We often cite the statistic that in a 1,000 employee company where employees get just 40 emails a day, the company loses $1.56 million a year in lost time alone. That assumes 10 of those emails are irrelevant to their jobs or spam and it takes 15 seconds to assess and delete each one.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Our typical large corporate client (including non-profits and government agencies) has been in business for more than 10 to 15 years and has experienced either meteoric or predictable growth as well as related growing pains. As such, internal and external communications have become complex, decentralized and inconsistent. A lot of important top-down communications get lost in the hub-bub of day-to-day operations at the local level. Additionally, there is often a disconnect between headquarters and local offices.

These organizations usually have a fairly large communications staff, with professionals at headquarters and at satellite operations. These departments are usually mired in the day-to-day communication needs of the organization. An executive level manager who oversees the function either reports directly to senior manager or is a member of that team.

We work with communication managers and the senior management team to streamline their operations, assess existing practices, remove unneeded or ineffective layers of communication channels, realign message networks, identify key communicators and informal communication circles and provide management with solutions for closing gaps in processes that will increase productivity, improve processes and reduce operating costs.

Following are some of the consulting and communication services we offer large corporations. Many of these a similar to those offered to medium sized businesses, but are conducted on a larger, multiple level scale:

Communication Audits & Plans - Typically this is the starting point for most organizations. It's a lot like going to the doctor for a physical. The communication audit assesses the general health of the organization's communications. It examines the level and nature of current historical internal and external communications, identifies gaps in the process and provides recommendations for closing those gaps, removing roadblocks, strenghtening channels and creating new methods for communicating clearly and effectively at all levels of the organization. This audit looks a several of the organization, including headquarters, remote operations and satellite facilities, such as fulfillment centers, warehouses and retail outlets.

Comprehensive Brand Management - We work with these organizations to ensure that their brand is aligned throughout the organization, from the most routine phone call to the most complex sales relationship. This includes clarifying vision and mission, engaging management and staff in the company's culture, removing roadblocks that may compromise the brand and realigning operations to match the organization's long term strategies and tactics.

Crisis Plans - Even the most trusted and stalwart of organizations can be rocked by a crisis, whether it is a natural disaster or man made. We work with organizations to identify potential crises and assess their impact on operations. We then develop a comprehensive crisis communications plan that helps you communicate clearly to employees, the media, families, the general public and other key stakeholders during a crisis. It also helps reduce the potential or impact of identified crises so the business can either maintain operations or recover quickly while under duress. Crises could be as varied as an earthquake or accidental death of a CEO to a hostage situation, death of workers or an ongoing federal organization.

Employee Communication Plans & Programs - A common problem of many large sized corporations is that their communication programs have been built over time. This creates a layering of channels and methods that doesn't have the benefit of a global perspective. This is particularly true in businesses who have been part of a merger and/or acquisition where dissimilar cultures and practices are melded together. We work with businesses to assess these programs in terms of effectiveness, redundancy, ROI and appropriateness as a tool for different communications. The result is a top to bottom analysis and realignment that improves the value and reception of your key messages.

Internal Communication Assessment - We work with businesses to identify and strengthen internal communications. Assessments may include: working with management to identify roadblocks in disseminating messages; studying the informal communication loops that exist in any organization and finding methods for making it an asset to management (up to 80% of all communications are informal in an organization); cultivating key opinion leaders and gaining their buy-in on key initiatives; and determining the level and type of communication needed at various levels within an organization, particularly those with dispersed operations.

Strategic Communication Realignment - This is a mouthful but in short it means that we work with management to ensure that the organization's culture and brand match the experience of its stakeholders, whether those stakeholders are employees, stockholders, the general public, contractors or vendors. Nothing could affect a business more fundamentally than saying and thinking you're one thing without understanding that you may be perceived as being something entirely different. This can create serious impediments to long term growth and prosperity.

Technology Integration into Communication Processes - Businesses have been assailed with a plethora of new technologies that promise unparalleled efficiencies and savings. From now common Intranets, email clients, the web and content management systems to Wi-Fi, just-in-time knowledgebases and virtual networks, organizations must be able to assess the effectiveness of these tools. We work with clients to sort through the sales pitches of IT professionals and analyze the effectiveness of these technologies in terms of productivity, cost savings, ROI and resource allocation.

Web Site Design & Branding - If you have an existing web site, we can assess it and realign it to fit your unique brand and value proposition. If you don't have one, we can design one for you that is affordable, effective and which adds value to your sales efforts and client relationships.