PRA plans to implement the Basel 3.1 standards over a 4.5-year transitional period beginning on 1 July 2025 and ending on 1 January 2030. Among other things, the PRA will also continue to support international efforts to monitor and promote the implementation of Basel 3.1.
• In December 2023, the PRA published PS15/23 – The Strong and Simple Framework: Scope Criteria, Liquidity and Disclosure Requirements , taking account of feedback to CP4/23 . The policy addresses liquidity and disclosure requirements for Simpler-regime Firms and Pillar 3 remuneration disclosure. The PRA will move further towards finalising and implementing the Strong and Simple prudential framework for Small Domestic Deposit Takers (SDDTs) during 2024. footnote [1]
• Following the publication of discussion paper (DP)3/22 – Operational resilience: Critical third parties to the UK financial sector , in December 2023, the PRA published CP26/23 , jointly with the Bank of England (‘the Bank’) and FCA (‘the supervisory authorities’). CP26/23 sets out the supervisory authorities’ proposed requirements for critical third parties (CTPs), footnote [2] including the mechanism for identifying potential CTPs, recommending them for designation by HMT, incident notification triggers and requirements, and proposed CTP Fundamental Rules. In 2024, the PRA will continue to work with the supervisory and other authorities to develop the final policy and oversight approach.
• In September 2023, the PRA published CP19/23 – Review of Solvency II: Reform of the Matching Adjustment , which marks a significant milestone in the PRA's reforms to the Solvency II regime for the UK insurance market. Following the publication of PS2/24 – Review of Solvency II: Adapting to the UK insurance market and PS3/24 – Review of Solvency II: Reporting and disclosure phase 2 near-final , the PRA will publish its final rules, subject to alignment with anticipated legislation, in 2024.

The PRA’s objectives and priorities are delivered through regulation and supervision, and by developing standards and policies that set out expectations of firms. The PRA’s approach to supervision is forward-looking, judgement-based, and focused on the issues and firms that pose the greatest risk to the stability of the UK financial system and policyholders. This approach is set out in the  PRA’s approach to supervision of the banking and insurance sectors .

The PRA’s regulatory focus is primarily at the individual firm and sector level, with the most important decisions taken by the PRC, which works with the Bank’s other areas of remit, including its role as supervisor of Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs), the UK’s Resolution Authority, and its committees, including the Financial Policy Committee (FPC), which has responsibility for the stability of the entire UK financial system. The PRA also works closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), including through the Chief Executive of the PRA being a member of the FCA Board and the Chief Executive of the FCA being a member of the PRC.

The PRA regulates 1,330 firms and groups. footnote [3] These consist of 730 deposit-takers (banks, building societies, credit unions, and designated investment firms footnote [4] (DIFs)), and 600 insurers of all types (general insurers, life insurers, friendly societies, mutuals, the London market, and insurance special purpose vehicles (ISPVs)).

Chart 1: PRA supervised deposit-takers, as at January 2024

Chart 2: pra supervised insurers, as at january 2024, the pra’s strategy, shaping the pra’s strategy.

Each year, the PRA is required by law footnote [5] to review and, if necessary, revise its strategy in line with its statutory objectives:

• the general primary objective to promote the safety and soundness of PRA-authorised firms;
• specifically for insurance firms, a primary objective to contribute to the securing of an appropriate degree of protection for those who are or may become policyholders;
• a secondary objective to act, so far as is reasonably possible, in a way that facilitates effective competition in the markets for services provided by PRA-authorised firms; and
• a new secondary objective to act, so far as reasonably possible, in a way that facilitates the UK economy’s international competitiveness and its growth over the medium to long term, subject to alignment with international standards.

In addition to the statutory objectives, the PRA’s strategy is shaped by other responsibilities, such as the requirement to implement legislation and other changes necessary to meet international standards, and to continue to adapt to market changes in areas such as financial technology (FinTech), climate change, and digitalisation.

When considering how to advance its objectives, there are a set of regulatory principles to which the PRA must also have regard. This includes regulatory principles from FSMA 2000, and considerations from HMT’s December 2022 letter to the PRC on the Government’s economic policy, the Equality Act 2010, the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, and the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. In its pursuit of its objectives, the PRA will review all the regulatory principles, identify which are significant to the proposed policy, and judge the extent to which they should influence the outcome being sought.

Furthermore, as part of the Bank, the PRA contributes to the delivery of the Bank’s wider financial stability and monetary policy objectives, for example by:

• maintaining and, where appropriate, strengthening or updating prudential standards;
• being at the forefront of identifying new and emerging risks, and developing international policy; and
• ensuring that banks and other financial institutions can continue to provide essential services.

Strategic priorities for 2024/25

This year’s business plan continues to be structured around the PRA’s four strategic priorities, as set out in its 2023/24 Business Plan . The PRA’s strategic priorities for 2024/25 will remain unchanged because the PRA updated its priorities in 2023 to take account of its new powers, new secondary objective, and expanded role brought about by FSMA 2023. The strategic priorities for 2024/25 are to:

• maintain and build on the safety and soundness of the banking and insurance sectors, and ensure continuing resilience;
• be at the forefront of identifying new and emerging risks, and developing international policy;
• support competitive and dynamic markets, alongside facilitating international competitiveness and growth, in the sectors that we regulate; and
• run an inclusive, efficient, and modern regulator within the central bank.

PRA Business Plan 2024/25

Maintain and build on the safety and soundness of the banking and insurance sectors and ensure continuing resilience.

During the decade following the financial crisis of 2007-09, the PRA designed and implemented extensive reforms that materially improved the safety and soundness of firms, insurance policyholder protection, and financial stability. Since then, the robust regulatory standards that the PRA has implemented and its strong international collaboration have played a key role in maintaining the resilience of the banking and insurance sectors, consistent with its objectives and those of the FPC. The PRA will continue to ensure that the firms it regulates remain adequately capitalised and have sufficient liquidity and stable funding profiles, with appropriately defined impact tolerances for disruption to their business services. The PRA’s regulatory framework encourages PRA-regulated firms to take a holistic approach to managing risks by identifying, monitoring, and taking action to remove or reduce systemic risks.

The PRA’s role as a rulemaker was further expanded following the introduction of FSMA 2023. Under the new regulatory framework , the PRA will continue to be a strong, accountable, responsive, and accessible policymaker, and make rules to meet its regulatory obligations, while adopting a risk-based approach, as set out in CP27/23 , in a way that is tailored to the specific features of financial services in the UK. Among other things, the PRA will continue to faithfully implement agreed international standards and reforms in a way that best serves the UK. For example, in 2024 the PRA will publish its final rules on the implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards and on replacing relevant and/or remaining firm-facing Solvency II requirements from assimilated law with the PRA’s own rules, which will become part of the PRA’s Rulebook and other policy materials. In addition, the PRA will move further towards finalising and implementing the Strong and Simple prudential framework , which provides a simpler but robust set of prudential rules for non-systemic, domestic-focused banks and building societies in the UK.

The PRA will also continue to pay particular attention to the business opportunities and threats that are posed by changes in the economic environment, both in the UK and other jurisdictions, that could pose risks to the UK.

The PRA will continue to promote a strong risk culture among regulated firms, including a conscious and controlled approach to risk taking activities, and ensure that this is supported by adequate financial and non-financial resources. At the same time, the PRA will maintain a robust regulatory regime that is able to respond to the external factors that pose the greatest risk to firms’ safety and soundness.

Risk factors also include global geopolitical risks, which have intensified over the past year. The PRA will continue to ensure that PRA-regulated firms are resilient to such risks by liaising with both domestic and international regulatory counterparts and continuing to monitor and engage with affected firms. Effective international collaboration remains central to addressing global risks and maintaining UK financial stability as well as the safety and soundness of internationally active firms.

The PRA will monitor and assess firms’ ability to manage cyber threats through the ongoing use of threat-led penetration testing ( CBEST and STAR-FS ) and the cyber questionnaire ( CQUEST ). In collaboration with the FCA, including in response to known technology, cyber and third-party incidents, the PRA will continue to monitor and engage with firms on their execution of large and complex IT change programmes. Furthermore, the FPC’s cyber stress testing has broadened the PRA’s understanding of how operational disruptions such as cyberattacks may affect financial stability.

The PRA will continue to engage in collective action to develop a view on sector-wide risks, support the building of firm- and sector-level resilience, and enhance the sector’s ability to respond to system-wide disruption. This will include ongoing sector engagement through the Cross-Market Operational Resilience Group (CMORG), which delivers industry guidance, response capabilities, and technical solutions, and through cross-jurisdictional coordination via the G7 Cyber Experts Group (CEG). Through CMORG, the PRA will deliver a sector-wide simulation exercise (SIMEX24) to assess the sector’s resilience to major operational disruption. The PRA will continue to develop its ability to respond to operational incidents in the sector through its authorities ( Authorities Response Framework ) and sector ( Cross Market Business Continuity Group ) response mechanisms.

Financial resilience – banking

Implementation of the basel 3.1 standards.

In March 2023, the PRA concluded its consultation on proposals published in November 2022 about the parts of the Basel III standards that remain to be implemented in the UK (‘Basel 3.1’). In September 2023, the PRA announced that it would split the publication of the near-final Basel 3.1 rules in two, moving implementation back by six months to 1 July 2025 to reduce the transitional period to 4.5 years and ensure full implementation by 1 January 2030, in line with the proposals set out in CP16/22. The first near-final PS17/23 – Implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards near-final part 1 , covering market risk, credit valuation adjustment risk, counterparty credit risk, and operational risk, was published in December 2023. The PRA will publish the second near-final PS, covering the remaining elements of credit risk, the output floor, as well as Pillar 3 disclosure and reporting requirements, in due course.

The near-final rules from the two PSs will be made final once Parliament has revoked the relevant parts of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The PRA expects this to happen later in 2024. In addition to finalising Basel 3.1 rules, the PRA will continue to increase its supervisory focus on firms’ implementation plans.

Bank stress testing

The concurrent stress testing of firms is one of the key tools used by the PRA and the Bank to support their microprudential and macroprudential objectives. Banking stress tests examine the potential impact of a hypothetical scenario on the major UK banks and building societies that make up the banking system, and on the system as a whole. The PRA normally runs two types of banking stress test – the annual cyclical scenario and other exploratory scenarios.

In 2024, the PRA will support the Bank in taking stock of and updating its framework for concurrent bank stress testing. The stocktake will draw on lessons from the first decade of concurrent stress testing, and so ensure that the framework continues to support the FPC and PRC in meeting its objectives. The PRA will also contribute to supporting the Bank’s desk-based stress test in 2024, which is being conducted in place of an ACS. The desk-based exercise will make use of the PRA’s risk expertise along with models developed in the PRA and elsewhere in the Bank to test the financial resilience of the UK banking system under more than one adverse macroeconomic scenario. Stress testing exercises involving firm submissions of stressed projections are currently expected to resume in 2025.

In addition, the Bank is conducting a system-wide exploratory scenario (SWES), working closely with and with the full support of the PRA, FCA, and TPR (The Pensions Regulator). The exercise was launched in June 2023 and aims to improve the understanding of the behaviours of banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) in stressed financial market conditions. The participating firms in this exercise are representative of markets that are core to UK financial stability.

Private equity and credit

The evolving macro environment is expected to challenge firms’ approach to risk management, increasing the need for robust governance, risk management, and controls. One area of focus for the PRA will be exposures to NBFI, particularly any challenges that may manifest around the trend toward illiquid private equity financing and private credit. The PRA will continue to closely monitor private asset financing and the way that firms consider the risks they could face from these activities. In particular, the PRA will look for further improvements in firms’ ability to identify and assess correlations across financing activities with multiple clients.

