Telum released The Telum Asia Pacific Communications Survey 2021, a state of the industry report with contributions from 450 senior in-house and agency communications professionals.
The survey shows that nearly nine-in-10 senior communications leaders are optimistic about the year ahead despite the challenges of navigating the global pandemic. COVID and the global economy were also cited as the biggest challenges for 2021.

Some key highlights of the survey include:

• 77 per cent said that communications functions and teams have been raised in importance over the last year.
• Nearly six in 10 said that they do not see returning to the office full-time with continuation of culture (20 per cent), training and development (18 per cent) and networking (15 per cent) highlighted as areas likely to be most impacted by remote working.
• 25 per cent of senior communicators identified burnout at as the top issue facing their teams while there is a renewed focus on upskilling teams to adapt to accelerated digital transformation.
• Three quarters of surveyed in-house respondents plan to retain or increase spending on agencies in 2021 while expanding the skill sets of teams was identified as a major priority.
• 8 in 10 see traditional media remaining or increasing in importance with national and international media the most trusted sources of information.

Download the full survey here.