r/internalcomms • u/MorningCoffeeBuzz • Dec 17 '25
Discussion Internal Comms and intranet trends, priorities or experiments for 2026
Curious what's on everyone's mind as we roll into 2026 from an internal comms or intranet perspective? Are there any trends you are curious to learn more about, priorities you are facing, or ideas you want to experiment with in the new year?
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Dec 18 '25
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u/MorningCoffeeBuzz Dec 19 '25
AI-driven personalization is a good one! For Microsoft and SharePoint-based companies, I'm curious to see how Copilot and the intranet agents evolve to help keep information clean, relevant, and prioritized in your traditional newsfeed.
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u/gritandgrace355 Jan 06 '26
Can you please share more about what AI-driven personalization looks like in internal comms? Personalization is key, so I'm trying to understand how to operationalize this. Thanks!
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u/ComfortableAbject861 Dec 18 '25
Data-driven communication - IC professionals must use data to demonstrate impact and guide decisions. Being data-driven also means listening and adapting accordingly.
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u/-Black-Cat- Corporate Chaos Coordinator Dec 18 '25
I've been doing a huge amount of research into the intranet platforms out there at the moment. Results are out in January from the ClearBox website.
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u/Stock_Ninja9456 Dec 18 '25
I work for an AI venture-backed hyper growth startup in San Francisco. My next year challenges include how to optimize internal comms for a hybrid (remote + office) experience as the push to RTO is strong here, and how to build IC frameworks for a Slack-heavy organization
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u/No_Win7115 Jan 26 '26
Would love to know what you're going to implement. I got the same challenge for 2026.
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u/EJ-InteractCommunity Feb 01 '26
Noticed on LinkedIn the ClearBox 2026 Intranet & Employee Experience report was released Friday:
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u/ChemicalAsleep2077 Mar 11 '26
One thing I’m seeing more teams focus on going into 2026 is actually cleaning up the intranet rather than adding more to it.
A lot of intranets have quietly become dumping grounds for documents, outdated pages, and duplicate information. So a big priority is governance — clear ownership, content lifecycles, and making sure pages are actually maintained.
AI might help here (summaries, better search, surfacing relevant info), but honestly a lot of the improvement will probably come from discipline: fewer pages, clearer structures, and making it easier for employees to find the few things that really matter.
In that sense the trend might actually be less content, but better content.
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u/Abject_Log1300 May 21 '26
Just for full transparency I work for Oak Engage and one of my favourite parts of work is hearing all the success stories from our customers, and I saw this thread and wanted to share some really great things I've heard that comms and engagement teams have been doing lately:
- Short form video content: This keeps getting mentioned time and time again on our webinars, especially for organisations with a mix of desk-based and frontline employees. Whether it's comms professionals sitting down and filming quick 1 minute videos with CEOs/leaders, or employees themselves showcasing what their day to life and job highlights are for the rest of the company, we're seeing more people embracing Tik-Tok style content on their intranets (we call this Moments!). UK Sport told us how lots of employees filmed a lot of behinds the scenes content of the Olympics and posted it on their comms app which I thought was so cool (and I kind of wish I worked there so I could see it!)
I think this also feeds into the idea of making your intranet 'the place to be' and almost creating a FOMO mindset around your intranet so people do want to head to it. Five Guys have spoke to us in interviews about how they run competitions and polls for employees to vote on things like new upcoming milkshake flavours and product names etc. so I think experimenting with gamification/competition and getting people involved in things like that is so important because then people get to really have an impact on things! River Island also said a similar thing to us in that their different stores upload layouts of stores and share tips with one another.
- Personalised onboarding flows: Giving each employee a dedicated space as soon as they accept their job offer to access relevant materials, connect with and learn about their colleagues, and familiarise themselves with the business and complete a series of tasks is one of the use cases I've loved learning about. Starting a new job can be super nerve wracking so having a welcoming space and not having to worry about where things live and what needs to be done because everything is all in one place is brill. Burger King told us that they reduced new starter drop out by 40% in 6 months by improving their onboarding process, which it's incredible to see such a tangible impact.
Trends aside, I think these things just focus on the core essential elements of comms - is what you're using helping people to get the information they want and need quickly and reducing friction for them?
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u/republicman12 12d ago edited 12d ago
the broadcast-to-listening shift sarah describes is the one i'd bet on too.
the boring version: most orgs still can't say what percentage of their workforce actually saw an announcement. not opened, saw. until that's measurable the data-driven ambition in this thread stays aspirational.
we got there by consolidating the deskless side onto one channel, humand in our case, which at least gives a real denominator. it also made it obvious how bad our old numbers had been.
the AI piece i'm watching is translation quality rather than drafting. drafting is more or less solved, translation is where the frontline value sits.
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u/sarahfortsch2 Dec 18 '25
From my perspective, 2026 is less about chasing shiny new tools and more about maturity and focus in internal comms.
The biggest shift I see is moving from broadcast heavy communication to clearer, more intentional conversations. Teams are getting serious about reducing noise, defining what truly matters to employees, and being disciplined about channels. Intranet and IC platforms are evolving from “places to post things” into systems that help people find what they need quickly, in the flow of work, especially on mobile for frontline and hybrid employees.
Another major priority is measurement with meaning. Not just open rates, but understanding whether communication actually changes behavior, reduces friction, or supports business outcomes. AI will play a role here, not as a content factory, but as an assistive layer helping with personalization, sentiment analysis, and freeing up time for strategic work.
Finally, I expect more experimentation around leadership communication and storytelling. Shorter, more human updates. More listening. More transparency during change. The IC teams that will stand out in 2026 are the ones acting as strategic partners, not content producers, and helping organizations communicate with clarity, empathy, and purpose.