Replacing assimilated law

HMT has prioritised the CRR as one of the initial areas of focus in the process of transferring assimilated law into the supervisory authorities’ rules and legislation following the enactment of FSMA 2023. The latter granted the PRA expanded rulemaking powers to replace assimilated law with PRA rules, thereby moving towards a more British system of regulation. In 2024/25, the PRA will consult on proposed rules to replace, with modifications where appropriate, the relevant firm-facing provisions in Part Two of the CRR.

Model risk management (MRM) and internal ratings-based approach/hybrid models

Banks’ use of and reliance on models and scenario analysis to assess future risks has increased significantly over the past decade. The introduction of new, sophisticated modelling techniques – including the potential use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) – has highlighted the need for sound model governance and effective model risk management practices.

In 2023, the PRA published a supervisory statement (SS)1/23 – Model risk management principles for banks , which applies to firms with internal model (IM) approval to calculate regulatory capital requirements. It is structured around five high-level principles that set out the core disciplines necessary for a robust model risk management framework to manage model risk effectively across all model and risk types. The adoption of these principles will help banks to develop good practices of model risk management, raising prudential standards at banks operating in the UK. The new policy comes into effect on 17 May 2024. Banks within the scope of the policy are expected to conduct an initial self-assessment against these principles, and, where relevant, prepare remediation plans to address any identified shortcomings.

During 2024, the PRA will focus on how banks are embedding and implementing the expectations set out in SS1/23. In particular, the PRA will seek to understand the extent to which banks’ management teams are adopting the principles and promoting the management of model risk as a risk discipline in its own right across their firms.

The PRA has published a range of policy statements on changes to the internal ratings-based (IRB) approach to credit risk over recent years. footnote [6] The PRA will continue to work with firms as they progress their model approval and review submissions in line with these requirements and expectations. The PRA will focus on the ‘hybrid’ approach to mortgage modelling, and the IRB repair programme, both carried forward from previous years.

Where appropriate, firms are holding post-model adjustments (PMAs) in the form of risk-weighted asset (RWA) add-ons, helping to mitigate potential capital underestimation while they develop their new models. During 2024, the PRA will continue to assess the adequacy of the PMAs to ensure any potential capital underestimation is addressed.

Liquidity risk management

The events of 2023 brought a further focus on the liquidity and funding risks faced by deposit takers, in particular the deposit outflows experienced by CS and SVB leading up to their acquisition and resolution, respectively.

The PRA will continue its close supervision of firms’ liquidity and funding risks in light of recent stresses. Through its ongoing supervision of banks and building societies, the PRA will follow up on how firms are taking account of the lessons they learnt from the events at CS and SVB. The PRA will continue to use its regular programme of Liquidity Supervisory Review and Evaluation Processes (L-SREPs) across PRA-authorised firms to assess their liquidity and funding risks, in quantitative and qualitative terms, and to ensure appropriate financial and non-financial resources are in place to manage and mitigate these risks.

The PRA will also continue to engage with firms and within the wider Bank on PRA-authorised firms’ access to the Bank’s Sterling Monetary Framework .

The PRA will also monitor closely how firms consider changes in depositor behaviour in the current funding environment and proactively take into consideration forthcoming changes in bank funding and liquidity conditions. footnote [7]

Credit risk management

The PRA is closely monitoring firms’ credit risk management practices given the uncertain credit risk outlook across key markets. The PRA’s assessment will include a focus on how credit risk management practices have evolved – in particular, how they can remain robust and adaptable to changing conditions, whether there is appropriate consideration of downside and contagion risks, as well as firms’ monitoring and planning for the impacts of customer refinancing. The PRA will undertake a thematic review of smaller firms’ credit risk management frameworks during 2024/25.

The PRA will monitor changes to firms’ business mix and credit exposures, and continue to monitor vulnerable segments, including cyclical sectors and key international portfolios, as well as traditionally higher-risk portfolios such as buy-to-let, credit cards, unsecured personal loans, small to medium-sized enterprises, leveraged lending, and commercial real estate. In addition, counterparty credit risk will remain a key area of supervisory focus through 2024, especially exposures to NBFI across certain business lines.

Separately, in 2024, the PRA will continue to progress its review of regulatory policies to assess whether the policy framework for trading book risk management, controls, and culture is adequate, robust, and accessible.

The UK banking system is well capitalised. However, the overall operating and risk environment remains challenging, and firms must manage their financial resilience to ensure that the financial sector can continue to support businesses and households. The PRA will continue to assess firms’ capital positions and planning, including firms’ use of forward-looking capital indicators, stress testing, and contingency plans.

The PRA intends to review its Pillar 2A methodologies (see section ‘Review of the Pillar 2 framework’ of PS17/23 ) for banks after the rules on Basel 3.1 are finalised, with a view to consulting on any proposed changes in 2025.

Securitisation regulation

HMT has prioritised the Securitisation Regulation as one of the initial areas of focus in the process of transferring assimilated law into regulatory rules and legislation following the enactment of FSMA 2023. The PRA will publish its final policy (simultaneously with the FCA) on final rules to replace or modify the relevant firm-facing provisions in the Securitisation Regulation and related Technical Standards in 2024-25.

The PRA also intends to consult on draft PRA rules to replace firm-facing requirements, subject to HMT making the necessary legislation. The PRA has gathered views and evidence from firms through DP3/23 – Securitisation: capital requirements , which will inform its approach to capital requirements for securitisation.

Financial resilience – insurers

Solvency uk implementation.

In June 2024, the PRA will publish its final policy on the matching adjustment (MA) reforms set out in CP19/23 – Review of Solvency II: Reform of the Matching Adjustment . The majority of these reforms will take effect from end-June to allow PRA-authorised firms to take immediate advantage of new investment opportunities. The remaining Solvency II reforms consulted upon in CP12/23 – Review of Solvency II: Adapting to the UK insurance market will take effect on 31 December 2024.

To facilitate implementation of the reforms consulted on in CP12/23 and CP19/23, the PRA will streamline the application processes for new internal model permissions and variations of existing permissions. There will be similar proposals for MA permissions, if the final policy is the same as set out in the CP. The PRA remains committed to assessing and providing decisions on applications for permissions as quickly as possible and aims to do this within the timescales published in the associated statements of policy. This will be supported by the establishment of dedicated, specialised teams for reviewing applications.

In practice, delivering timely decisions will in part depend on good engagement between firms and the PRA during the application process, and on the preparation of high-quality and complete applications by firms. To facilitate this, the PRA will publish templates for use by firms , including templates for reporting the updated Matching Adjustment Asset and Liability Information Return (MALIR) and the Analysis of Change (AoC) and Quarterly Model Change (QMC) for internal models. These measures are intended to assist with a smooth transition to the Solvency UK regime.

A variety of proposals were made in responses to CP19/23 to further reform the MA in the form of so-called ‘sandboxes’, which would allow an element of self-certification of eligibility, or a route to further expand eligibility in response to innovations in primary financing markets. In 2024, the PRA will explore these proposals with industry with the goal of determining whether they can be developed into schemes that further advance the objectives of the Solvency II review.

Solvency II reporting reforms

To deliver the regulatory reporting and disclosure reforms consulted on in CP14/22 and CP12/23 , the PRA published PS3/24 – Review of Solvency II: Reporting and disclosure phase 2 near-final , including finalised templates and instruction files. The PRA will also publish a finalised single taxonomy package in 2024 Q2, which encompasses proposals in CP14/22 and CP12/23 , and deletions published in PS29/21 . The PRA will engage with firms, including through industry roundtables, to prepare them in meeting the new reporting requirements coming into force from 31 December 2024.

Solvency II transfer

The PRA will publish a CP in 2024 H1 that will set out how it will transfer the remaining Solvency II requirements from assimilated law into the PRA Rulebook and other policy material such as supervisory statements or statements of policy (‘the UK framework’).

This will provide a more comprehensive Rulebook and will make it easier for firms to access and navigate the rules that apply to them.

Insurance stress testing

Stress testing forms an important part of the PRA’s supervisory approach and risk assessment of insurance firms, helping to assess and identify the vulnerabilities of life and general insurance sectors to a range of risks in different scenarios.

Major life insurers participate in regular and concurrent stress testing prescribed by the PRA, and the next test will take place in 2025. For the first time, the PRA will publish the individual results of the largest annuity-writing firms to help inform stakeholders about the level of firms’ resilience in the scenarios set out, and thereby strengthen market discipline.

The PRA will continue to engage with the industry on the technical, operational, and communication aspects of the stress test, and will publish an approach document for the life insurance stress test 2025. The 2025 test will for the first time include an exploratory scenario to assess exposure to the recapture of funded reinsurance contracts.

For general insurers, the PRA has previously conducted four general insurance stress test exercises between 2015 and 2022. In 2025, the PRA will run its first dynamic stress test . The objectives of the exercise will be to:

• assess the industry’s solvency and liquidity resilience to a specific adverse scenario;
• assess the effectiveness of insurers’ risk management and management actions following an adverse scenario; and
• inform the PRA’s supervisory response following a market-wide adverse scenario.

The dynamic nature of the 2025 exercise represents a significant change from previous exercises and will involve simulating a sequential set of adverse events over a short period of time. The PRA has begun engaging with industry trade bodies and will provide more details of this exercise (including participation, design, and timelines) during 2024. Results of this exercise will be disclosed at an aggregate industry level.

Cyber underwriting risk

As the scope of technology continues to expand globally, cyber underwriting risk has become increasingly relevant, as reflected in the actual and planned growth of cyber insurance within the UK sector. As well as being inherently volatile and systemic in nature, cyber underwriting risk is diverse in how it can manifest in different lines of business.

Given the uncertainty of this risk, robust risk management, risk appetite-setting, and stress testing will be important factors in ensuring that capital and exposure management capabilities reflect firms’ actual exposures.

Monitoring and assessing cyber underwriting risk will be at the core of the PRA’s supervisory focus, particularly for firms with material exposures. The PRA will share the aggregate findings of its recent thematic project focused on cyber underwriting risk with industry, and continue to monitor the risk landscape and market dynamics to identify and assess potential risk drivers, including areas such as contract (un)certainty risk.

Model drift

The PRA will continue its scrutiny of internal models used by insurers to calculate capital requirements and aid risk management, to identify potential trends in the strength of firms’ calibrations, and as an indicator of the effectiveness of firms’ risk management.

In its 2023 model drift analysis , the PRA identified a number of findings across firms using internal models within the non-life sector. These are related to levels of allowances for inflation uncertainty, potential optimism in expected underwriting profits, potential optimism in the cost and benefit of reinsurance, and the limited allowance for economic and geopolitical uncertainties.

In 2024, the PRA will address perceived systemic trends that may weaken the robustness of models used across the market as a whole. The PRA will also focus on specific model drift within individual firms, with an emphasis on improving the effectiveness of internal model validation, so that firms can develop the capability to self-identify and address potential challenges.

Funded reinsurance

In 2024, the PRA will continue to pay close attention to the rapidly increasing use of funded reinsurance transactions in the UK life insurance market, and the risks that the growth in their use may pose to policyholder protection and UK financial stability. The PRA is particularly focused on the risk of an erosion in standards for assets used as collateral in these transactions, and individual and sectoral concentrated exposures to correlated, credit-focused counterparties.

As well as preparing to examine exposures to the recapture of funded reinsurance in the 2025 life insurance stress test, in 2024. The PRA will also, subject to responses to CP24/23 – Funded reinsurance , finalise and implement its policy expectations for UK life insurers that use funded reinsurance arrangements. As stated in the PRA’s letter on ‘ Insurance supervision: 2024 priorities ’, these policy expectations will cover how firms should manage risks associated with funded reinsurance at both individual transaction and at aggregate level. This will include the expectation that firms place limits on their activities to ensure sound risk management.

