The communications and public relations industry is often seen to be lagging behind marketing in its use of technology. Communications digital transformation consultancy Purposeful Relations has partnered with PRovoke Media to conduct a global survey into how PR agencies and in-house communications professionals understand and use communications technology.

The survey covers areas such as what technologies are considered the most important, the opportunities and threats of technology, and skills needed to choose it and use it.

Purposeful Relations has partnered with ICCO and the World Communications Forum Association (WCFA) to ensure the survey is as representative as possible of the whole global PR industry.

It is supported by Stickybeak which is running the survey on its chatbot research platform, as well as NewsWhip, PressPage and PRophet.

Purposeful Relations co-founder Stuart Bruce said: "PR agencies and in-house communications teams spend billions per year on technology and it's now a mission critical part of how the industry operates. Despite this, the industry still appears to lag behind marketing in terms of how well it understands and uses technology. The survey aims to uncover the opportunities, threats and what comms professionals need to do to get maximum benefit from technology and ensure we keep up and get ahead of other sectors."

Consulting firm Burton-Taylor International published a report claiming the annual spend on PR “media intelligence solutions” was approximately $5.5 billion in 2021.

A summary of the results of the global communication technology survey will be published on PRovoke Media and the full report will be made freely available to help inform PR agencies, in-house communications teams and technology vendors on the priorities for investment in 2023.

As an incentive, everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a free prize draw to win a pass to the PRovoke Global Summit 2023.

Take the survey here.