Ragan's Center for AI Strategy released a free AI Team Readiness Assessment on June 16, 2026, designed for communications, PR, and marketing professionals. The launch comes as Ragan's own research reveals a sharp gap: about 75% of communications teams use AI regularly, but only 20% have embedded it into workflows and organizational strategy.
Built with strategic consulting firm Phyusion, the diagnostic identifies gaps across eight dimensions of AI adoption and provides a roadmap for responsible implementation. The confidential assessment takes only a few minutes to complete.
"An organization's AI success is dependent on nearly every employee's understanding of the tools and their organization's goals and guardrails," said Diane Schwartz, CEO of Ragan Communications. "With this tool and the Center for AI Strategy's team trainings, we're giving leaders a practical roadmap for responsible, effective implementation."
What the assessment measures
The assessment evaluates multiple dimensions of AI readiness, helping organizations determine:
- Current AI maturity and adoption levels
- Strengths and weaknesses across key AI capabilities
- Organizational barriers slowing AI implementation
- Opportunities for improvement and growth
- Recommended next steps for building an AI strategy
- Areas where leadership alignment is needed
Who the assessment is for
The tool is built for communications professionals, including those working in AI for PR & Communications, as well as marketing teams and human resources departments. Team leaders can use the results to prioritize AI investments and training.
From individual experiments to team-wide strategy
"That honest baseline is what makes it possible to build a practical AI strategy from what you learn, one that scales across the whole team," said Samantha Stark, Founder + Chief Strategist of Phyusion and AI Advisor for Ragan's Center for AI Strategy.
"AI is already part of daily work for most communications teams, but its use is far from consistent," Stark said. "Some teams have clear governance and strategy. Others are still relying on one-off pilots and individual experimentation."
Marketing professionals can also use the assessment to evaluate their team's readiness for AI for Marketing initiatives, identifying gaps in governance, skills, and implementation before scaling efforts.
Next steps for teams
Organizations that complete the assessment can benchmark their capabilities against industry standards and build a strategic AI roadmap. Ragan's Center for AI Strategy offers a membership community for those ready to act on the results, with access to an AI certificate course, in-person summits, expert calls, and on-demand training resources. Members include teams from Chick-fil-A, Cisco, IBM, and CVS Health.
Why this matters for PR and communications
The data shows most PR and communications teams now use AI tools, but few have moved beyond ad-hoc experimentation. This assessment gives teams a concrete way to measure where they stand and what they need to fix. For leaders, it's a starting point for aligning the team around shared goals and guardrails, rather than letting AI adoption happen in isolated pockets. The result is a faster path to consistent, responsible AI use that actually changes how work gets done.
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