Impact on general and claims inflation

Claims inflation continues to be a significant risk for general insurers. Following a thematic review, the PRA published a Dear Chief Actuary letter in June 2023 setting out its findings that, while reserves have increased, there remains material uncertainty and the potential for excessive optimism with respect to reserving, pricing, and capital and reinsurance planning.

The PRA expects a continued lag in the emergence of claims inflation in the data, which insurers should be alert to. The PRA will continue to monitor the ongoing impact through the regulatory data collected and supervisory activities throughout 2024. Should the PRA’s assessment of this risk change, further focused work may be considered.

Market-wide stresses in March 2020 and September 2022 highlighted gaps in insurers’ liquidity risk management frameworks and, consequently, the importance of having comparable, accurate, and timely information on insurers’ liquidity. The PRA will build on the existing liquidity framework, currently based on risk management expectations set out in SS5/19 – Liquidity risk management for insurers , and develop liquidity reporting requirements for insurance firms most exposed to liquidity risk. The information collected will be used to supervise firms’ liquidity positions more effectively and produce meaningful peer comparisons. The PRA will work closely with firms to inform them about its development of these requirements and explore the necessity of a minimum liquidity requirement as part of a future policy consultation.

In addition, the Bank has signalled its intention to develop a new lending tool for eligible NBFIs to help tackle future episodes of severe dysfunction in core markets that threaten UK financial stability. The development of the PRA’s approach to supervising liquidity will therefore inform the design of the lending tool as it relates to insurers.

The reforms to Solvency II offer life insurers opportunities to expand the range of credit risk assets that are used to back their annuity liabilities, and enable them to meet their commitment to invest in assets that contribute to the productivity of the economy and the transition to net zero. These opportunities require sophisticated credit risk management, and insurers’ capabilities will remain a key focus. Increased activity in the bulk purchase annuity (BPA) market is expected to lead to further growth in firms’ exposure to credit risk, and potentially to concentrations in exposure to internally valued and rated assets.

The PRA will continue to focus on the effectiveness of firms’ credit risk management capabilities and seek further assurance that firms’ internal credit assessments appropriately reflect the risk profile of their asset holdings. The PRA will assess how firms’ credit risk management frameworks are evolving in line with its supervisory expectations, and also review the suitability of firms’ current and forward-looking internal credit assessment validation plans and approaches. In both cases, the PRA will seek to provide feedback on a firm-specific or thematic basis as appropriate.

Regulatory reforms

Operational risk and resilience (including the implementation of the critical third-party regime).

Operational disruption can impact financial stability, threaten the safety and soundness of individual firms and financial market infrastructures, or cause harm to consumers, policyholders, and other parts of the financial system. The PRA defines operational resilience as the ability of firms and the financial sector to prevent, respond to, recover, and learn from operational disruptions, including cyber threats.

The FCA, Bank, and PRA’s operational resilience policies came into force in March 2022 . Firms have now identified their most important business services, set impact tolerances, and commenced a programme of scenario testing. The PRA will continue to work closely with the FCA to assess firms’ progress, with a particular focus on the ability of firms to deliver important business services within defined impact tolerances during severe but plausible scenarios over a reasonable time frame, and no later than March 2025.

The PRA will also continue to monitor threats to firms’ resilience, including their growing dependency on third parties, while respecting the principle of proportionality.

Critical third parties to the UK financial sector

Section 312L of FSMA 2023 gave HMT the power to designate certain third-party service providers as ‘critical’ if they provide services to the financial sector, which, if disrupted or subject to failure, could cause financial stability concerns or risks to the confidence in the UK’s financial system. Prior to designating these parties, HMT must consult with the Bank, PRA, and FCA (the authorities the Act appoints as Regulators of the new regime). FSMA 2023 also gives the Regulators new powers to oversee the services provided by critical third parties (CTPs) to regulated firms. In December 2023, the PRA, Bank, and FCA jointly published CP26/23 – Operational resilience: Critical third parties to the UK financial sector , proposing how these powers could be used to assess and strengthen the resilience of services provided by CTPs to firms and FMIs, thereby reducing the risk of systemic disruption. The PRA will continue to work with other authorities to develop the final policy and oversight approach in 2024.

Additionally, the PRA is developing regulatory expectations on incident reporting, aligned with its operational resilience expectations.

Review of enforcement policies

Enforcement supports and supplements the PRA’s regulatory and supervisory tools by ensuring that it has credible mechanisms for holding regulated firms to account when they do not meet requirements and expectations. Enforcement policies also provide a wider deterrent effect. The PRA is therefore committed to holding individuals to account and, when appropriate, taking regulatory and/or enforcement action against those individuals that breach its standards. The PRA clearly sets out, for the benefit of the whole regulated community, the actions and standards of behaviour that are considered unacceptable ( The Bank of England’s approach to enforcement ).

In January 2024, following a review of its policies and public consultation, the PRA published PS1/24 – The Bank of England's approach to enforcement , which sets out the revised approach to enforcement across the Bank’s full remit (including when acting as the PRA).

The PRA is committed to conducting any enforcement investigations as promptly and efficiently as possible. In line with that aim, PS1/24 introduced a new Early Account Scheme (EAS or ‘the Scheme’), which provides for a new path for early cooperation and greater incentives for early admissions with the aim of reaching outcomes more quickly in specific cases.

Diversity and inclusion in PRA-regulated firms

Enhancing diversity and inclusion (D&I) can support better governance, decision-making, and risk management in firms by reducing groupthink and promoting a culture that allows employees to feel able to speak up and challenge the status quo.

In September 2023, the PRA published CP18/23 – Diversity and inclusion in PRA-regulated firms . Under the proposals, all in-scope firms would need to understand their D&I position, develop appropriate strategies to make meaningful progress, and monitor and report on progress. The proposals are flexible and carefully tailored to recognise that firms are at different stages of their work on D&I, and, most importantly, are best placed to develop their own D&I solutions.

The PRA also outlined that the proposals in CP18/23 contribute towards its secondary objectives of ensuring effective competition and facilitating competitiveness and growth, because enhanced D&I can help support greater innovation and make firms more attractive in the labour market.

In 2024, the PRA will continue its industry engagement, assess responses to CP18/23, and provide a further update in due course.

The PRA maintains flexibility to adapt and respond to changes in the external environment, economic and market developments, and any other risks that may affect its statutory objectives or priorities. The PRA has continued to use its horizon-scanning programme to achieve the following aims:

• identify emerging external risks, regulatory arbitrage, and potentially dangerous practices;
• highlight features of the regulatory regime that are not yet delivering the desired results; and
• allocate supervisory and policy resources to tackling the highest-priority risks in a timely manner.

Consistent with its mission, the PRA will continue to contribute to lessons learned internationally, policy/standards evaluation, and, in particular, internationally agreed standards with the aim of promoting the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates. For example, in 2024/25, the PRA will continue to focus on identifying and addressing emerging risks internationally, working closely with the BCBS on its response to consultations launched in 2023 (including on cryptoassets; disclosure for climate-related financial risks; and the Basel Core Principles and other outstanding work in support of its 2023/24 work programme and strategic priorities ). The PRA will also continue to work closely with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) on its finalisation of the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS), Insurance Core Principles on valuation (ICP 14) and capital adequacy (ICP17) .

In addition, the PRA will continue to monitor the potential for capital and profit erosion in firms that are slower to adopt new technologies, as well as firms’ involvement in new technologies, and changes in the profile of cyber-risks they face.

International engagement and influencing regulatory standards

The PRA plays a leading role in influencing international regulatory standards and will continue to participate actively in global standard-setting bodies, such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) , the IAIS, and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) .

Building on the BCBS’s report on the 2023 banking turmoil , the PRA will work with international stakeholders and the BCBS to strengthen supervisory effectiveness and identify issues that could merit additional guidance at a global level. The PRA will work with BCBS to pursue additional follow-up analytical work based on empirical evidence to assess whether specific features of the Basel Framework have performed as intended, such as liquidity risk and interest rate risk in the banking book, and assess the need to explore policy options over the medium term, alongside supporting the BCBS in pursuing its medium-term programme on evaluating the impact and efficacy of Basel III, and in light of lessons drawn from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, the PRA pursues international collaboration through less formal mechanisms, for example through regular bilateral and trilateral engagements, ensuring close collaboration on a number of supervision, risk, and policy topics of joint interest. The PRA also collaborates internationally on joint global thematic reviews with other regulatory authorities, for example, to address a joint interest in banks’ exposures to NBFIs and the use of critical third parties.

The PRA will also continue to support international efforts to monitor and promote consistent implementation of Basel 3.1, as well as the implementation and monitoring of the ICS.

Supervisory co-operation

Effective international collaboration remains crucial to addressing global risks, and is central to maintaining UK financial stability, the safety and soundness of internationally active firms, and reducing regulatory arbitrage.

The PRA will continue to promote international collaboration through supervisory colleges and set out clear expectations for firms wanting to branch into the UK. The PRA will also maintain its existing memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and, if needed, expand the number of jurisdictions with which it has an MoU to facilitate the supervision of international groups and therefore enhance the safety and openness of the UK for financial services activities.

The PRA will continue to support HMT via its international collaboration activities (eg The Berne Financial Services Agreement ) and with assessments of other jurisdictions to facilitate safe access to overseas markets for UK firms, among other benefits.

Overseas bank branches

The PRA will consult on targeted refinements to its approach to banks branching into the UK, reflecting lessons from the failure of SVB to ensure the PRA’s framework for assessing branches captures activities of potential concern. The PRA is committed to the UK remaining a responsibly open jurisdiction for branches, and expects the vast majority of branch business to be unaffected by any changes. The PRA also intends to consult on clarifying expectations for group entity senior manager functions (SMFs) footnote [8] and expectations of booking arrangements.

Operational and cyber resilience

The PRA engages internationally on operational and cyber resilience, in support of its supervision objectives and to raise international standards. The PRA co-chairs the G7 Cyber Expert Group (CEG), which works to coordinate cyber resilience strategy and management across G7 jurisdictions. The PRA also co-chairs the European Systemic Cyber Group (ESCG), which helps European authorities develop systemic capabilities to prevent and mitigate risks to the financial system that might emanate from cyber incidents. The PRA has also led work at the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on cyber incident reporting. In 2024, the PRA will continue to engage with standard-setting bodies and bilaterally with other jurisdictions on third-party risk management and CTPs.

Managing the financial risks arising from climate change

Climate change presents a source of material and increasing financial risk to firms and the financial system. Managing the risks to firms’ safety and soundness from climate change requires action and remains a key priority for the PRA. The Bank first set out expectations around enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing the financial risks emanating from climate change in April 2019 via SS3/19 –  Enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing the financial risks from climate change . The PRA has since provided further guidance via two Dear CEO letters, footnote [9] incorporating observations from supervisory processes and the 2022 Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario exercise , as well as by providing thematic feedback via Dear CFO letters footnote [10] to promote high-quality and consistent accounting for climate change .

As noted in its 2024 priorities letter to firms, the PRA expects firms to make further progress and demonstrate how they are responding to the PRA’s expectations, and to set out the steps they are taking to address barriers to progress. The PRA will continue to assess firms’ progress in managing climate-related financial risks. In 2024, the PRA will commence work to update SS3/19 and publish thematic findings on banks’ processes to quantify the impact of climate risks on expected credit losses.

The PRA, alongside the FCA, will continue to work with industry through the Climate Financial Risk Forum to produce practical guides and tools that help financial firms embed the financial risks from climate change into their operations. The PRA will also continue to engage with domestic and international partners, including international standard-setters, to contribute to the development of international frameworks in support of managing climate-related risks.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Following the publication of a feedback statement (FS)2/23 – Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning , the PRA and FCA intends to conduct the third edition of the joint survey on machine learning in UK financial services , in 2024 Q2. Responses to the survey will allow the PRA and FCA to further explore how best to address the issues/risks posed by AI/ML in a way that is aligned with the PRA’s and FCA’s statutory objectives. The PRA will also continue to monitor firms’ compliance of its expectations, as set out in SS1/23 , and will seek to explore further updates where necessary.

