Choosing the Right Technology Partner for Future Growth

Our team recently attended two industry conferences, FSTEC and Grocery Shop to network with brands, connect with partners and ultimately learn about trends in their respective industries. It was exciting to hear from industry leaders on how they succeeded during the recent trying times and how they're positioning themselves for growth as we approach 2022. One of the common themes we heard throughout the conferences was that having the right technology partners and platforms in place was instrumental in driving omni-channel growth and building new revenue channels.

To put it plainly, there is a lot of technology available today that claims to solve the needs of our restaurant, grocery, retail clients, etc. Nearly every task that takes places in these businesses can be managed with a layer of software. While it's great to have so many options to solve different business problems, we often see brands choose technology partners that solve a problem today but create problems in the future. With so many partners offering to do the same thing or claiming to be "all-in-one" solutions, we like to take a step back and ask three key questions to help our clients as they make these strategic technology investments with our trusted partners:

Build vs. buy

From both a technology and financial investment is it more advantageous to build a custom solution or buy an "off-the-shelf" product from a trusted partner?  

While a fully customized solution might always seem like the best way to go, the speed of deployment and a lower financial investment should be the deciding factors in brands choosing to buy third party software. If that's the case, we then move on to the next question to help make a successful business decision.

Partner assessment

Which partner provides the best solution overall for the business? 

While we have strategic partner relationships that we feel offer best in class solutions, we will always remain agnostic in our evaluations as we know that each client's business is unique both today and tomorrow. Whether it's an e-commerce platform, loyalty provider or data analytics engine, we evaluate each offering individually and then how it will work within a client's current tech ecosystem. It's key during the assessment phase that any new technologies being added by a client not only have open integration but offer a streamlined solution to help solve key business questions. 

ROI

Is the ROI business case achievable?

Ultimately this should be the foundation of the decision when selecting a technology partner. In a recent conversation with the CEO of an enterprise QSR brand, he reminded us of this with a simple statement:

"I don't care if the new platform costs $5 million dollars, as long as you can demonstrate an ROI to show me that we generated $5 million and 1 dollars in revenue, I will always make the investment."

This was tongue-in-cheek but the point was clear: Choosing the right technology partner with a proven ROI business case study is critical. Our goal is always to drive omni-channel growth and build new revenue channels for our clients and through our ROI analysis we're able to determine which technology partners are best equipped for this journey.

As businesses plan and build for growth, how do they choose technology partners that align with their goals for today and tomorrow? We take pride in helping our clients on this journey of digital transformation. Feel free to leave any questions or comments below and reach out to us directly to start the conversation about your organization's needs.