Today, every company, howsoever small, must think and act like a Digital Company. The only way to ensure that you grow & thrive in the post-pandemic world is by adopting digital technologies.
However, the adoption of digital technologies is sometimes not very simple. Not every company has internal talent or resources who are well versed in all aspects of digital. Many businesses may, therefore, outsource some of the critical digital services to agencies or freelancers.
Whether done internally or outsourced, there are 4 steps to acing the adoption of digital services in your business.
Step 1: Get a Basic Understanding of Digital Technologies
The journey starts even before you know what digital technology needs to be adopted in your business. This is the most important step if you are a decision-maker in your company. You must personally get involved (at a high level) in understanding the potential of digital technologies in your business. You may need to spend some time doing research (perhaps on the internet) or talking to similar businesses which are ahead in the digital journey. Only when you personally understand the ‘real’ impact of digital technologies as a tool for competitive advantage, will you be ready to lead your team on the journey. Otherwise, you may end up delegating it without any deep conviction.
Sometimes, talking to an expert or a consultant will help. The important thing, however, is to find a consultant who is not selling that service or a solution. Talking to a CRM Implementation agency about whether you need a CRM solution is perhaps not the best move! Remember, the purpose of this step is not to become an expert on digital. This step is just to create an appreciation of various digital technologies that your business may benefit from. This will prepare you & your team better for the steps to follow.
Step 2: Define Your Project Well
The second step is to finalize the details of what your immediate requirement is. There are digital technologies today for all aspects of business viz. Customers, Employees, Operations & Products. Not all may be relevant or equally important for you. Only you will know what is really needed in your business right now. E.g. Do you need a better online presence with a website? Or do you need to improve the way you manage customers with a CRM? Do you need leads or social media presence? It is the job of the leader or the leadership team to prioritize the projects that the company needs to spend its time & money on. Even if you take external help (e.g. from our consultants) in this process, finally you have to take the call on what’s really important.
Having once decided the project and its broad objectives, you need to put it down on paper as a well-defined brief. Many businesses are unable to get the desired ROI from their marketing & technology investments because they have not created a project brief document. When there is no formal understanding of what a successful project will look like, the chances of success greatly reduce.
That is one of the reasons, at Benchkart, we spend on an average 1 ½ hrs on every project just refining the brief (in consultation with the client). In some cases, it has even taken a few days of email exchanges to finalize the project brief! Our project guides, in the process, have become experts in knowing what must go in the brief for the agencies to have a clear idea of the scope of work.
Step 3: Find & Hire the Right agency for your Project
Poor execution by the agency was cited by a lot of businesses, for delays in projects or in sub-optimal ROIs. Many of these businesses were not able to find the right agency in the past and thus suffered due to poor execution. Also, due to the dynamic nature of digital services, one agency can never be expected to be skilled in all areas. E.g. Will an SEO agency always do well on Influencer Marketing?
It is therefore important to spend some time finding the right agency for your project. The agency should have expertise in your project area, an understanding of your industry, the experience of similar projects as well as having the right kind of resources from their pool deployed for your project. The difference between an average result and a great result actually comes from details such as these.
At Benchkart, we have already created an exclusive network of agencies based on their skill sets. Then, we spend a lot of time assessing their capabilities, client interactions, and project delivery on an ongoing basis. This can be a great way for you to find the partners most suited to the project that you have in mind. You can also take help from our project guides when doing meetings with agencies and during your process for evaluation. As a marketplace, we are unbiased to which agency you work with and can be relied upon to provide you the right advice for your business.
(Click here to Hire the Right Agency)
Step 4: Treat the Agency as a Partner
Once a project gets underway, there are a few simple rules to help you get the best out of a project under execution
- Treat the agency as a partner. Be respectful of their time & resources.
- Think twice before adding new elements into a brief. Not only does it break trust, but it also creates a lack of ownership of deliverables.
- Ensure adherence to timelines from your side on approvals & feedback.
- Ensure periodic reviews and adopt milestone-wise payment mechanisms, linked to those reviews.
- Create capabilities within your team to ensure benefits continue even after the project has ended.
These 4 steps will give your business an opportunity to grow as well as excel. We recommend that you start with smaller projects and build your confidence by executing them well. Leveraging marketplaces like Benchkart can be a great advantage for you, as it helps you in all of the above steps. If your business needs to execute a project, reach out to us and we will assign one of our project guides to work with you on the same.
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