International policy on digitalisation and managing associated risks

The PRA aims to be at the forefront of identifying and responding to opportunities and risks faced by PRA-authorised firms as they seek to use technology in innovative ways to attract and retain customers, reduce costs, and increase efficiencies.

External context and business risk are important facets of the PRA’s approach to supervision. Developments are monitored, with specialist input from the Bank’s Fintech Hub , to identify risks such as fragmentation of the value chain, novel outsourcing arrangements, and concentration risks across and within firms.

In order to take a responsive and responsibly open approach, the PRA will continue to consider policy proposals to respond to digitalisation and adapt its supervisory approach accordingly. Through the New Bank Start-up and Insurer Start-Up Units, the PRA will continue to engage with applicant firms that have novel uses of technology. The PRA will continue to work closely with domestic and international partners, and through engagement with industry and stakeholders, to take a pro-active approach to digital innovations within the financial sector.

The PRA is a significant contributor to discussions on digitalisation in international standard-setting fora, and will continue to support the BCBS’s work on the developments in the digitalisation of finance and the implications for banks and supervisors . The PRA will also continue be an active part of the IAIS Fintech Forum.

Digital money and innovation

In February 2023, HMT published a consultation and Call for Evidence on the future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets , focused on enhancing market integrity, custody requirements, and transparency. The consultation closed in October 2023 with the publication of an update on the government’s plans for its legislative approach to the regulation of stablecoins. HMT confirmed that tokenised deposits would continue to be regulated as deposits. The PRA will continue to work with HMT and the FCA to ensure that the regulatory perimeter and the boundaries between different activities are clearly and robustly delineated.

In November 2023, the Bank, PRA, and FCA published a cross-authority package on innovations in money and payments . As part of this, the PRA published a Dear CEO letter to provide clarity on the PRA’s expectation on how deposit-takers should address risks arising from the emergence of multiple forms of digital money and money-like instruments. footnote [11] It published the letter alongside the Bank’s proposed regime for systemic payment systems using stablecoins and related service providers , and the FCA’s proposed regime for stablecoin issuers, custodians, and the use of stablecoins as a means of payment. A roadmap paper was also published to explain how these regimes fit together.

The PRA will continue to contribute to the Bank’s broader work on innovation in money and payments, which in 2024 will include work on wholesale payments and settlements – and their interaction with retail payments.

In 2024, the PRA will continue to work within the global regulatory community to finalise a set of amendments made to the international standard on the treatment of banks’ cryptoassets exposures. These amendments were published for consultation by the Basel Committee in December 2023, following the finalisation of the standard in 2022.

Once the amendments are finalised, the PRA will implement the standard within the UK, following the PRA’s policymaking process. Alongside this, the PRA will continue to engage with international partners, including the BCBS, to assess bank-related developments in cryptoassets markets, the role of banks as issuers of stablecoins and tokenised deposits, custodians of cryptoassets, and potential channels of interconnections with the cryptoassets ecosystem.

The PRA advances its primary and secondary objectives by making rules that support competitive and dynamic markets in the sectors that it regulates. The PRA will go further in developing proportionate and efficient prudential requirements, thereby reducing the burden on firms where appropriate, and pursuing its secondary objectives. The PRA also remains committed to playing an active role in international standard-setting, given the important role of global rules in safeguarding the UK’s open economy through ensuring safe financial markets.

Regulatory change – embedding the PRA’s approach to rule-making

FSMA 2023 has significantly changed the powers and responsibilities of the PRA, allowing it to ensure the UK financial services framework is fit for the future, reflecting the UK’s position outside of the EU. FSMA 2023 also introduces enhanced objectives and accountability requirements that support the PRA’s transparency and accountability to Parliament.

FSMA 2023 provides a framework to repeal and replace assimilated law relating to financial services. Most technical rules will now be made by operationally independent regulators within a framework set by Parliament, enabling the PRA to deliver policies better suited to the UK financial sector. The PRA’s responsibility, in cooperation with HMT and FCA, is to ensure that the new rules are made in accordance with the PRA’s remit and statutory objectives, including the new secondary competitiveness and growth objective.

The PRA has worked closely with HMT and FCA on the sequencing of the repeal and the replacement of the files of assimilated law. Once the replacement material is in PRA rules, the PRA will have the power to evaluate these rules, amend them if needed, and/or create new rules when required.

The PRA has already made good progress with respect to the files that HMT has prioritised into the first two ‘tranches’, including key files such as Solvency II, Securitisation, CRR, among others. The PRA has consulted on significant parts of tranches 1 and 2 in 2023 and will continue this work throughout 2024 and 2025. The completion of the repeal and replacement of Solvency II and Securities Regulation files is expected by the end of 2024, and the last of the PRA's tranche 1 and 2 files is planned for implementation in 2026. Work on the remaining files that were not included in tranches 1 and 2 will begin in 2024.

The PRA is consulting its stakeholders as it develops its approach to policymaking in light of the new requirements. In December 2023, the PRA published CP27/23 , setting out the proposed approach to policy under the regulatory framework as amended by FSMA 2023, and building on the previously published DP4/22 – The Prudential Regulation Authority’s future approach to policy . CP27/23 outlines the PRA's planned approach to maintain robust prudential standards, which are the cornerstone of UK financial stability and long-term economic growth, while addressing risks and opportunities in a responsive manner, appropriately adapted to the circumstances of the UK. Responses to CP27/23 will inform the PRA’s finalised approach document to be published in 2024 H2.

Secondary competitiveness and growth objective (SCGO)

FSMA 2023 gave the PRA a new secondary objective which requires the PRA to act, so far as reasonably possible, to facilitate the UK economy’s international competitiveness (including in particular the financial services sector through the contribution of PRA-authorised persons) and its growth over the medium to long term, subject to alignment with international standards. FSMA 2023 maintained the PRA’s other objectives without change.

In addition to specific policy measures, the PRA has taken practical steps to embed the SCGO in its operations, including through internal changes, and the launch of a research programme to deepen its understanding of the ways prudential requirements can affect the international competitiveness and growth of the UK economy.

The PRA will continue to look for ways in which it can facilitate the UK’s competitiveness and growth when discharging its general functions. The approach focuses on strengthening the three regulatory foundations that were set out in CP27/23, specifically:

• Maintaining trust among domestic and foreign firms in the PRA and UK prudential framework via a range of policies, including those that promote strong prudential standards appropriately calibrated for the UK, and the alignment of said policies with international standards.
• Adopting effective regulatory processes and engagement, including providing for the efficient handling of regulatory processes, such as authorisations and data collections, as well as facilitating the accessibility of the PRA Rulebook to reduce the operating costs of firms.
• Taking a responsive and responsibly open approach to UK risks and opportunities, including making rules that account more effectively for the needs of the UK. This approach means responding faster to emerging risks and opportunities in the UK financial sector, for example, by using regulatory tools to support innovation safely. To this end, in 2024, the PRA will hold a pilot roundtable to gather stakeholders’ views on how the PRA can help to reduce the barriers to innovation that the industry faces.

The policy initiatives discussed in the rest of this section provide examples of how the PRA will advance its secondary objectives in 2024/25.

Furthermore, the Bank’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) is evaluating the PRA’s approach to its new secondary objective. Both the outcome of the IEO’s evaluation and the PRA’s response to it will be included in the PRA’s – ‘Secondary Objectives Report’ to be published alongside the PRA’s Annual Report 2023/24. The Secondary Objectives Report will also give an overview of all the PRA’s policy initiatives that have advanced the SCO and the SCGO .

Strong and Simple framework

In 2021, the PRA published FS1/21 – A strong and simple prudential framework for non-systemic banks and building societies , that set out a vision to simplify prudential requirements for smaller, domestic-focused banks and building societies, while maintaining those firms’ resilience.

As outlined in the PRA 2023/24 Business Plan , the PRA will continue its planned programme of work on creating a simpler but equally resilient prudential framework for smaller, domestically focused banks and building societies, known as the Strong and Simple framework. This framework is designed to maintain the financial resilience of banks and building societies operating in the UK, while reducing costs associated with prudential requirements for non-systemic banks and building societies. In 2023/24, the PRA published its final policy on scope criteria and simplified liquidity and disclosure requirements for SDDTs in PS15/23.

In December 2023, the PRA published PS16/23 – The Strong and Simple Framework: Scope criteria, liquidity and disclosure requirements , which finalises the scope of the framework. The PS builds on the first layer of the Strong and Simple framework, which focused on the smallest firms and is known as the SDDT regime. The overall aim of the framework is to maintain the financial resilience of banks and building societies operating in the UK, while addressing the ‘complexity problem,’ under which the same prudential requirements are applied to all firms, regardless of size, even though the costs of interpreting and operationalising those requirements are higher for small firms, relative to the associated public policy benefits.

In 2024/25, the PRA will move further towards finalising and implementing the Strong and Simple prudential framework for SDDTs. A key step will be to implement the simplifications to liquidity requirements that were introduced in Phase 1. The PRA will also finalise the rules for the Interim Capital Regime, which will allow firms eligible to be SDDTs to stay under capital rules equivalent to those currently in place until the simplified capital regime for SDDTs is implemented. The PRA plans to consult on a simplified capital regime for SDDTs in 2024 Q2.

Insurance Special Purpose Vehicles regime

In 2017, the PRA introduced a framework for the authorisation and supervision of ISPVs to provide guidance for parties wishing to obtain authorisation as an ISPV, or for insurers and reinsurers seeking to use UK ISPVs as risk mitigation in accordance with Solvency II.

The UK ISPV regime has not seen as much activity as originally envisaged. While new issuances of insurance-linked securitisations (ILS) transactions in the UK over the last two years have exceeded USD400 million, there are steps to be taken which can improve the regime and increase its usage.

The PRA has been in discussion with industry on this matter with the aim of understanding the key areas of the regime in which market participants would recommend changes.

The PRA expects to consult on a package of reforms to the UK ISPV regime. These reforms are intended to:

• allow a wider range of transaction structures in the UK regime;
• improve the speed of the application process, and thereby also reduce costs for applicants; and
• clarify the PRA’s expectations of UK insurers who cede risks to ISPVs, wherever they are established.

Remuneration reforms

The PRA’s remuneration rules ensure that key decision-makers and material risk-takers at PRA-regulated firms have the right incentives and can be held accountable. In 2023, following consultation, the PRA removed the bonus cap and made changes to its rules to enhance proportionality for small firms .

In advancing its primary and secondary objectives, the PRA is considering further changes to the remuneration regime that is better suited to the UK’s financial sector, while maintaining the remuneration regime’s overall structure and objectives, which are based on internationally agreed FSB principles and standards . The PRA intends to consult on any changes in 2024 H2.

Implementing changes to the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR)

In March 2023, the PRA and FCA jointly published DP1/23 – Review of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) , with a particular focus on gathering views about the regime’s effectiveness, scope, and proportionality. HMT in parallel launched a Call for Evidence covering the legislative aspects of the SM&CR. The period for sending responses to the discussion paper ended on 1 June 2023.

The PRA received over 90 responses relevant to its work as a prudential regulator, reflecting the significant level of stakeholder interest in the regime. The PRA, working closely with the FCA and HMT, is considering potential policy options for reform in response to the comments received and intends to consult on proposed changes to the regime in 2024 H1.

