Remember the good old days when driving to a new place meant wrestling with a giant, folded map? Or stopping to ask a local for directions, only to get a vague; “It’s near the church, ask again when you get there”? Those holiday road trips were an adventure, right? You’d be driving along, trying to remember if it was two rights, then a left, or was it straight until the roundabout and then left?

Now, imagine if back then I offered you a device that gave real-time directions for €500. You’d probably laugh and say; “That’s more than my car’s worth!” Well, that was certainly the case for me. But think about all the petrol and time wasted on wrong turns. Imagine being a lorry driver without a GPS - extra miles, more accidents, and a lot of frustration. Not to mention the wear and tear on the vehicle, erratic driving, less economical routes, sudden manoeuvres, and the sheer loss of time and productivity.

It’s not just about the cost of fuel; it’s the extra mileage leading to more frequent maintenance, the increased risk of accidents, and the overall stress and frustration of not knowing where you’re going.

The importance of data-driven decisions

This brings me to internal communications. My background is in communications for large organisations, leading and managing global channels, content, and big campaigns. Today, everyone talks about data-driven decisions. But raw data is like those old maps - useful, but not insightful on its own. It can be puzzling and daunting to create dashboards or collect all data from various channels. Let alone turning these into actual actionable insights and learnings. I know, I’ve been there. The time that goes into collating that data, the outcome is usually underwhelming, and the data itself often raises more questions than answers.

Turning data into insights

In our navigation example, data is all the coordinates, streets and highways etc. But insights come from knowing where you are, where you want to go, and current conditions like traffic jams. Are you walking, biking, or driving? Do you want the fastest route or the scenic one? What’s next? Steering clear of dangerous roads with higher accident rates? Opting for roads with better surfaces during rain? Or choosing routes that are gentler on the tyres?

You might think that navigating the most efficient route means missing out on unexpected places of beauty or delicious food. But what if the navigation system, using data, could incorporate these delightful surprises to create the best experience for you?

Data becomes valuable when it offers insights that help you enhance your strategy, refine your messaging, and improve the overall experience. Measuring things in communications without extracting those actionable insights is pointless. Marketers measure everything they can. For external communications, there are plenty of tools to measure effectiveness. But internal communications? It’s still catching up.

Take intranet article views, for example. They don’t tell you much, but it’s so irresistible to look at the highest number and move on to the next article. Check out Dr. Laurence Lock Lee’s blog post for more on this.

The risks of not understanding your audience

Now, instead of diving into solutions, let’s think about the risks of not understanding your audience’s behaviour. If you don’t know how employees engage with your content, or if important conversations go unnoticed, you’re in trouble.

Yes, surveys and focus groups can gauge perceptions, but actual behaviour, conversations, and participation levels are more telling. Just like a navigation system that learns your driving habits to suggest the best route, understanding real employee interactions is key.

The modern digital workplace has transformed how we communicate, yet many organisations still navigate their internal communications strategy without proper data insights. This approach carries significant risks that can impact organisational effectiveness and success.

Let’s explore the five most critical risks:

Risk No.1 - Misallocated resources and investment

In today’s budget-conscious environment, every Euro, dollar, pound, yen spent needs to count. Without data-driven insights, organisations risk investing in communication channels and content that don’t effectively reach or engage employees. This isn’t just about wasting money – it’s about missing opportunities to connect with your workforce through the right channels at the right time. When you can’t measure the impact of your communication investments, you’re essentially operating in the dark.

According to a study by the Institute for Public Relations, organisations that fail to align their internal communication strategies with data-driven insights can misallocate up to 30% of their communication budgets, leading to ineffective resource utilisation and missed engagement opportunities.

Risk No.2 - Ineffective message delivery

Picture sending crucial company updates into a void, unsure if they’re reaching or resonating with your intended audience. Without proper analytics, organisations lack visibility into whether their messages are being received, read, and understood. This creates a dangerous gap where important information might be lost in the noise of daily communications, or worse, completely missed by key stakeholders. The risk of either overwhelming or under-informing your employees becomes very real.

To measure whether your messages are reaching the intended audience, check the Cross Enterprise Collaboration report in SWOOP Analytics for Viva Engage and  SWOOP Analytics for Microsoft Teams, or head into SWOOP Analytics for Microsoft 365 and check the Time Spent in M365 report. Without measurement, organisations can miss crucial engagement opportunities and continue with ineffective one-way communication.

Risk No.3 - Missing emotional intelligence 

On social collaboration networks, such as Viva Engage, understanding the emotional undercurrent of conversations is crucial yet challenging. Without sentiment analysis and proper measurement, organisations risk missing early warning signs of employee concerns, frustrations, or misunderstandings. What might start as a simple misalignment could evolve into a larger cultural issue if not detected and addressed early. Beyond risk mitigation, organisations also miss opportunities to amplify positive sentiment and learn from successful engagement patterns. This emotional blind spot can prevent leaders from building genuine empathy and understanding with their workforce, ultimately affecting trust and organisational culture.

According to McKinsey research; “…uncaring and uninspiring leaders are a big part of why people left their jobs, along with a lack of career development. Flexibility, on the other hand, is a top motivator and reason for staying.”

To understand the sentiment happening in your digital workplace, use SWOOP Analytics’ Sentiment Analysis report for a further breakdown of which posts are exhibiting the strongest sentiment. This will help you to pinpoint the posts that might be worth a review to understand the subject and context of the strong sentiment.

Risk No.4 - Poor strategic planning

Making strategic decisions based on gut feelings rather than evidence is like trying to navigate without a compass. Without data, organisations struggle to set realistic goals, measure success, or demonstrate the return on investment of their communication initiatives. This makes it nearly impossible to improve strategies over time, or justify investments in new communication tools and approaches. Strategic planning becomes a guessing game rather than a calculated process.

Building community and connection has been the cornerstone of SWOOP Analytics for the past 10 years. Use the Cross-Enterprise Collaboration report in SWOOP Analytics for Viva Engage or SWOOP Analytics for M365 and you can see which departments most strongly connect with others as a network map. Without analytics to measure these Viva Engage metrics, organisations cannot identify if their enterprise social network is delivering value, or spot opportunities for improvement.

Risk No.5 - Leadership credibility and trust

Perhaps the most significant risk lies in the impact on leadership credibility and trust. Research shows that leaders who under-communicate are viewed as less qualified and less empathetic. Without data to guide their communication approach, leaders might think they’re being visible and engaging when they’re actually broadcasting messages that don’t resonate or generate meaningful dialogue. In today’s environment, where trust in leadership is crucial for organisational success, this disconnect can have far-reaching consequences for employee engagement, retention, and overall business performance.

Microsoft’s Work Trend Index found 54% of managers feel leadership is out of touch with employee expectations and 74% per cent don’t feel they have the influence or resources they need to implement change for their team.

Conclusion

The good news is that these risks can be mitigated through proper analytics and measurement tools. By implementing solutions that provide clear insights into communication effectiveness, organisations can make informed decisions that drive better outcomes. The key is to start viewing internal communications as a strategic function that requires the same level of data-driven decision-making as other business-critical areas.

In the end, measuring internal communications effectively is like upgrading from a folded map to a GPS with live traffic. Without it, you’re navigating with best guesses and hoping you’ll eventually get there. And like all road trips, the journey can be half the fun - just so long as you don’t get hopelessly lost along the way.