How to pick a team for your
multimedia presentation
Take a look at the figure 568,895,958,758,876,847. Guess what it is ? The number of burgers eaten at a McDonalds store in one day ? The secret code to a Swiss bank account ? The growing kangaroo population in Australia ? Is it the number of computers that were connected to the internet last week. I’m not sure of any of the answers, but let’s work on hypothesis for a moment and assume that 568,895,958,758,876,847 people were connected to the internet last week. That’s a lot of people you can reach from your keyboard, without a spiraling media burn that runs your budgets out of breath.
That’s a thought.
Going by the principle of techsorption – the rate at which companies are absorbing new technology platforms, we will soon have a clear divide between organizations that choose to invest in emerging technologies and organizations that wait to be touched by the ripple effect.
Today, technology combines with skill and expertise to give companies the kind of corporate makeovers that could set the stage for visibility in world markets. Spinning off mergers, partnerships and a global commune that does business at the speed of thought. What we’re seeing today is an extremely high plane of convergence in terms of image, voice, media and formats. Giving digital artists the capability to explore dynamic and undiscovered frontiers of creativity and expression.
How to pick a communications partner
If you’re looking for a handbook, there isn’t one. And we wouldn’t recommend the yellow pages, either. Which means you need a stroke of luck to run into a really professional team. Here are some tips that could help
One good way is to network with your friends in other organizations. This way you get to see work samples, you can check out on costs and the competence of team members. In fact referrals are a number one source on new business. IT related exhibitions are a good way to come face to face with the cutting edge in design excellence and production values. A carefully targeted exercise on a search engine would also be useful. If the team is really good, they’ll show up at the top.
And just as you’re careful about choosing your legal and financial consultants, the time has come to be very, very strategic about your web and multimedia partners. Your future could depend on it.
Look hard. Choose carefully
1 : Expertise
When it comes to making investments, expertise comes right on top. Does the team you want to work with, have wide-spectrum expertise ? What we mean here expertise with an equal emphasis on multimedia and web solutions. Do they give you the kind of confidence that comes with hard-wired domain knowledge ? Can they translate expertise into solutions ?
2 : Technology
Technology comes a close second and spans everything from the hardware environment and support systems, to the critical software tools that drive the development process. What is important here is the milestone index : are they working with tools the industry has left far behind ? Or have they kept pace with the right updated hardware investments ? Another important consideration is the legal aspect. If your team is working with 100% legal software, across the board, you get a good idea of professionalism.
3 : Creative skills
You can have the right expertise and the right technology. But if your team does not have what it takes to infuse creative excellence into their work, it shows. This is one area where eight out of ten studios fall short, because most teams are content with functional throughput. And while creative skills are an essential spearhead in the armory, they need to be honed by industry experience. That is the payoff, and sometimes a key qualifier for any team.
4 : People
The professional arena has become so skill-set intensive, that you have specialists for each domain area in the work spectrum. Right from graphic design, interactive design and web programming, to database programming, network administration and internet strategy. Building a core team these days, is very, very difficult. And sometimes, retaining top talent is harder than retaining a client.
5 : Systems
A design studio can have the right mix in terms of people, expertise and technology, but if they can’t get off the blocks in an organized manner, you’ve got a problem. We’re talking about workstream dynamics – which essentially means giving each project a logical, step-by-step followthrough. From a macro viewpoint this has a lot to do with assigning jobs to specialist teams, working with client feedback, integrating the various layers of operative technology and surviving wafer thin deadlines.
What you need here is synergy and integration of the highest order, because at the end of the day, you don’t just want to put the lid on a job. You want it to be a showcase in terms of technical excellence and creativity.
6 : Costs
Cost of project is probably the biggest hurdle in choosing a good team to work with. Because a good team usually comes with an upscale price tag. The higher you go, the heavier it gets. But there’s a logical way of looking at it. Is the project you’re working on critical to the showcasing of your organization ? Is it part of your communications strategy that’s aimed at new partnerships, new business or winning shareholder confidence ? Do you see yourself using it with minor revisions, over the next twelve months ?
If you find yourself saying “YES”, pick up the phone and call the boys over.
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