Every large organisation should have a strong strategy for their public affairs, but many businesses let it slip. It’s usually companies with 1,000+ employees that use public affairs specialists. Although this is the norm, the size of your company doesn’t matter. A solid public affairs strategy can help push your organisation’s interests forward. Indeed, a positive move forward is welcome for any business.
The Three Key Areas Where Public Affairs Shine
Public affairs can be relevant to every department inside a company. After all, it’s all about tracking, engaging, and organising your business processes. It can range from your business communications to how you act on government policies and how socially responsible you are. There are three main areas where public affairs can carry a lot of weight.
1. Your Organisation can Influence Public Policy
It all depends on how well your organisation presents itself externally. Is the government (both local and international) aware of you? What relationships do you have with people who work on public policy? It’s the job of public affairs to get your company noticed. Put yourself out there and let people know about your business. Also, forge positive relationships with policymakers so that they will listen to you.
2. Building Strong Relationships with Legislators
It would help if you also created strong relationships with legislators. It’s not about contacting them only when you need a favour. Reach out to them often. Let them know if you make a charitable donation to a community business in the local area. Or if you are planning on opening a new office or other structure that might affect the local economy. Contact the local legislators and give them the heads up.
3. Engaging with and Monitoring your Key Stakeholders
Stakeholder management is imperative to keep your business strategy on track. You can determine the right stakeholders and keep them engaged. Find out which social media platforms they use and stay in touch with them. It will help you identify any risks so your company can act. You can keep a database and update them on company activities and new products.
Using Political Intelligence at the Right Time
Businesses need to know what is happening in real-time. The latest news can help guide your strategy and move the company in the right direction. But it can be hard to keep up to speed with everything going on in real-time. You can use an automated system to help you stay up-to-date with your political monitoring. You can also then use the gathered data for your political reporting obligations.
Planet Compliance asked Edouard Schaerer, Co-Founder and CEO at LARI Digital, how their automated solutions are helping companies improve their public affairs monitoring. Edouard said, “Humans solve problems by using the right processes and tools. I believe that at the center of an effective strategy, you’ll still have to count on human expertise. That said, due to the increasing amount of information an organisation has to evaluate, it is becoming a challenge to achieve competitive efficiency without a smart usage of technology.”
Public Affairs Support with LARI Digital
Technical solutions can help businesses manage their public affairs in a better way. LARI Digital is already helping companies in four different areas.
Political Monitoring of Policy Changes
Many public affairs staff spend vast amounts of time monitoring changes to legislation. The effort is costly, and at times data gets missed. LARI’s automated monitoring function allows organisations to receive relevant information instantly from DACH, EU, and Liechtenstein. Companies can also boost issue management as the monitoring integration enables critical follow-ups.
Access to a Political Calendar
It’s hard staying on top of the political business calendar. Because agenda items, commissions and sessions can change. You might end up missing an important date. When you manage it manually, you need to update the calendar and inform employees. LARI’s automation lets you comment, classify, mark, and share items. When issues arise, they are updated on the LARI calendar.
Storing of Data for Political Reporting
When you gather relevant political information, you have to store it to use it at the right time. Traditional storage methods, such as Excel, Word, and SharePoint, take valuable time. The LARI integration helps you engage and track your internal and external stakeholders. Also, you can access and create PDF or DOCX files whenever you want.
Documenting Political Processes
It can be time-consuming for companies to search and document a political process. When you rely on manual systems, there is no place to store this information. The automation lets you sort your political content by language, period, and source. You can quickly create a document detailing everything you need in a few clicks.
In Summary
Automation can make the process easier for your public affairs specialist or team. Digital platforms can help you stay on top of the monitoring side of things. It can also make your reporting more straightforward. It will help you be more influential in your industry. You can also improve relationships with your regulators and keep your stakeholders happy.
Sally Leslie
Sally creates B2B content for businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups. She has a PR degree and a background in business development and sales. She is passionate about motivation, time management, and financial technology.