In this blog, I will share some critical factors to consider when selecting an implementation partner, drawing insights from industry experts and practitioners.

1. Industry Experience Matters, So Does Diversity of Experience:
   When it comes to technology implementation, experience is non-negotiable. A successful partner should possess a deep understanding of the entire implementation process, from the technology itself to the intricacies of your industry. Having a good grip on industry-specific know-how is like having a secret weapon – it makes everything more familiar, from the lingo to the nitty-gritty processes and challenges specific to your business environment. Plus, a partner who’s dipped their toes in various industries can connect the dots between different sectors, offering innovative solutions and fresh perspectives.  For instance, we’ve heard the same problem statement from clients in financial services, retail, manufacturing and healthcare. “Get the right information to the right people at the right time.” Approaches to personalization and targeting span are common across each industry. Therefore, a balance between industry-specific expertise and cross-industry experience is key.
2. Collaboration with In-House Expertise: Working with your selected technology implementation partner is a seamless collaboration where your expertise in your business is highly valued. A prosperous partnership is built on a collaborative foundation, with the technology partner actively complementing your in-house knowledge. This collaborative effort guarantees that the technology solutions seamlessly align with your business objectives and operational intricacies. Recognizing that your core competency lies in your specific industry, a reliable partner should work in tandem with your team, leveraging their deep knowledge of your business to enhance the effectiveness of the technology implementation. We were in a “save” mode with one of our clients, taking over a delayed project from a previous vendor. In this case, our team conducted a review of development practices and customizations on the platform and identified opportunities for improvement including optimizing template code which resulted in a significant improvement in page load times.
3. Avoiding the “Boil the Ocean” Approach: A common pitfall in technology implementations is the inclination to tackle everything at once. This approach, while ambitious, often leads to missed opportunities for feedback and improvements. To mitigate this, it is advisable to start small, delivering quickly, and gathering valuable feedback from users, partners, and employees. The importance of rapid iterations cannot be overstated. Here, technology partners play a vital role in accelerating the delivery cycle. Platforms like Appian, known for their ability to streamline the development process, enable businesses to roll out initial products in a matter of weeks, facilitating timely feedback and iterative enhancements. A client of ours invested more than a year attempting to implement a B2B portal based on initially gathered high-level requirements. Upon launch, they faced negative feedback from end-users and had to dedicate months to reworking the project. Our approach, rooted in UI/UX expertise, emphasizes the collection of effective feedback and adopts an iterative design and development method, helping to avoid these situations. Consequently, 94% of users found the new solution user-friendly, leading to a 40% enhancement in operational efficiency
4. Flexibility: Clients come with diverse needs, and our approach is all about meeting them right where they are. For some, it means a hands-off implementation where Veriday collaborates with stakeholders to discern requirements, building, maintaining, and supporting solutions on behalf of the client. On the flip side, consider a major utility provider – with them, we worked closely with their team, providing training for their developers and content owners on Liferay, and adhered to their in-house processes. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach; we advocate for a genuine partnership, adapting our model to best suit the client’s needs and align with their goals.
5. Preparing For the Future: The technology implementation partner understands the long term vision for the platform and how it’s expected to evolve over time. Take, for instance, Liferay’s shift toward SaaS-based offerings. This transition brings about exciting new features like client extensions, and improving how you can develop on the platform. We have used these cutting-edge features for clients in insurance, healthcare and other industries even when not running the SaaS platform, to improve customer experience and accelerate development.

How Veriday can help

Choosing the right technology implementation partner is a strategic decision that can make or break your digital transformation journey. At Veriday, we have experience across multiple projects and can help identify the areas that will give you the biggest value the fastest. Connect with me at [email protected] if you have any questions on how Veriday can help.