You may be wondering what strategic communication has to do with digital transformation. The short answer is everything. Digital transformation continues to dominate the strategic agenda of organizations worldwide. According to IDC, global spending on digital transformation technologies and services is expected to surpass $3 trillion this year. Yet despite massive investment in platforms, data, and AI, the outcomes remain uneven. Research consistently shows that around 70% of transformation initiatives fail to achieve their intended goals.

The problem is rarely technology. More often, the issue lies in how organizations align people, behaviors, and decision-making with transformation goals. This is where strategic communication and change management play a critical role. But to understand what strategic communication should be, we first need to address what it is not.

Strategic communications: What we don’t do!

Strategic communication is not about volume, noise, or campaigns mapped neatly to initiatives. And yet many organizations still operate this way. In my experience, and as Jorunn Aamodt highlights in her article “The biggest mistake in comms planning,” the core issue is that communication too often becomes activity-driven rather than impact-driven.

Communication teams work hard to be strategic, but they often get trapped in reactive delivery cycles, responding to requests tied to transformation programs, leadership announcements, or project milestones.

Why? Because the operating model often rewards delivery over impact and outputs over outcomes. Success becomes measured by activity: the number of campaigns launched, messages delivered, or channels activated. Over time, communication teams unintentionally become content engines, producing materials rather than influencing outcomes.

When communication functions operate this way, they remain in response mode and lose sight of where they can truly move the needle for the business.

Alignment to initiatives does not guarantee impact

Many communication plans look strategic on paper. They include messages aligned to transformation initiatives, polished visuals, and campaign calendars with key milestones. But appearance does not always translate to impact.

I strongly agree with Jorunn Aamodt on this point – too often these plans create “the illusion of alignment”, meaning communication that mirrors the business roadmap without materially improving execution.

In the context of digital transformation, this gap is significant. Harvard Business Review revealed a shocking statistic that 95% of employees don’t understand their organization’s strategy. My view is that the number is just as high even when leaders believe communication has been effective. This highlights a crucial distinction: informing employees is not the same as enabling change.

A different starting point: Risk

A more strategic approach begins with a different question. Instead of asking, “What initiatives do we need to communicate?”

Organizations should ask: Where could poor communication jeopardize success? This shift reframes the role of communication. Rather than mapping campaigns to initiatives, we focus on identifying and addressing the risks where misunderstanding, misalignment, or low adoption could derail progress.

At Schneider Electric, this mindset is reflected in how communication is used to position IT as a business enabler rather than a technical function. Instead of simply promoting IT initiatives, the focus is on clearly articulating the business value and outcomes of technology investments. This means translating technical delivery into language that resonates with business leaders, linking IT efforts directly to operational performance, efficiency, and customer impact. Communication, in this context, becomes a tool to drive alignment, build credibility, and accelerate adoption, not just share updates.

This is the difference between communicating what is happening and ensuring people understand why it matters and what to do differently.

The winning recipe

Strategic communication focuses on three priorities:

• Prioritizing critical issues where clarity and alignment are essential
• Building internal communication capability, especially among leaders and managers
• Solving real business problems, rather than simply echoing the transformation roadmap

Research reinforces the importance of this shift. According to Prosci, organizations with mature change management practices are seven times more likely to meet their transformation objectives. Therefore, integrating communication and change management early in transformation planning significantly improves adoption and organizational alignment. Transformation succeeds when people understand, adopt, and sustain change.

The new north star

The mistake many organizations make is mapping communication directly to initiatives.
The more effective approach is mapping communication to risks and opportunities.
When communication focuses on the points where transformation could succeed or fail, it shifts from a support function to a strategic capability. Strategic communication is not about echoing business plans. It is about enabling success.

For organizations navigating complex digital transformations, that distinction matters. And as transformation accelerates across industries, the role of communication professionals and change managers will only become more critical. The goal isn’t to produce more messages. It’s to ensure communication helps the organization move forward with clarity, alignment, and purpose.