Most internal communication teams focus on what to say and how to say it, but few have a system for how communication actually gets planned, approved, published, and measured. That’s where a communication operations function, often called CommsOps, comes in.
CommsOps is the operational backbone of internal communication. It’s the function that manages how messages move through the organization, ensures channels are used intentionally, and keeps timing, consistency, and accuracy on track. It’s part process, part data, and part governance, all designed to make communication easier to trust and repeat.
Without it, communication tends to rely on effort and memory. Updates pile up in inboxes, channels start to overlap, and metrics get tracked ad hoc, if at all. Over time, the work becomes reactive instead of reliable, and leaders lose visibility into whether communication is landing.
CommsOps brings the structure that other departments take for granted. It defines workflows, tracks outcomes, and helps communicators focus on the content itself instead of fighting the system behind it. It’s what turns internal communication from a service into a discipline.
Every organization already has an informal version of CommsOps: the processes, habits, and people who hold things together. Making it intentional gives those efforts a name, a system, and a path to scale.
When communication has structure, it becomes something people can count on.