Complete the establishment of the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) Panel

The PRA is continuing to make progress under the new framework provided by FSMA 2023, setting out CBA as an integral part of developing the best possible policy approach, and the results will help shape the PRA’s policymaking. CBAs inform and refine the policy approach to identified issues, helping to design approaches that offer the greatest benefits.

One of the key elements of enhancing the PRA’s scrutiny and accountability mechanisms relates to its approach to CBA and the establishment of a new CBA panel. The role of the CBA Panel is to support increased transparency and scrutiny of the PRA’s policymaking by providing regular, independent input into the PRA’s CBAs relating to PRA rules and the PRA’s statement of policy in relation to CBAs . The Panel will review how the PRA is performing more generally in carrying out its duties with regard to CBA and may provide recommendations to the PRA.

The PRA has completed an open, competitive, and rigorous recruitment process for identifying and appointing a diverse range of expert individuals to constitute the CBA Panel. The PRA will finalise the set-up of the Panel and then start consulting it on the PRA’s statement of policy in relation to CBAs and on the preparation of CBAs. The appointments, including that of the Chair, will be announced in due course.

In 2024, the PRA will consult on its CBA framework, which will set out how the PRA intends to continue to conduct a robust CBA and how it engages with the CBA panel.

PRA Rulebook

The new regulatory framework set out in FSMA 2023 enables the PRA to develop a more coherent and easily accessible Rulebook. The aim is to improve the efficiency and accessibility of the PRA Rulebook by reducing the number of policy document formats currently in use to three: rules, supervisory statements, and statements of policy. In order to achieve this, the PRA’s specialist teams will begin the process of reviewing the EU Guidelines, European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) Q&As, and UK technical standards (UKTS) that are relevant to PRA rules, to determine what should be incorporated into those rules or related supervisory statements and statements of policy. Once the review of these documents is completed, references to the EU Guidelines, ESA Q&As, and UKTSs will be removed.

The PRA is also looking at grouping the elements in the Rulebook to make it easier for users to access relevant information. To support usability and clarity, the PRA will take a consistent approach to the structure of, and language in its policies.

The speed at which the PRA will achieve many of its ambitions for the Rulebook will partly depend on the Government’s approach to the repeal of relevant assimilated law and its replacement in PRA rules and other policy materials. However, the PRA will move ahead with the proposed reforms as quickly as possible to help users more easily navigate the new regulatory landscape.

Banking Data Review

The Banking Data Review BDR, launched in 2023-24, will be delivered as an integral part of the Transforming Data Collection TDC programme. The work will enable the PRA’s banking regulatory data collections to be better aligned with the day-to-day needs of supervisors, ensure the PRA has good-quality data to carry out its new policymaking responsibilities in line with the post-Brexit regulatory framework, and reduce burdens on firms by better integrating and streamlining data collections.

The PRA will consult on the first of three phases of reforms under the BDR in 2024 H2. The consultation will focus on streamlining of the existing regulatory reporting estate, removing reporting templates that may no longer be needed or which contain information that can be gathered at lower cost elsewhere, reviewing collections of counterparty credit information, and incorporating lessons from recent market events.

In parallel, the PRA will continue to work on plans for future phases of reform, focused on credit risk in the second phase, and with all remaining areas covered in a third phase. Engagement with industry participants will be done under the newly appointed TDC Advisory Board, which will be responsible for setting industry working groups on key topics relating to TDC. The TDC’s main industry forum in this area is the Data Standards Committee (DSC), which led the work on the recommendations underpinning the jointly published response by the Bank and the FCA, entitled Transforming data collection – Data Standards Review with recommendations and Bank of England and FCA response . A further working group is the BDR Industry Consultative Forum that is open to all PRA-regulated banks.

Supporting and authorising new market entrants via new ‘mobilisation’ regime

The PRA will continue to support potential market entrants in navigating the authorisation process. This includes providing clear online guidance and industry engagement to build awareness of expectations and seek feedback on firms’ experience of the process. The PRA offers potential applicants the opportunity to meet with staff through a structured pre-application stage, allowing firms to iterate and develop their proposition to support a better-quality application.

The PRA will continue to make use of the mobilisation stage for newly authorised banks, where appropriate, to allow them to operate with restrictions while they complete their set-up before starting to trade fully.

In line with PS2/24 – Review of Solvency II: Adapting to the UK insurance market , the PRA will introduce a new ‘mobilisation’ regime to facilitate entry and expansion for new insurers from 31 December 2024, similar to the mobilisation stage for new banks. Mobilisation will help to facilitate competition, and the international competitiveness and growth of the UK insurance sector, with the aim of benefiting firms who are contemplating applying for authorisation as an insurer in the UK now or in the future.

Newly authorised insurers in mobilisation could be offered the option of using a set period of extra time to build up systems and resources while operating with business restrictions, proportionate regulatory requirements, and lower minimum capital requirements. New insurers could be suitable for mobilisation when they have a shortlist of activities to complete before they can meet full regulatory requirements.

Ease of exit

Improving how firms can leave regulated markets in an orderly way is a vital corollary to greater ease of entry into those markets. It enables a dynamic and competitive market which entrants can join and leave with minimal impact on the wider market and the PRA’s statutory objectives. The PRA has published the first of two planned policy in this topic, (eg, PS5/24 – Solvent exit planning for non-systemic banks and building societies ). A further PS on solvent exit planning for insurers is expected in 2024 H2, following the completion of the market consultation initiated by CP2/24 – Solvent exit planning for insurers . Both of these form part of the PRA’s strategic focus on increasing the ease of exit.

Ring-fencing regime

The Bank and PRA continue to work closely with HMT on implementing the recommendations made in March 2022 by the Independent Review of Ring-fencing and Proprietary Trading , led by Sir Keith Skeoch. On 28 September 2023, both HMT and the PRA published consultations with the aim of giving effect to recommendations of that review.

HMT consulted on removing the blanket restriction which prevents ring-fenced bodies (RFBs) operating in countries outside the EEA. The PRA consulted on introducing a new rule and updating SS8/16 – Ring-fenced bodies (RFBs) , to align with HMT’s proposed legislative changes. These changes aim to implement certain safeguards to ensure that RFBs are not exposed to material risks through the business of their overseas subsidiaries or branches. The PRA will publish its policy and a rule Instrument once the legislative changes are brought into force. Simultaneously, the PRA will update SS8/16 to reflect the changes.

FSMA requires the PRA to conduct a review of its ring-fencing rules and provide a report to HMT every five years. The first such review was completed on 12 December 2023 and the resulting report was laid before Parliament on 25 January 2024 and published on the Bank’s website.

The PRA intends to consult on potential changes to the ring-fencing regime identified by the Rule Review once a fuller exploration of costs and benefits has been undertaken. The Bank and PRA will continue to support HMT with technical advice to enable HMT to finalise its legislative changes, and to consider responses to its Call for Evidence on longer-term reforms.

Effective authorisation processes

The PRA handles over 1,800 regulatory transactions a year, ranging from new firm authorisations to variations of permission for existing firms and cancellations of permission for firms leaving the market. Over the coming year, the PRA will continue to handle these transactions in more streamlined, efficient, transparent, and accessible way while maintaining strong risk controls to ensure the UK’s success as a global financial centre.

In parallel to consulting on reforms to the SM&CR, the PRA will continue to enhance and streamline internal processes on SM&CR applications and other transactions to drive further improvements in operational effectiveness, as measured through the quarterly publication of metrics on timeliness of decisions. This will include close collaboration with the FCA to ensure an efficient and coordinated review of cases, as well as improvements to case handling and recording technology platforms. The PRA will extend existing industry engagement on New Bank Start-ups to also cover new insurers and SM&CR applications in order to promote transparency and spread best practice in support of efficient case handling. In addition, the Wholesale Insurance Accelerated Authorisation Pathway, developed jointly by the PRA and FCA, will continue to provide an accelerated route for the authorisation of a sub-set of London market wholesale applicants.

The PRA’s operation within the Bank plays a critical role in maintaining the stability and integrity of the UK’s financial system. In pursuit of its objectives and work programme, the PRA ensures that its regulatory framework is inclusive, considering the diverse landscape of financial institutions. It aims to create a level playing field, while recognising and planning for the potential impact of the changes in the environment in which we are operating.

In line with its mission, the PRA continually adapts regulations to address emerging risks and opportunities, fostering inclusivity to enhance trust, transparency, and accountability in the financial sector. As a prudential regulator, the PRA maintains and strives for operational efficiency in its regulatory processes, technology, and its workforce. This involves streamlining procedures, driving inclusive recruitment, and leveraging technology to enhance effectiveness – noting that efficient regulation benefits both regulated entities and the broader economy by reducing unnecessary burdens and facilitating smoother interactions between financial institutions and the regulator.

Data and technology

The PRA will continue its programme of work to strengthen and transform its data-related capabilities. The PRA will also continue to play a leading role in international collaboration on the regulatory use of data and technology, liaising closely with other regulators, central banks, academic institutions, and industry. The PRA intends to run a multi-day innovation-focused event for PRA colleagues to support learning and increase awareness about the impact of technological advances and initiatives across the financial sector.

Transforming Data Collection by building on digital regulatory reporting

The PRA will continue to work towards achieving the objectives of the TDC programme for 2026:

• Goal 1: the PRA has the data and tools it needs to rapidly identify and probe emerging issues, risk, and policy questions, including integration into a single customisable supervisory dashboard; and
• Goal 2: the PRA only collects data that it needs from firms, thereby reducing unnecessary burdens on firms.

Regarding Goal 1, the PRA will continue to improve existing and deliver new priority data visualisation and analysis tools to support supervision, covering financial and operational data for PRA-regulated firms. The PRA will also make use of speech-to-text technology to support day-to-day work for staff, and to contribute to the Bank’s wider work on the appropriate use of artificial intelligence to support its objectives, including large third-party language models. This will be underpinned by ongoing support for PRA staff undertaking renewed digital skills training alongside individual and group coaching for some staff cohorts, and planning for those programmes in future years.

Regarding Goal 2, the PRA will continue to work with the FCA and the wider Bank on the TDC programme , which envisions that ‘regulators are able to get the data they need to fulfil their mission at the lowest possible cost to industry’ through improvements to the integration of reporting, reporting instructions, and data standards. Over the coming years, TDC therefore aims to deliver a new target operating model for all of the Bank’s regulatory, statistical, and stress-testing data collections.

Diversity, equity and inclusion at the PRA

The PRA continues to take action to strengthen its culture and working environment. The Bank’s Court review into ethnic diversity and inclusion reported its findings in July 2021. The PRA, alongside the rest of the Bank, is implementing the recommendations of this review and has made considerable progress in terms of embedding inclusive recruitment, investing in talent development, and advancing a psychologically safe culture to promote employees’ ability to voice their opinions via the ‘speak my mind’ initiative. There is also increased accountability for senior leaders to advance a diverse and inclusive Bank.

The PRA recognises the importance of all staff feeling valued and being able to thrive. Key focus areas for 2024/25 include progressing initiatives to improve psychological safety, ethnic and gender representation, and disability disclosure. The PRA continues to benefit from the Bank’s excellent employee networks that cater to diverse groups such as disability, LGBTQ+, social mobility, gender, age, carers, different ethnicities, and many more.

PRA Agenda for Research

The PRA plans to build on its research efforts in 2024/25, including through improving central coordination and capacity-building projects.

Research priorities are captured in the PRA Research agenda 2023+ below (Table 1). The PRA will continue to deliver on those, while making sure that a timely delivery of high-quality research, expertise, and critical evaluation is given to PRC, FPC, and other senior decision-making activities. These deliverables are captured in the research metrics and the PRA Research Annual. The metrics track the quantity, quality, and impact of the PRA’s research, while the PRA Research Annual provides further details on how timely and effective the research advisory (inside and outside the institution) has been. New for this business year is that the PRA will additionally produce impact cases, with the purpose of tracking the lifespan of key research projects and evaluating their total policy/social impact.

