
CEOs and business leaders today want their internal communication professionals to be business people first, communicators second.
This is backed up by surveys that show business acumen is in the top 10 skills and competencies that internal communicators need. Yet a VMA Group survey in 2018 highlighted business acumen as the skill and competency they lacked most.
Of course, this is not a new problem. As Amit Bajaj, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services Europe told IC Kollectif: “Business acumen, co-existing with communications expertise, is the foundation of good internal communication. IC pros should know how the business works, its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. They should have an overall sense of everything that happens inside and envisage the future.”
In a recent Poppulo white paper, Going beyond engagement: The business value of internal communications for the C-Suite, the CEO of Artis Advisory, Zora Artis, explored what communication professionals need to do to be strategic advisors in an environment of constant challenge and change.
In this guide, Zora focuses on the key competencies and characteristics that communication professionals need if they want to become more rounded and strategic. At the center of these is the foundational one of business acumen.

Internal communication is under real pressure. IC teams are expected to support leaders, shape culture, and deliver relevant, personalized communication to an increasingly diverse audience—all while operating at greater speed and scale than ever before. AI arrives at the right moment. It doesn’t replace communicators; it elevates them. Applied well, AI sharpens the fundamentals of effective communication: diagnosing issues, shaping the narrative, guiding leaders, and delivering messages that connect people to purpose and progress. At its best, AI accelerates drafting, adapts content for different formats, improves accessibility, and surfaces insights about what’s landing. Without governance, though, it can create noise or risk. The opportunity for IC teams is to bring AI in thoughtfully, with governance and human judgment at the center. This guide shows how to do exactly that. Inside, you’ll find practical guidance on when to use AI, where humans remain essential, how to establish guardrails, how to prompt effectively, and how to scale AI responsibly across channels and teams.

Clear answers on security, data protection, integrations, deployment, AI governance, and enterprise scalability.

Over the past two decades, campus communication has shifted from posters and email blasts to a complex web of comms channels that are accessible to students, faculty, and visitors throughout their days. The modern university is both physical and digital, and the speed of communication must meet the needs of a digitally-native generation. In this environment, digital signage has moved from a nice-to-have to a strategic medium—visible, immediate, and flexible—one that connects a dispersed campus. This whitepaper explores how institutions are using digital signage to communicate smarter and faster, and how to build a program that is easy to operate, simple to scale, and resilient in the moments that matter most. Drawing on Poppulo’s expertise in digital signage for college campuses , we’ll share how leading universities are centralizing digital signage management, empowering multiple departments, and using data and design to make every message count. Keep reading to learn how top universities are leveraging digital signage to create more connected, informed, and vibrant campus communities, setting new standards for communication in higher education.