We’ve talked about the Three Pillars of Success (People, Process and Technology) at a high-level, and discussed the details of People and Process, and now need to address everyone’s favorite, Technology.
Right now, there is a lot of very interesting technology available and what’s out there today has some fantastic features. However, instead of getting caught up in the latest bells and whistles, at the core of the technology decision is whether or not your business has the right technology to be successful. Far too often, technology is a scapegoat for a deficiency somewhere else, and it really boils down to being able to answer the question, “Do I have the right technology for my organization to be successful?”
Technology can clearly do a lot for an organization, but it’s also worth taking a step back and looking at how your ad systems are architected for your organization. For instance, ad servers often take a lot of heat when it comes to ad delivery and serving the right impression to the right audience at the right time.
We often hear, “My ad server doesn’t have that capability,” “I can’t target effectively with my ad server,” or “If only I had vendor XYZ as my ad server, then all of these problems would go away.” In reality, it’s not always the technology, but it’s the way in which it’s implemented.
If your ad tags aren’t configured to take advantage of the ad server’s capabilities, that’s not the ad server’s problem, that’s a problem with the technical implementation. If you can’t serve rich media into an iFrame, again, that’s not the ad server’s problem, that’s a different issue caused by the way your site is architected.
These types of complaints aren’t limited to just ad servers – we see it with contract management solutions, analytics or even companies picking a suboptimal solution for their business just because someone recommended it. Unfortunately, we often see it too late in the process, and only once we are engaged to come in and help clean things up.
The good news in all of this is that technical issues are often solved by tending to the people and process elements of your organization. For instance, “My ad server doesn’t have that capability!” is often a result of inadequate training for your team or perhaps a function of turnover within the organization where the system experts are no longer around and process documentation is absent. Rather than find a new technical solution, proper training for your team may address the issues.
From a process perspective, taking the time to thoroughly evaluate a new technology will insure that it’s the right technology for your business. We’ve spoken about it before, but do your due diligence and follow a structured process to determine your needs, then evaluate the solutions to make sure your get the solution that best meets your needs. Also on the process side, insuring that you get it implemented correctly and optimally will also go a long way to avoiding problems.
With all of that said, the key takeaway is that a lot of technology out there today is far superior to what was available just a few years ago. Even if you don’t have an immediate need or a deficiency, you should also be keeping an eye out for anything that can further your business and/or make your jobs easier. Something as simple as a better contract management (workflow) solution that pushes more data to your ad server, can result in a huge efficiency gain for your team and allow them to become campaign optimizers instead of traffickers, which will immediately impact your revenue.
 |
Up to date on the latest happenings in the automated trading space? OPS Markets will bring digital advertising leaders and ops professionals together to discuss and develop best practices for operational excellence in the evolving automated landscape. Register today for OPS Markets, which will be held April 18, 2012 in New York. |