By Caroline Kilbey, Head of Strategic Relations at Strider

Companies are investing large amounts of money in digital transformation, but many still aren’t getting it right – proving that throwing money at a problem isn’t generally a good way of solving it. Putting together a digital team requires planning as meticulous and structured as the plan for digital transformation – alongside spending money in the right places.

Cost vs Quality

While plenty of money is being spent on digital transformation, not enough budget is allocated to onboarding the most skilled and experienced people, which can have disastrous or at the very least, expensive repercussions.

Implementing a digital transformation strategy requires the combined efforts of a number of ‘squads’ working across different aspects of the strategy. With so many people working on overhauling so many of a company’s touchpoints, there’s a need for strong leadership to keep track of all the moving parts. Design Leads, Engineering Leads and Product Owners are key to effectively managing this process and engaging with stakeholders – and the right people can be expensive because there’s a serious scarcity of skills in the ecosystem.

Research & Testing are Essential

Time and budget constraints often mean that research and testing are quickly written off – but they’re actually among the most crucial tools for delivering an effective digital solution.

A company may think it knows what its clients want in terms of the digital design of products – but to be able to knock it out the park and make clients happy, means taking the time to test and research. Not taking the time to conduct research into how clients want your digital touchpoints to meet their needs and solve problems for them can mean potentially putting the success of the project at risk right from the start.

Because time and money are often limited, stakeholders need to be careful of railroading teams into producing what they want – so they get a product that they’re happy with. When it comes to rolling out that product – which hasn’t been tested with a sample of customers –problems often crop up because the solution doesn’t actually meet their needs. It is well worth spending a bit of time and money on testing and research throughout the critical stages of the project to ensure that the outcome is a successful one.

Marrying Form & Function

Not including a UX Writer in the work of the design team, upfront, can be incredibly costly in the long run. The role of a UX Writer is to convey the necessary messaging, keeping the tone and voice of the client in sync across all digital platforms and in keeping with the brand.

If they’re not included from the design stage, what often happens is that a shiny new app is developed, which looks amazing – but when it’s time to add messaging and communication, there’s simply not enough space for it.

Including a UX Writer at the start of the design phase will make sure that the right messaging is conveyed, in the right ways and in the right places on the platform which could save the massive expense of a redesign, down the line.

Speed vs Quality

Strong-willed and experienced team members are able to engage with stakeholders effectively to explain which deliverables are realistically possible in the timeframe they’ve been given. Without experienced leaders, teams are very often swamped with unrealistic volumes of work. Stakeholders are dependent on strong leadership to advise what is possible and what is not, and why, and will welcome discussion on structured and well thought-out alternatives.

While digital teams with the right skills are known for working miracles under pressure, this shouldn’t be the default. More often than not, forcing a team to meet unrealistic deadlines can result in some deliverables falling by the wayside or those which are produced, being of inferior quality or not measuring up to expectations – which means that the stakeholders whose expectations weren’t managed or met end up disappointed.

Experienced people who have the right level of skill and the ability to communicate with stakeholders can push back against unrealistic expectations to ensure that what is delivered, is fit for purpose and meets the project objectives.

Juniors Can Be Vital Resources Too

With the right leadership and mentorship, junior digital team members can be invaluable resources that help deliver a better product, more cost-effectively.

Because of the skills shortage globally, the cost of senior digital people can be very high – and employing only seniors can quickly eat into a digital transformation budget. While there’s a definite need for experienced and strong leadership, there’s no reason that hungry, enthusiastic and talented junior resources can’t be part of the mix in order to assist with the ‘heavy lifting’.