If 2016 is anything like every other year, your news feed in the new year will start off with tweets, posts and articles about “Trends in Communications for 2016.” For all the buzz on the upcoming trends, you won’t be participating in rolling out these strategies if you haven’t been doing your planning right now. So, how can you prepare your organization to be ahead of the trends in 2016?

If you take some time now, you can avoid an awkward moment in the boardroom next March when the chief marketing officer (CMO) asks, “What is your strategy for this new wearable social network thing that our customers seem to love?” Let’s look at the basic structure of the trends for 2016 and see what we can do to prepare to act, or react, as quickly as possible.

A new CDO or CXO will shake things up
According to Gartner, 25% of enterprises will have a chief data officer (CDO) in place. Some companies might have a chief experience officer (CXO) instead. This was a 2015 trend that will affect your day-to-day operations in 2016. More focus will be on customer experience than before. This means that the CDO will be trying to improve communications, and most likely, she or he will be asking you for data to back up your recommendations. As a result, you need to think about how you are tracking the creation and performance of your communications. The CDO will probably want instant performance statistics on all customer communications.

New metrics for every communication project
Today, we measure things like open rates, click-through, response rates, cost per communication and other critical key performance indicators (KPIs). In 2016, you can expect metrics to get more granular. The expansion of communication channels already has executives comparing performance of communication by channels. Lower cost does not always signify the best communications. Channels with higher average revenue per user (ARPU), faster response times, higher Net Promoter Score (NPS), cost per response (CPR) or higher lifetime customer value (LCV) may be better choices.

As you manage your communications portfolio in 2016, you need to prepare to examine performance through a variety of lenses. When you are planning your 2016 budget, think of how you are going to capture the raw data behind these metrics, compare the data and make recommendations on how you can improve your communications strategy as a result of this information.