Today’s technology offers infinite possibilities for businesses, and there are vast numbers of digital agencies and custom software development companies ready to help you explore those possibilities. So, how do you choose?
Here are the qualities of a great digital solutions partner. Keep these in mind when choosing your partner to help you get the most out of your investment:
1) They work hard to understand your needs. From their very first conversations with you, great digital solutions partners put effort into understanding your business needs, your evolving industry and the environment and context that any potential solutions would need to work within. Their approach should have a Human Centered Design focus—their recommendations should be based on the needs of your users (including customers, employees and partners), not just what other businesses are doing with technology.
2)They know their stuff. The best digital solution partners study, use, work with and analyze a variety of technologies—and have a history of doing so. Deep experience with diverse technologies (and diverse industries) speaks to a partner’s expertise, as well as their ability to go beyond the status quo and build truly innovative, disruptive technologies. Experience doesn’t always mean a partner will be an expert on every detail of your company and its systems in the first meeting. Rather, pay attention to partners who are invested in learning about your business, stimulating growth and have a track record of success doing so in a variety of arenas.
3)They anticipate problems and know how to avoid them. Truly experienced digital solutions partners are so specialized that they can recognize patterns and can quickly assess alternatives, benefits, challenges and risks for their clients. Potential “problems” could be shifting industry trends, changing regulations, evolving or defunct technology, inefficient business processes or other limitations. The digital solutions partner’s ability to predict and build a solution around these obstacles will enable you to scale your business, get the most out of your investment and obtain an advantage over your competition.
4)They communicate clearly. How can you, the client, trust a new solution when you can’t understand it? The best digital solutions partners know how to present their ideas through words and visuals in a way that helps you confidently understand the framework. When new information is easier to understand and share, implementing and adopting strategies and solutions becomes faster and simpler.
5)They welcome collaboration and eliminate silos. Silos happen when individuals, teams or departments establish workflows that serve their needs but aren’t connected or conscious of those of others. This isn’t necessarily intentional, but it is often an obstacle to efficiency. When teams with diverse and relevant experience come together, it’s very common to find opportunities to streamline and strengthen processes. Your digital solutions partner has to be able to navigate across silos that may exist in your company and have tactics for encouraging collaboration.
6) They’re worth it. Great partners often come with a cost. But like most things, a bigger investment is only a problem if you’re not getting as much or more value out of the partnership as you’re putting in. A less expensive partner may not be as thorough, experienced, or skilled, meaning they’re also less capable of achieving the lasting success your business is looking for. The best digital solutions partners not only know how to intelligently create a strategy for your needs and ways of working, but they also know how to make it scalable and implement it in a way that creates immediate and long-term value.
7) They have great references. Who has the partner worked with before? What kind of custom software solutions projects are they attached to? How do examples of their work relate to your own business needs? Every great partner has a great track record of delivering on the expectations they set. For professional services companies, the best way to predict future success is to measure past success.
8) They offer a variety of solutions. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Small niche firms sometimes struggle with this challenge, and try to find ways that your problem can conform to a one-size-fits-all type of software or popular device. But data-driven, digital problems come in all shapes and sizes, so there is no cookie-cutter process when it comes to finding solutions. Don’t let your business potential be limited by your partner’s limited vision or expertise. The best digital solution partners are made up of people with diverse skill sets who can prioritize the needs of the user and craft a unique solution to fit.
No digitial solutions partner is exactly like another, so be sure to consider these 8 qualities during your search. Curious about our expertise? Email us at info@summa.com to start the conversation about your next digital solution.
