The Comms Operating Model We Need to Build

Insights from a Page Society London Roundtable

On the evening of April 21, 2026, a Page Society roundtable dinner in London focused on a critical question: “What does comms talent and operating models need to look like in 2030 and how do we make sure we are building toward the future now?”

What emerged was both urgent and clarifying. The industry is at an inflection point and needs to resolve budget pressures, AI reshaping how work is done, and procurement processes built for a time-based budget vs. deliverable and outcome-based budgets. 

Here's what we explored —and what it means for how we build teams for and in the future.

The Talent Gap: What the 2030 Job Description Might Look Like

A structural problem: As AI handles more junior-level work, agencies need more senior advisors with specialist knowledge. But the pyramid is inverting or becoming cylindrical. Currently, junior staff tend to be either on the data and analytics function or on the communications function. So, with the diminishing number of ‘communications’ experts coming up the ranks, where do tomorrow’s counsellors come from?

It was clear there were two hierarchies of skills required: (a) AI & data literacy and (b) understanding the communications. 

The dinner conversations revealed another insight: the need for fundamental business knowledge and awareness. So, it is important that everyone, including high performers, continue to develop the following skills:

1. Business acumen—by industry or at a C-level. The economics, the business models, the regulatory environment, the competitive dynamics and more. That depth lets you offer genuinely higher-value consulting, so you can demonstrate a linear view from communications to business growth. 
2. Interpersonal skills. The ability to build relationships internally (think advisory presentation skills to leadership) and externally (with influencers, stakeholders, cross-functional teams). This is relationship-building and influencer relationship-based counsel as a core competency.
3. Creative skills built on top of data and AI. Storytelling, campaign design, innovative thinking. Not instead of data and AI, but built on top of them.

One more thing: In-house leaders need to better articulate what skills are needed at the junior level. And they need to be open to hiring people from other business areas. The next generation of comms talent might come from operations, from sustainability, from finance. 

Human + Technology: The Winning Combination

There is still a lot of anxiety about AI in communications. Some of it is misplaced. So, it bears repeating that AI will not replace judgment. Curiosity, critical thinking, the ability to synthesize information, relationship-building—these are enduring human strengths. They're unlikely to be replaced by AI as it exists today. Maybe ever. Humans bring something machines don't: they ask why, they build trust, they know when to challenge an assumption.

On the ethics side: Boards and CEOs want to know that the advice they're being given has been properly thought through by a person. Human judgment matters. So does curiosity. Boards care about that distinction.

The Agency Procurement Problem (And It's Not What You Think)

Agencies are in the spotlight. In-house comms leaders and CFOs are cutting budgets—not because less work is needed, but because they see the same deliverables being produced with AI, in less time.

The paradox: Both agency and in-house leaders agree that there is more information to be gathered and analysed, and the need for critical thinking is paramount and expanding. More value-based pricing needs to be established. But in our industry, the underlying issues remain. How do you show ‘value’ with so many intangibles? 

The action: Agencies and in-house teams need to help procurement processes transform. This is not a new problem. It comes down to:

• Explaining and aligning on the strategy
• Being transparent about the budget and expense plan
• Defining the ROI clearly along with the value being delivered. 

The Road Ahead

The communications industry is being forced to answer hard questions: 

• How do we  prove value via business financial metrics to ensure appropriate investment? 
• How do we hire differently? 
• How do we price what we do? 
• How do we use AI without losing judgment?

The answer isn't one thing. It's a shift: from rate cards to deliverable value. From hiring for communications knowledge alone to hiring for business acumen, creative thinking, and relationship-building. From asking AI to do all the work to asking people to do the critical thinking and AI to do the heavy technical lifting.

That's a different operating model. It's more valuable. And it's the one we need to be building not as an individual, team, or company, but as an industry.