Survival Guide

OK so this is long — but I’m the tech guy so what do you expect?

There’s always that big struggle between what you want to do, what you have and what your budget will stand. Regardless of that it’s important to define what you want to do without limiting yourself by existing infrastructure and policies. You can’t worry about what you can’t do; you have to allow the ideas to set the need and the strategy to define the project. After all you can always lower the scope and still retain much of the original thinking.

Great strategy, design and user experience define a website but the hosting platform is equally important. A good idea can be ruined because you don’t have the funds to implement it on an expensive system. We recently migrated a client from a high cost platform to a different one that offered greater support from the developer community, lower maintenance and upgrade costs. The ROI was less than one year and the new platform has greater capacity, better performance and more off the shelf functionality than their old one. It’s often the case that the platform decision and the strategy for a web site are made by different departments. Often the platform is decided before the strategy has even been worked out and that can limit the final product.

It’s a fact that these days third party hosted applications, web services and plug-in components have so changed the technology landscape that the hosting platform should be one of the last decisions in the design and production process. Gone are the days when everything comes from one place, it’s all about speed and content now. Web sites have to be engaging and fresh and to accomplish that we need updated and refreshed content as often as possible. Social networking, RSS, Web services, rich media etc. has allowed us to build interesting and useful online experiences. Digital marketers get it, but they are often limited by restrictive hosting platforms and IT practices.

Sure it’s a difficult world out there, security risks, data theft, compliance are but a few of the issues that face an IT or hosting company and its completely understandable that availability, control, safety and risk mitigation are top priorities for any IT department. Unfortunately technology and even more so the application of technology to new ideas is fast outpacing the ability of a hosting provider or IT group to utilize all of the available channels to market. In the online world once an idea has been used its old and something new or an improved derivative is required to satisfy the site visitors need for a smarter, better, faster experience.

Fortunately there are lots of third party systems out there waiting to be used in a cohesive online strategy to deliver the best user experience possible. By the time you custom build it its old hat and someone already has something that’s better anyway. Lots of online tactics are transitory and you only have to blink to miss them. Don’t get caught up in the “not made here” syndrome it’s ok to license a game for 6 months rebrand it for your site, use a third party mobile platform for your 3rd screen marketing, by the time you’ve sorted out all the intricacies of working with the cell providers, the myriad of mobile device needs etc. you’ve trebled the costs and most of your messages don’t get delivered. We live in a service and world great websites are a mixture of centrally hosted platforms providing the basis of the site with fixed functionality like tell a friend, couponing, corporate info, contact forms etc. fully integrated into the huge pool of rich media, social networking, mobile platforms, RSS, blogging, gamming, video, image, concierge, rewards programs, promotions off the shelf services. The list is endless.

The message here is simple, invest in a good base hosting infrastructure. Think metrics and reporting, know what you want from your online channels, set the goals, build the tracking, use the reporting throughout the program and modify your plan based on that feedback. Most of all don’t think about the technology when you are defining your site and functionality, don’t limit your scope by what you have or what you think your budget can afford. If you can’t afford to buy the service, rent it, it will be out of date by the time you need it again anyway.