The Importance of Taking Time to Plan Digital Technology

The most common failure with digital technology always reflects to lack of planning. Any company wishing to enhance their digital footprint must develop a concise and clear strategic information technology plan. The plan must cover the full scope of the needs, objectives, tasks that need to be accomplished and measurement analytics for success.

Evaluating and implementing a well-planned and intelligent web strategy can help you maximize the elements of digital marketing to ensure your company will be competitive online.

• Listen to understand – Understand, evaluate and relate all aspects of the vendor’s capabilities and be sure they are clearly paraphrasing your needs and how their product will help you. After all, it’s your business, so be engaged to make sure your strategy is being planned and implemented well. 
• Build collaboration - Collaborative efforts between the company’s management team and the vendor are essential in order to evaluate and connect all necessary technologies that will be most cost effective. This is to ensure the solution is tailored to meet your company’s needs. 
• Examine the competitive landscape – Be sure you understand what technologies your competitors are utilizing; then don’t just match them, beat them!
• Evaluate current digital efforts – Before you begin planning your digital initiatives, evaluate your current solutions, make sure they are easy to use and still valid with your customer base; and
• Focus on functionality – Technology is constantly changing. Today, it’s normal for visitors to bounce off your site in a matter of seconds. To confirm this doesn’t happen to you, develop or re-develop your site’s functionality, structure and navigation to ensure ease of use and relevant content is being presented.

If you are successful at answering and evaluating these five criteria during the planning process, you are setting your company up for a successful digital technology plan. Sometimes this assistance may need to come from a consultant, but many times it’s the internal resources who know the most about the areas to pursue. Seek first the individuals internally who can help you build a plan, then if necessary, seek an outside consultant to facilitate the discussion around your technology. After all, sometimes it’s the outsider’s perspective that can guide the development and keep the company accountable for doing it right the first time. Learn More about our Planning Process