what am i buying? understanding website cost and technology
TRANSCRIPT
What Am I Buying? Understanding Website Cost & Technology
Presented To 501 Tech NYC September 21, 2016
@constr_ctive
Designing a New Way Forward
Who is This Guy… And What’s His Angle?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
About Me
Ian Constructive
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
How Will We Spend Our Time?
• Case Study
• The Challenge of Making Technology Decisions
• The Drivers of Tech Cost and How To Asses Value
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Why Does Tech Matter?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Way Things Were
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Way Things Are
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
WWW
Brand Ambassador
24/7/365
Community
Events
Intranet
Fundraising
eMarketing
CRM
CRM
Publishing Platform
Reporting
Tools & Resources
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Mission Implementation
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Getting Started
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
What if I Get it Wrong?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
What if I Get if Right?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Build a Team
Write The RFP
Have to Do This By When?
Got Budget, Or Do I?
Who Are The
Stakeholders?
What Tech?
We CAN do
This!
Get Buy-In
Did I Forget Something?
Who Will Use
This?
Who Can We Partner With?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Technical Hurdle (What DoYou Know?)
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Technical Hurdle - Do You Know?
Business Requirements
• Plain Language & Solution Independent
• Bridge Knowledge Gaps BetweenThe Parts of Your Ecosystem
• Should Compliment & Extend Your Brand
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Technical Hurdle - Do You Know?
The Size of The Lift
• How Much Effort is This Really Going to Take?
• Set Realistic Expectations!
• Don’t Underestimate Integration,External & Across Systems
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Technical Hurdle - Do You Know?
Technology Options & Cost
• It’s an Ever-Changing Landscape
• Know When to Seek Help
• Not Knowing What’s Available That Will Work Can Have Serious Consequences
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Technical Hurdle - Do You Know?
Your Priorities
• Be Objective in What Would Satisfy Goals
• Your Technical Choices Impact the Future
• Trying to do Much With Too Little Creates Mediocre Results
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Advocate, With Knowledge!
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Drivers of Cost
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Drivers of Cost
Open Source vs
PaidIntegrations Hosting
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Open Source vs
Paid• With Evolving Needs, The Software You
Choose May Not Move With You
Drivers of Cost
• It’s Really About Open vs. Proprietary,Subscriptions, Paid Support, & Development
• A Commercial Product Doesn’t AlwaysEquate to Higher Quality or Usability
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Integrations • Not All APIs Are Created Equal,This is Especially True With CRMs
• Your Site Can Be Integrated With Too
Drivers of Cost
• What Are You Integrating And How?Not Only Internal But External
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Hosting• There Can Be Costs Outside of Your Server:
Networking, Databases, CDN, Failover, …
• Know How “Managed” Managed Is
Drivers of Cost
• It’s Not Like The Old Days,Except When You Need It to Be
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Total Cost of Technology Includes More Than The Financial Cost,
it Includes Time & Human Capital
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Assessing Cost & Finding Partners
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Process
Pre-Selection Process
Selection Engagement
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Pre-Selection
Give the People What They Want Not What You Think They Want
EmailInternal Survey
External Survey
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Survey Questions
• At a top level, what are your goals for this website design?
• Briefly describe your understanding of our organization, it’s mission & why it’s important
• What are key issues you focus on to advance our mission?
• What are your primary areas of expertise and activities?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
• Who do your think are our primary audiences? What are their priorities and needs? How should the website ideally help each audience segment satisfy them?
• Who are our top 3-5 peers or competitors in priority order? What do you feel is effective or ineffective about their websites?
• What are the current website’s greatest strengths as they relate the needs of our audience or our organization? What about the design and usability is successful?
• What are the current website’s greatest challenges or failings as they relate to design & usability? How might each negatively impact our audience or organization, & how might they be addressed in the redesigned website?
Survey Questions
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
• How do you feel about the current site’s content, both as it relates to our programs as well as it relates to our brand? Does the voice effectively engage external audiences? Is there content that should be added or removed? How should the new site’s content differ?
• Beyond usability, visual design, & content, are there any features or functionality you feel would help advance our mission or meet the audience needs? Are there any publishing/back-office issues that you feel need to be addressed to make the website more operationally efficient and supportive?
• Are there any other comments or feedback that you’d like to add?
Survey Questions
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Reality Check
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Pre-Selection: The Complexity Matrix
Assign Difficulty Levels to Features
Easy Medium Hard Gonzo
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Pre-Selection: The Complexity Matrix
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Pre-Selection: The Complexity Matrix
What Increases Complexity?
Customization InteractionsFuture
Proofing
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Time To Adjust
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Selecting A Partner
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Evaluating: Questions To Ask
• What CMS platforms & other technologies do you work with?
• Do you outsource any part of execution? If you do, how long have you been working with your partner(s)?
• What’s your approach to interdisciplinary collaboration? How do you prevent siloing?
• Who will be involved? Are your senior leads/directors accessible? (We don’t know if you’ll kick it down to juniors)
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Evaluating: Questions To Ask
• What’s your Quality Assurance (QA) process?
• How will you train our team to become comfortable with what you build?
• How can you support us after launch?
• How did you arrive at the estimate for feature X? What was your thinking there?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Get Everyone In The Room
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Evaluating: What Are You Comparing Here?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Engagement
CommunicationGuidance &
Prioritization
Full Bore or Something
Else?
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
The Diagnostic
Full Business Systems Analysis
Operations Specific
Basic Diagnostic
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Recap
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Recap
Tech
Drivers of Cost Total Cost
Pre-Selection
Research Reality Check Adjust & Advocate
Evaluation
Ask Questions Do it Together Compare Wisely
Engagement
Common Language Prioritize Together Diagnostic
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Case Study
www.constructive.co / @constr_ctive
Case Study
• About TCTMD and CRF
• Technology Impact on Mission Implementation
• Partner Selection
• Technical Challenges and Getting Support
Thank You!
www.constructive.co @constr_ctive
[email protected] @ianmariano
Tech & the RFP Dance http://cnstrc.tv/1QumxM7
What Does a Website Cost & What Goes into Building It? http://cnstrc.tv/29EFfnd
The 4 Foundations of Effective Websites http://cnstrc.tv/2cYkCHp