To ensure that the organisation has the right capacity and skills, the PRA will initiate new capacity-building projects on models, tools, and data, while reinforcing external collaborations on those. It will also continue efforts to disseminate this work and foster strategic cooperations with research departments at other central banks, regulatory authorities, research institutes, or universities.

Table 1: PRA Research agenda 2023+

Risks to delivery of business plan.

Operating in a complex and fast-moving environment gives rise to risks to the delivery of this business plan. The PRA monitors, manages, actively mitigates (where possible), and reports these risks to the PRC and relevant Bank fora on a regular basis.

Over the course of 2023/24, attrition levels reduced and there was an improvement in recruitment into key roles. Looking ahead to 2024/25, headcount required to deliver this Business Plan is forecast to remain broadly flat.

The PRA will continue to impose discipline on how it deploys its budget to ensure resources are allocated appropriately. The PRA will also need to reprioritise during the year in response to changes in the external environment, as it routinely does. The PRA will continue to focus on managing operational risks and strengthening horizon-scanning capabilities so that it can respond quickly to changes in risk and drive decisions on prioritisation, business planning, and resourcing.

Having access to the right technology and data remains a key area of focus in 2024/25 as part of a multi-year investment across the PRA and the Bank to ensure that the PRA’s technology capabilities support its strategic priorities. This focus will take account of developments in regulatory technology, reduce inefficiencies, and leverage the benefits of being a regulator within the UK’s central bank. There is a risk that the PRA may be unable to deliver its intended technology ambition given the congested change agenda across the Bank. This challenge is being managed through careful prioritisation and scoping of key projects, including delaying some lower-priority activities.

Dependencies

Given the interconnected nature of the global financial system, dependencies on external parties, such as the FCA, HMT, and overseas regulators, could present a risk for the PRA. Policy development, authorisation processes, and supervision activities are contingent on maintaining relationships and co-operation with these parties. The PRA fosters its domestic relationships to ensure effective regulation and supervision across the UK financial sector. The PRA also works closely with international regulators to address cross-border risks for firms operating internationally. The PRA continues to foster these important relationships at all levels of the organisation through several channels, including international committees, supervisory colleges, joint reviews, information-sharing, and joint publications.

PRA Budget 2024/25

The PRA’s provisional budget for 2024/25, which is subject to finalisation of pension costs and year-end adjustments, is estimated at £353.0 million. This is an increase of £34.0 million (11%) on the 2023/24 budget. To reduce the impact to firms in 2024/25, the PRA has taken two measures, as set out in CP4/24 , to limit the increase in fees paid by firms to 7%. This increase follows a 1% reduction to fees in 2023/24 compared with 2022/23.

The PRA is constraining the increase in its own direct costs to 2%, which means a real-terms cut to the budget that will be managed by increasing efficiency in the PRA’s supervisory approach, end-to-end policymaking process, and operations. Alongside this, the PRA needs to fund inflation-driven increases in support services provided to the PRA by the Bank and the PRA’s share of tackling obsolescence in the Bank’s technology estate on which the PRA relies.

Budgeted headcount is forecast to remain broadly flat for 2024/25 ending the year at 1,541 (this compares closely to the actual year-end headcount position for 2023/24 of 1,537). The budgeted headcount reflects the PRA’s need to invest in key areas, including increasing the capacity to approve the efficiency of the IRB model review process, the implementation and supervision of CTPs, investment in the BDR, and implementing lessons learned from the failure of SVB and CS.

Details on how the PRA proposes to fund its budget can be found in CP4/24 – Regulated fees and levies: Rates proposals 2024/25 . It includes proposals for allocating costs of the PRA’s 2024/25 ongoing regulatory activities across PRA fee payers.

Abbreviations

ACS – Annual Cyclical Scenario

AI/ML – Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

AoC – Analysis of Change

Bank – Bank of England

BCBS – Basel Committee on Banking Supervision

BDR – Banking Data Review

CBA – Cost Benefit Analysis

CEG – Cyber Expert Group

CEO – Chief Executive Officer

CMORG – Cross Market Operational Resilience Group

CP – Consultation Paper

CRR – Capital Requirements Regulation

CTP – Critical Third Party

DEI – Diversity, equity, and inclusion

DP – Discussion paper

DSC – Data Standards Committee

D&I – Diversity and inclusion

EAS – Early Account Scheme

EU – European Union

ESA – European Securities and Markets Authority

ESCG – European Systemic Cyber group

FCA – Financial Conduct Authority

FinTech – Financial Technology

FMI – Financial Market Intermediary

FMIs – Financial Market Infrastructures

FPC – Financial Policy Committee

FRF – Future Regulatory Framework

FSB – Financial Stability Board

FSMA – Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended)

HMT – His Majesty's Treasury

IAIS – International Association of Insurance Supervisors

ICS – Insurance Capital Standard

ILS – insurance-linked securitisations

IRB – internal ratings-based

IRRBB – interest rate risk in the banking book

ISPV – Insurance special purpose vehicle

L-SREPs – Liquidity Supervisory Review and Evaluation Processes

MA – Matching adjustment

MALIR – Matching Adjustment Asset and Liability Information Return

MDA - Maximum distributable amount

MoU – Memorandum of Understanding

MRM – Model Risk Management

NBFI – Non-Bank Financial Institution

PMA – Post Model Adjustment

PRA – Prudential Regulation Authority

PRC – Prudential Regulation Committee

PS – Policy statement

QMC – Quarterly Model Change

RFB – Ring-fenced bodies

RWA – Risk-weighted asset

SCGO – Secondary Competitiveness and Growth Objective

SCO – Secondary Competition Objective

SDDT – Small domestic deposit takers

SMCR – Senior Managers and Certification Regime

SME – Small and medium-sized enterprise

SMF – Senior management function

SS – Supervisory statement

SVB – Silicon Valley Bank

SWES – System-wide exploratory scenario

TDC – Transforming Data Collection

TFSME – Term Funding Scheme with additional incentives for SMEs

TPR – The Pension Regulator

UKTS – UK Technical Standards

Contacting the Bank of England and the PRA

Please send any enquiries related to this publication to [email protected] .

In PS15/23, the PRA set out its rationale to rename Simpler-regime firms to Small Domestic Deposit Takers (SDDTs), and Simpler-regime consolidation entities to SDDT consolidation entities. To avoid confusion, throughout the rest of this document, the PRA will refer to SDDTs, SDDT consolidation entities, the Small Domestic Deposit Takers regime or SDDT regime, and SDDT criteria, rather than Simpler-regime firm, Simpler-regime consolidation entities, simpler regime, and Simpler-regime criteria, even when referring to past consultations.

A CTP is an entity that will be designated by HMT by a regulation made in exercise of the power in section 312L(1) of 2000, as amended by the FSMA 2023.

As at 1 January 2024.

Strictly speaking, DIFs do not accept deposits and are included under the category of deposit-takers for presentational purposes only.

Section 2E of FSMA.

SS11/13 – Internal Ratings Based (IRB) approaches .

As set out in the 2024 priorities letter on UK deposit takers .

SMFs are a type of controlled function carried out by ‘approved persons’, ie individuals who have to be approved. SMFs are the most senior people in a firm with the greatest potential to cause harm or impact upon market integrity.

Managing climate-related financial risk – thematic feedback from the PRA’s review of firms’ SS3/19 plans and clarifications of expectations and Thematic feedback on the PRA’s supervision of climate-related financial risk and the Bank of England’s Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario exercise .

Thematic feedback from the 2021/2022 round of written auditor reporting and Thematic feedback from the 2022/2023 round of written auditor reporting.

‘Digital money’ refers to claims on deposit-takers or other financial institutions, which exist only in electronic form and whose value is preserved through a combination of strict regulation and issuers’ access to central bank deposits. ‘Digital money-like instruments’ refers to other assets that exist only in electronic form and are used for payments. Some of these are regulated to support a stable value, but their issuers do not have access to central bank deposits and are subject to lighter regulation.

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Many student loan borrowers missing opportunity to find debt relief in SAVE plan: survey

Student loan servicers are the root of the communication problem.

Many student loan borrowers remain unaware of the benefits of income-driven repayment plans, a recent survey said. ( iStock )

Many borrowers currently struggling with student loan payments would benefit from enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan, according to a recent Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC)  survey .

Roughly three out of four borrowers who make $75,000 or less annually and would benefit from the SAVE plan are not currently enrolled in the plan, the survey said. Moreover, 38% of these borrowers are at risk of defaulting on their student loan payments six months from now and could be missing an opportunity to find debt relief in existing programs. 

President Joe Biden's Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan could lower borrowers' monthly payments to zero dollars, reduce monthly costs in half and save those who make payments at least $1,000 yearly. This new IDR plan was announced after the Supreme Court  struck down Biden's student loan forgiveness plan . 

"These survey results are a reflection of what borrowers have experienced these past six months since repayment restarted," SDCC President and Founder Natalia Abrams said. "We have come so far in advocating for necessary relief to millions of borrowers, and seeing the Biden Administration act is great. However, communication of these vital resources is crucial so borrowers know help is available for them right now. If borrowers do not know the available resources, they will miss relief that can lower their monthly payments, cancel their debt entirely, and so much more."

If you have private student loans, you could consider lowering your monthly payments by refinancing your loans to a lower rate. Visit Credible to speak with a personal loan expert and get your questions answered.

AMERICANS LIVING PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK OWN 60% OF CREDIT CARD DEBT: SURVEY

Student loan servicers remain inaccessible

More than half of borrowers contacting their student loan servicers with questions about resuming payments came away with unanswered questions, according to the SDCC survey. Moreover, a quarter of borrowers don't trust the information they get from their servicer, and 75% said the information they got was inaccurate or incomplete.

Every student loan borrower is assigned a loan servicer to help them navigate repayment options, including income-driven repayment (IDR), which can make payments more affordable. 

In November, the Department of Education withheld $7.2 million in payment to student loan servicers over several billing errors that triggered a delinquency status for borrowers as repayments picked up again at the start of October. The department said that loan servicer MOHELA failed to send billing statements on time to 2.5 million borrowers, with some receiving them within only seven days of their payment date. Servicers are required to send billing statements to borrowers at least 21 days before their due date. 

"I regularly hear from borrowers that they are experiencing inaccurate information or none at all from their loan servicers," SDCC Managing Director Sabrina Calazans said. "As a student loan borrower myself, I know firsthand how frustrating and harmful these communication errors can be. Borrowers need more communications coming directly from the Department of Education, given their lack of trust in their respective service providers."

If you're having trouble making payments on your private student loans, you won't benefit from federal relief. You could consider refinancing your loans for a lower interest rate to lower your monthly payments. Visit Credible to get your personalized rate in minutes .

SOCIAL SECURITY: COLA INCREASING BUT MEDICARE COSTS RISING TOO IN 2024

Billions in loans forgiven and a relief plan underway

Over $136 billion of student loans have been forgiven to more than 3.7 million Americans, even as the Supreme Court blocked Biden's original plan for forgiveness.   

The latest block of forgiveness impacts borrowers, such as teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other individuals who earned forgiveness after 10 years of public service, the White House said in a  statement . As much as $5 billion of student debt will be forgiven under the latest announcement, bringing the total number of people who have gotten their debt erased to over 3.7 million Americans.  

Starting in February, borrowers with  as few as 10 years of payments  who initially took out $12,000 or less for college had their remaining debts zeroed as long as they were enrolled in the SAVE plan. As many as 6.9 million borrowers have already enrolled in the SAVE Plan as of early January, with more than 3.5 million receiving at least  $130 billion in student loan relief .  

