With the volume of technology available, agency leaders face a tough challenge in figuring out what the best solutions for their organizations are. Introducing new technology that doesn’t meet your needs, or adopting tools without properly training the employees who will use them, is a waste of money.
Whenever a company invests in technology, it should bring an immediate benefit to the employees and the business as a whole. Below, 11 leaders from Forbes Agency Council offer their best advice on how to identify the most viable and valuable technological solutions for your agency.
Forbes Agency Council members offer advice on how to find the right tech for your agency.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Define The Problem
You cannot look for technology and then define the problem you are trying to solve. The first step is to understand the scope of the problem and define the critical components of the solution. It is too easy to look at technology as a way to create new opportunities or solve issues, but technology alone will not always create a better outcome for your team and clients. – David McGarry, Automotive Internet Media
2. Continuously Self-Assess
Continuous self-assessment, while staying on top of new efficient tools and technology is important. It doesn’t have to be complex. For instance, we take time to regularly go through the “stop, start, continue” process as a company. We gain feedback from the team on what’s no longer working or may be holding them back. We then look for tools that will solve particular challenges. – Anna Crowe, Crowe PR
3. Listen To Your Team
Listen to your team—what are the pain points they’re finding in your workflow? And are there tech solutions to help? We always talk about “working smart,” and using tech for various processes (i.e., project management, comms, file storage, etc.) definitely makes our lives easier. Pro tip: Limit the number of platforms and ensure the tech is user-friendly and doesn’t become a new pain point. – Marc Becker, The Tangent Agency
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4. Aim To Add Value For Your Clients
As an agency leader who is constantly looking into better ways to serve your clients, it is important to understand that tech solutions are not just a way to improve internal efficiencies. The best solutions are ones that can also add value to the services you are giving your clients. Without clients who find immense value in your services, the agency’s bottom line will never improve. – Revecka Jallad, DIVISA
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5. Uncover The Bottlenecks
You need to uncover the bottlenecks in order to find and implement the best tech solutions. Once you have your list of problems that need to be solved (processes, order confirmations, etc.), you can then match your list of problems to the solutions provided by the tech stack. This approach will keep you from being overwhelmed or blinded by shiny, often unnecessary features. – Bernard May, National Positions
6. Think About What Can Scale
Think about your size and what can scale with you. We have been using 15five since we were a team of 10, and it is even more impactful for us as a team of 55 because it has helped scale communication. – Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.
7. Build Your Own
Often existing technology doesn’t meet our specific needs for specific clients, so we build our own. We have an in-house agile development team that doesn’t work under elongated timeframes and is empowered to identify solutions and build quickly, breaking down barriers to conventional wisdom to create custom solutions. When someone tells us “we can’t do that,” we can’t wait to prove them wrong. – William Rodriguez, Silvercrest
8. Assess The Tech Stack
It is important to ensure that the correct tech stack is used for each client and each agency. That means doing a complete evaluation of all of the needs and trying many different products. By evaluating all of the products tried, it is possible to make an accurate assessment of the tech stack to address all of the needs outlined in the evaluation. – Jon James, Ignited Results
9. Involve The End Users
The end users must be involved in determining which new software solutions will benefit the agency. We’ve developed a voluntary committee responsible for championing the testing and adoption of new tools. Team members come to them to vet new ideas, and the committee is empowered to come to the executive team with reasons why a new solution should be tested or an old solution should be replaced or removed. – Lindsey Groepper, BLASTmedia
10. Don’t Seek Solutions Without A Problem To Solve
It sounds simple, but rather than finding cool technology and trying to figure out how to use it, figure out what your problems are and find the technology to solve them. It’s easy to become enamored with bright, shiny objects and trendy tech. But if it’s not solving a problem, what good is it? Talk to your team and see what their frustrations are. Then solve them. You’ll be a hero. – Jodi Amendola, Amendola Communications
11. Identify Needed Workflow Edits
Working in a smaller agency, it is easier to see where edits need to be made to workflows than it is in a larger one. I would do this in a team meeting where you ask your employees what tasks take the longest, what procedures feel a little outdated and whether they have seen any technology out there that they would like to try. – Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
