Embracing digital transparency, embedding corporate responsibility

EACD anniversary event in Helsinki: corporate responsibility in a digital world

Left to right: Arja Suominen, Minna Aila, Atte Palomäki and Markku Herrala; photo by Lotta Forssell (@LottaForsell)

The unprecedented levels of transparency caused by the digitisation of communications have reset the controls for corporate responsibility: just one of the messages that came across loud and clear at the latest #eacd10 event marking 10 years of the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD). Hosted in style at the Helsinki headquarters of power technology firm Wärtsilä, the event explored the impact of digitisation on corporate responsibility: with the invited speakers presenting different angles on the topic, the audience was able to enjoy a multi-faceted discussion.

Following introductions by EACD’s Finland coordinator, Marjut Joensuu (@MarjutJoensuu), Nokia's vice president of corporate affairs, Minna Aila (@MinnaAila), began by showing both sides of the digitised corporate responsibility coin: positive examples of using digital to help people understand sustainability challenges (such as Nokia’s use of virtual reality technology to offer an immersive experience of a refugee camp), but also challenges related to for example privacy and human rights. According to Minna, navigating these questions in the future will rely on corporate responsibility being embedded within the organisational culture.

The importance of rooting corporate responsibility firmly in the organisational culture as a means to withstand heightened scrutiny was picked up by the afternoon’s other two speakers, albeit from different perfectives. Atte Palomäki (@attep), executive vice president of communications and branding at the afternoon’s hosts, Wärtsilä, reminded the audience that crisis communication is an integral part of any corporate responsibility strategy, especially in a culture of digital transparency.  Internal training in crises communication must be constant, and teams around the world should be ready to commit to 24/7 social media surveillance, ensuring the airspace isn’t left solely to the critics. Having a robust process in place allows issues to be managed in time and ensures that, when crisis strikes, the panic button isn’t hit in haste.

Noting that corporate responsibility is particularly challenging in industries that have been as heavily disrupted as aviation has been in recent years, Arja Suominen (@ArjaSuominen), senior vice president of communications and corporate responsibility at Finnair, noted that her company has been practicing corporate reporting for the past 20 years, means that today it’s part of the organisational culture. The value of transparency and of embedding corporate responsibility in all you do was a recurring motif in Arja’s presentation, and she challenged the audience not to look into the past when it comes to reporting on corporate responsibility achievements but rather to look to future improvements.

The event’s moderator, Markku Herrala (@mherrala, director of stakeholder relations at UPM Plywood), made sure to bring out other important aspects of the subject through his questions and those of the audience. These included the importance of connecting corporate responsibility tightly to business, a serious challenge as Arja made clear: there is a difference between what people say they will gladly spend more money on - for example, for fewer emissions - and the reality of the matter. In answer to Markku’s question of whether there could be a competitive edge to corporate responsibility, Atte emphasised its importance as a fruitful employer branding tool: as he pointed out, millennials want to work for a ‘good’ company. And when audience member Heli Järvenpää (@jarvenpaa, communications manager at Algol Oy) asked the panel to describe how they use digital to engage audiences on corporate responsibility issues, Minna pointed to Nokia’s strategy of telling stories of innovation to capture the imagination of audiences who normally would be put off by dry corporate responsibility reporting: in an age of digital transparency, authenticity is as important as ever.

There’s only room here to touch on just a few of the insights shared in this event - look out for our follow-up interviews with the speakers for more in-depth views!


A version of this article originally appeared on eacd-online.eu.