Additionally, the Biden Administration has doubled down on a new forgiveness plan. The plan seeks to bring relief for borrowers whose balances exceed what they originally borrowed, who first entered repayment long ago, who are eligible for relief but have not applied for it, or who attended programs or institutions that failed to provide sufficient financial value and  financial hardships . Regulation for this plan could be ready by May, with enrollment opening as soon as this summer or fall, according to a recent Forbes  article .

If you're struggling with private student loan debt, you could consider refinancing to a lower interest rate. Visit Credible to speak with a student loan expert and get your questions answered.

SECURE 2.0: OPTIONAL PROVISIONS KICK IN TO HELP RETIREMENT SAVERS WITH EMERGENCIES AND STUDENT LOAN DEBT

Have a finance-related question, but don't know who to ask? Email The Credible Money Expert at  [email protected]  and your question might be answered by Credible in our Money Expert column.

10 Coolest Upcoming Microsoft Copilot Offerings

Previews for copilots in Microsoft Viva suite and Intune plus updates to role-based copilots are in store.

Microsoft’s Copilot for Security offering becoming generally available this month might prompt some users to ask: what else is on the vendor’s roadmap for generative artificial intelligence tools?

Previews for copilots in products within the Microsoft Viva suite, a public preview for Copilot in Intune and updates to the role-based copilots for Finance, Service and Sales are just some of what the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant has in store later this year, according to Microsoft's online roadmaps for various product suites.

Microsoft’s bet on GenAI and copilots is well known, with the vendor investing in partner resources such as skilling events and workshops. Some solution providers have told CRN about their work readying customers for copilot adoption and even running pilots and tests with the technology.

[RELATED: Microsoft Copilot For Security Is Generally Available, Adding AI To Cyber Fight ]

Microsoft Copilot Updates

In March, Microsoft revealed some early indicators of AI fervor within its partner ecosystem, including:

• More than 350,000 partner personnel becoming skilled in presales and technical depth learners for Microsoft AI, Copilot and Fabric
• More than 1,000 participants in Microsoft’s Copilot for Security partner community
• IT distributor TD Synnex alone engaging more than 2,000 partners in its enablement journey for Copilot for Microsoft 365 and more than 500 individuals certified in the program

Microsoft executives should have more updates around Copilot and GenAI overall when it reports its third fiscal earnings later this month. During the vendor’s earnings call in January, CEO Satya Nadella highlighted Copilot for Microsoft 365’s fast adoption rate compared to other product suites such as E3 and E5. He compared the changes in work and workflow with Copilot as akin to the changes after people started using Microsoft Excel and email.

However, Microsoft executives – as well as those with AI rivals such as Salesforce – have tampered expectations for an AI revenue gold rush in the short term.

The AI excitement among some Microsoft solution providers comes even as Microsoft employs different release strategies with its copilots. Copilot for Microsoft 365, for example, became generally available (GA) about two months before Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners could sell it. Copilot for Security, meanwhile, became GA and sellable for CSP partners at the same time. Some copilots have come with a per-license business model while Copilot for Security’s cost is based on consumption.

Others have told CRN that copilots and GenAI have raised too many concerns around data security and access for near-term adoption.

Microsoft continues to measuredly expand access to its Copilot offerings. For example, Copilot for Microsoft 365 should become available for higher education institutions as an add on for students 18 and older on May 1. Education customers will also have the ability to buy Copilot for Sales and for Service on May 1.

Here are some of the more exciting Copilot-related updates in the development and testing phase at Microsoft.

Copilot in Viva Offerings

Copilot is rolling out for a variety of products in the Microsoft Viva suite of employee experience tools.

Two previews set for June are Copilot in Viva Glint and Copilot in Viva Learning. Copilot in Viva Glint, which has a rollout start slated for November, promises to highlight issues and possible solutions garnered from employee suggestions in survey results.

Glint users will have the ability to explore employee comments with questions in natural language, according to Microsoft.

Copilot in Viva Learning, whose rollout is slated for September, will provide users with personalized guidance, recommendations and actions related to virtual learning, according to the vendor.

In August, Microsoft plans to launch a preview for a Microsoft 365 Copilot plugin for Viva Goals. This plugin will allow users to search quick summaries of team objectives and key results (OKRs) within the Microsoft Teams collaboration application and identify risks based on OKR progress.

The following month, Microsoft plans to allow Copilot-assisted check-ins for Viva Goals, allowing users to generate draft check-ins based on status and details from associated child items and dynamic check-in templates.

Copilot in Excel

Copilot in Excel is in preview with rollout slated for June. The product will enable users to generate formula column suggestions, see chart insights and highlight data portions among other actions.

In May, Copilot for Microsoft 365 users should gain the ability to reference Excel files, along with Portable Document Format (PDF) files, when generating content.

In June, users will also have the ability to ask Copilot for answers based on content in the Microsoft Graph, pulling in data from chats, documents, meetings, emails and elsewhere.

Outlook Capabilities

In May, Microsoft will start rolling out the ability to schedule a meeting with Copilot from an email in the new Outlook for Windows, web, Mac and mobile.

From an email conversation, users will have the option to generate a meeting invitation by clicking on “schedule with Copilot.” A meeting form will appear with a Copilot-generated meeting title, agenda, conversation summary, pre-filled attendee list based on the email thread and the original email thread attached.

In July, new Outlook for Windows and web users will have the ability to click “prepare” in their inbox and get a summary of relevant files and meeting details to feel prepared for an upcoming meeting.

Copilot In Teams Updates

Microsoft has plans to roll out a series of new Copilot in Teams capabilities in May, including Copilot using Teams meeting chats and transcripts as a source when users ask it a question, drawing on what was said and typed in the chat during a meeting.

In May, Microsoft will start rolling out administrator ability to enable the Copilot for Sales plugin for Copilot in Teams meetings. This will give attendees access to Sales and Dynamics 365 data and use the meeting transcript to point out sales opportunities.

In June, Microsoft will start to roll out intelligent recap for meetings with only transcript enabled and no recording enabled. For these meetings, users can access AI-generated meeting notes, tasks and name mentions, according to Microsoft.

Copilot in Intune

At the start of April, Microsoft moved Copilot in Intune to public preview, giving more IT workers a tool for addressing end user issues faster and more easily managing policies and settings through natural language prompts.

Microsoft positions Copilot in Intune as helpful for surfacing troubleshooting guidance based on device data, summarizing existing policy settings, providing guidance around the effects of a settings change and other features.

The public preview is available to Copilot for Security subscribers, according to Microsoft.

Copilots for Finance, Service, Sales

Copilot for Finance, one of Microsoft’s role-based copilot offerings, is in preview.

Joining the likes of generally available sister products Copilot for Sales and Copilot for Service, Copilot for Finance connects to Dynamics 365, SAP and other financial systems to provide workflow automation, guided actions and recommendations in Outlook, Excel, Teams and other Microsoft 365 applications.

The ability to manage accounts receivable communications in Outlook and use Excel to reconcile financial data is expected to increase user availability in May, according to Microsoft.

Users can turn data into visuals, automate data reconciliation, give collections teams summaries of customer balance histories and more with the security, compliance and privacy policies in place with M365, according to the vendor.

Copilot for Service will gain a public preview in May for a Teams integration, allowing for meeting summaries, action items, service-specific follow-up items and CRM task creation from Teams recaps.

Copilot for Sales gains a slate of public previews in May, including:

• An integration with Microsoft Teams
• The ability to identify disparities between what customers are requesting in emails, meetings, or documents and what is documented in CRM and other data sources
• Highlighting customer issues and provide relevant next steps

These capabilities should then become GA in June, according to Microsoft.

In September, public previews coming to Copilot for Sales include:

• Highlighting critical deal insights
• Generating profiles of key stakeholders within customers
• Insights into the customer's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• Analysis of aggregated activities around customers conversations and email data

Copilot in Stream

Microsoft plans to make Copilot in Stream generally available by the end of April for customers with the Copilot for Microsoft 365 license.

This offering should give users the ability to summarize any video with a transcript, whether that video is in the Stream web application, SharePoint, Teams or Viva Engage.

Users can ask Copilot for project updates and issues based on the transcript, for new risks mentioned, to find where in a video certain topics and people are discussed, identify calls to action and other prompts, according to Microsoft.

Power Platform Copilot Updates

The Microsoft Power Platform suite of low-code and business automation tools has multiple Copilot updates on its roadmap.

In May, Power Apps makers and users will gain a public preview for using Copilot in a new data model visual editor used for creating tables from Excel files, SharePoint lists and other data sources. Power Pages users will gain a public preview for getting answers from website data, avoiding searching sites manually. And Microsoft Copilot Studio users get a public preview for using generative AI insights to improve the copilots they build.

Come June, Power Automate users get access to a public preview of Copilot in Power Automate for desktop. Users can create desktop flows without complex coding with this capability. Microsoft Copilot Studio users gain general availability for generative actions, which should save makers from building copilots manually and improve copilot answers to unanticipated questions if a plugin matches.

In July, Power Apps makers should gain a public preview for using Copilot in canvas apps connected to Microsoft Dataverse data to ask questions and better understand the data.

And in September, Microsoft Copilot Studio should get a public preview for WhatsApp, Azure Communication Services Chat and Short Message Service (SMS) channel support.

Dynamics 365 Copilot Updates

Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool has a host of Copilot updates on its roadmap.

In May, a public preview for leveraging Copilot to surface answers from sales documents will become available, with general availability planned for July. Users should have the ability to chat with Copilot in D365 Sales and get questions answered based on documents stored in SharePoint.

A Copilot in Power Automate integration with Business Central enters public preview in May, allowing for flow building with natural language.

In June, Dynamics 365 Human Resources users should receive a public preview option for using Copilot to automatically calculate fitment percentage and generate job descriptions. The preview should go GA in September, according to Microsoft.

In July, Dynamics 365 Finance users will gain a public preview for using Copilot in the pending vendor invoice list and vendor invoice center to eliminate the need for repeated and time-consuming navigation between the vendor invoice list and the detailed pending invoice page.

A public preview for Business Central users leveraging Copilot to expedite the creation of product information and creating sales lines is slated for July.

In August, D365 Field Service users should have the option for public preview access to work order creation in Teams using Copilot.

A preview is expected for D365 Project Operations users in September that will allow for Copilot enhancements to tailor project status reports, according to Microsoft.

Copilot in OneDrive, SharePoint

Copilot in OneDrive will start to roll out in May, requiring a Copilot for M365 license to use, according to Microsoft.

Users will have the ability to leverage Copilot to ask questions and surface information from OneDrive files without needing to open them. Copilot in OneDrive will also summarize one or multiple files.

Copilot in OneDrive will work with multiple file types, including spreadsheets, web files, presentations, documents and more. Users can ask in natural language about the differences between certain files, ask for sales figures and even ask for the answers to be put in a table.

They can also ask Copilot in OneDrive to use a specific document, for example, to make a new outline of a sales pitch, turn resumes into tables or even create a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs). Copilot in OneDrive can suggest ways to improve a file or summarize a file.

Copilot in SharePoint is now in preview with rollout slated for May, according to Microsoft.

SharePoint users will have the ability to generate custom websites and pages with content hierarchy, design and sample content based on a brief prompt.

Copilot in SharePoint will also carry over existing data security and privacy commitments, according to Microsoft.

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Everyone deserves to succeed. But today, for too many Canadians, especially Millennials and Gen Z, your hard work isn’t paying off like it did for previous generations. Your paycheque doesn’t go as far as costs go up, and saving enough seems harder and harder. It doesn’t have to be this way. Every generation should get a fair chance to get ahead.

One of the biggest pressures on people right now is housing. Young Canadians are renting more than ever and being priced out of their communities. Families are finding it difficult to get a good place to settle down. The cost to build homes is too high, and the time it takes to finish projects is too long. We need to build more homes in Canada, and we need to build them by the millions.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, and the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, today unveiled the federal government’s ambitious housing plan, Solving the housing crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan , supported by new investments from the upcoming Budget 2024. At the heart of this plan lies a commitment to make housing affordable. No hard-working Canadian should have to spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing costs. No Canadian should have to live without knowing they have a safe and affordable place to live.

The plan lays out a bold strategy to unlock 3.87 million new homes by 2031. This includes a minimum of 2 million net new homes, on top of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s forecast of 1.87 million being built anyway by 2031. Federal actions in this plan, in Budget 2024, and taken in fall 2023 will support at least 1.2 million new homes, and we call on all orders of government to build at least 800,000 more homes by 2031.

Here’s what we’re doing:

Building more homes by bringing down the costs of homebuilding, helping cities make it easier to build homes at a faster pace, changing the way Canadian homebuilders manufacture homes, and growing the workforce to ensure we get the job done. This includes:

• A Public Lands for Homes Plan to lead a national effort to build affordable housing on federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal lands across the country. We will partner with homebuilders and housing providers to build homes on every possible site across the public portfolio and ensure long-term affordability.
• $15 billion in additional loans for the Apartment Construction Loan Program to build a minimum of 30,000 new rental apartments, in big cities, small towns, and rural communities alike, will be proposed in Budget 2024. With this additional financing, the program is on track to build over 131,000 new apartments by 2031-32.
• Launching Canada Builds, a Team Canada approach to building affordable homes for the middle class on under-utilized lands across the country. Canada Builds combines federal low-cost loans with provincial and territorial investments to scale up construction on rental homes for the middle class, from coast to coast to coast.
• Supporting Indigenous Peoples in urban, rural, and northern areas . We will also provide additional distinctions-based investments for Indigenous housing to be delivered by Indigenous governments, organizations, housing, and service providers.

Making it easier to own or rent a home by ensuring that every renter or homeowner has a home that suits their needs, and the stability to retain it. We’re putting measures to protect tenants against unfairly rising rent payments, leverage rental payment history to improve credit scores, increase the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit, extend mortgage amortizations for first-time home buyers buying newly built homes, and more:

• Launching a Tenant Protection Fund to provide funding to legal services and tenants’ rights advocacy organizations to better protect tenants against unfairly rising rent payments, renovictions, or bad landlords.
• Leveraging rental payment history to improve credit scores, helping you qualify for a mortgage and better rates.
• Increasing the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit by $25,000 and extending the grace period to repay by an additional three years.
• Extending mortgage amortizations for first-time buyers buying newly built homes . Mortgage insurance rules will be amended to allow 30-year mortgage amortizations exclusively for first-time home buyers purchasing new builds.

Helping Canadians who can’t afford a home by creating more affordable and rental housing – including for students, seniors, persons with disabilities, and equity-deserving communities – and eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada. This includes:

• Providing $1 billion for the Affordable Housing Fund to build affordable homes and launching a permanent Rapid Housing Stream to build on the success of the previous three rounds of the Rapid Housing Initiative.
• Launching a $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to protect and expand affordable housing.

The Prime Minister also announced new measures included in Canada’s Housing Plan to attract, train, and hire the skilled-trade workers Canada needs to build more homes.

• $90 million for the Apprenticeship Service , creating apprenticeship opportunities to train and recruit the next generation of skilled trades workers.
• $10 million for the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness program to encourage high school students to enter the skilled trades – creating more jobs and opportunities for the next generation of workers to build Canada up.
• $50 million in the Foreign Credential Recognition Program , with a focus on residential construction to help skilled trades workers get more homes built. Like our previous $115 million investment, this funding will remove barriers to credential recognition, so workers spend less time dealing with red-tape and more time getting shovels in the ground.

Transforming our housing system and solving the housing crisis will take a Team Canada effort. No one level of government, home builder, not-for-profit, or community can do it alone. We need every partner pulling in the same direction to build the homes Canadians need.

This is about realizing Canada’s promise of affordable housing for every generation – and it’s just one of the things that we are going to be doing in Budget 2024. Alongside these measures, we’re getting healthy food on kids’ plates, delivering stronger public health care, making life more affordable, and creating good jobs to make sure every generation can get ahead.

“We are changing the way we build homes in Canada. In our housing plan and Budget 2024, we are delivering ambitious action and investments to build more homes, make it easier to rent or own, and help the most vulnerable with stable housing. This is about restoring fairness for every generation, and housing is at the heart of that.” The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

“We are announcing today real, tangible measures that are going to help more younger Canadians get those first keys of their own. We are using every tool at our disposal to deliver housing without delay – because we want to make the dream of homeownership a reality for younger Canadians.” The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

“Canada can and will solve the housing crisis, and we’re going to do it by getting every home builder, not-for-profit, mayor, city councillor, and premier pulling in the same direction to build the homes Canadians need.” The Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

Quick Facts

• The Prime Minister today also announced the creation of a new Deputy Minister of Public Lands and Housing position within the Privy Council Office. The Deputy Minister will oversee and report on federal efforts to build more homes for Canadians through the use of public lands, providing a single point of accountability within the public service. An appointment to this position will be announced later today.
• Since 2015, the federal government has helped almost two million Canadians find a place to call home.
• Restore generational fairness for renters, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, by taking new action to protect renters’ rights and unlock pathways for them to become homeowners. Learn more .
• Launch a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction or upgrade of essential infrastructure across the country and get more homes built for Canadians. Learn more .
• Top-up the Apartment Construction Loan Program with $15 billion, make new reforms so it is easier to access, and launch Canada Builds to call on all provinces and territories to join a Team Canada effort to build more homes, faster. Learn more .
• Support renters by launching a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to preserve more rental homes and make sure they stay affordable. Learn more .
• Change the way we build homes in Canada by announcing over $600 million to make it easier and cheaper to build more homes, faster, including through a new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund and a new Housing Design Catalogue. Learn more .
• The Apartment Construction Loan Program , a $40 billion initiative that will be topped up with an additional $15 billion in Budget 2024 to boost the construction of new rental homes by providing low-cost financing to homebuilders. Since 2017, the Apartment Construction Loan Program has committed over $18 billion in loans to support the creation of more than 48,000 new rental homes. With our recently announced measures , the Apartment Construction Loan Program is now on track to help build over 131,000 new rental homes across Canada by 2031-32.
• The  Affordable Housing Fund , a $14+ billion initiative that supports the creation of new market and below-market rental housing and the repair and renewal of existing housing. It is designed to attract partnerships and investments to develop projects that meet a broad spectrum of housing needs, from shelters to affordable homeownership. As of December 31, 2023, the Fund has committed $8+ billion to repair or renew over 150,000 homes and support the construction of more than 32,000 new homes.
• The Housing Accelerator Fund , a $4 billion initiative that will be topped up with an additional $400 million in Budget 2024 to encourage municipalities to incentivize building by making transformative changes, such as removing prohibitive zoning barriers. To date, the federal government has signed 179 Housing Accelerator Fund agreements which, combined, will fast-track an estimated total of over 750,000 housing units across the country over the next decade.
• The Rapid Housing Initiative , a $4 billion fund that is fast-tracking the construction of 15,500 new affordable homes for people experiencing homelessness or in severe housing need by 2026. The Rapid Housing Initiative also supports the acquisition of existing buildings for the purpose of rehabilitation or conversion to permanent affordable housing units, focusing on the housing needs of the most vulnerable, including people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, women fleeing domestic violence, seniors, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities.
• Progress on these and other programs and initiatives under Canada’s National Housing Strategy are updated quarterly at  www.placetocallhome.ca . The Housing Funding Initiatives Map  shows housing projects that have been developed.
• On November 9, 2023, we signed a historic Housing Accelerator Fund agreement with the Province of Quebec.
• Building on the success of the 2023 agreement, the federal government will continue to work closely with Quebec to build more homes for Quebecers, including by delivering additional funding through the Housing Accelerator Fund and the new Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund.
• The Government of Canada’s Budget 2024 will be tabled in the House of Commons by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
• Save more young families money and help more moms return to their careers by building more affordable child care spaces and training more early childhood educators across Canada. Learn more .
• Create a National School Food Program to provide meals to about 400,000 kids every year and help ensure every child has the best start in life, no matter their circumstances. Learn more .
• Secure Canada’s AI advantage through a $2.4 billion package of measures that will accelerate job growth in Canada’s AI sector, boost productivity by helping researchers and businesses develop and adopt AI, and ensure this is done responsibly. Learn more .
• Provide the Canadian Armed Forces with the tools and capacity they need to defend Canada and protect North America, advance Canada’s interests and values around the world, and support its members with an overall investment of $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years. Learn more .

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Read the memo Elon Musk sent Tesla staff announcing that the company is laying off more than 10% of the workforce

• Elon Musk announced in an internal memo that Tesla plans to cut over 10% of its global workforce. 
• The Tesla CEO said that as the EV maker grew rapidly, there's been some "duplication" of roles. 
• He added that the cuts will help it become "lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase." 

Elon Musk sent Tesla employees a memo on Sunday announcing that the EV maker would be laying off more than 10% of its workforce globally. The internal email was sent close to midnight PT, per a timestamp seen by Business Insider.

In the memo, obtained by BI, the Tesla CEO said that there has been a "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" as the company has grown rapidly.

On Sunday night, workers who were impacted by the layoffs received an email to their personal accounts, informing them their roles had been eliminated.

Related stories

"Effective now, you will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations," the email read. Tesla's share price was down by 1.2% in premarket trading on Monday on the back of the job cuts news.

Over the weekend, Tesla workers had speculated that layoffs were on the horizon , as rumors that some managers had been told to provide upper management with a list of names spread throughout the company. Separately, Tesla started instructing managers in February to identify which roles at the company were business-critical and had temporarily delayed performance reviews. It's the company's first large-scale layoffs since it laid off some workers at its plant in Buffalo, New York, in February 2023.

At the time, the Workers United union said in a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board that Tesla unlawfully laid off some of the staff and that the workers were terminated possibly "in retaliation for union activity and to discourage union activity."  Tesla denied this  and said the employees were laid off due to poor performance.  The job cuts come as Tesla is grappling with slower demand for its EVs and its stock is down over 31% year-to-date. The company will post its next earnings report on April 23.

Read the full memo Elon Musk sent Tesla employees below:

Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe. With this rapid growth there has been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas. As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity. As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally. There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle. I would like to thank everyone who is departing Tesla for their hard work over the years. I'm deeply grateful for your many contributions to our mission and we wish you well in your future opportunities. It is very difficult to say goodbye. For those remaining, I would like to thank you in advance for the difficult job that remains ahead. We are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy and artificial intelligence. As we prepare the company for the next phase of growth, your resolve will make a huge difference in getting us there. Thanks, Elon

Do you work for Tesla or have insights to share? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email and device at [email protected]

Watch: What happens when Elon Musk moves markets with a tweet

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Tesla laying off more than 10% of staff globally as sales fall

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• Staff notified of layoffs effective immediately -source
• Tesla looking to cut costs, boost productivity -memo
• Q1 deliveries fell for first time in nearly four years
• Battery development chief, public policy chief announce departure on X

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Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru, Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, Zhang Yan in Shanghai and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Akash Sriram Editing by Peter Henderson, David Holmes, Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis

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Autos correspondent in Germany, covering the industry's transition to electric vehicles. Previously reported on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the retail sector in South Asia, China and Europe, and wider general news. Formerly at YouGov and Economy, a charity working to produce accessible economics coverage.

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Morgan Stanley to cut around 50 investment banking jobs in Asia-Pacific, sources say

Morgan Stanley is cutting around 50 investment banking jobs in the Asia-Pacific region due to a deals slump, sources with knowledge of the matter said.