The start of a new year often means the start of new projects designed to improve business efficiency, profitability and working environment for staff. Digital tools are frequently at the heart of transformational projects, from a new website or the automation of day-to-day processes, to the creation of a whole new platform to meet a business need.
It can be an exciting time, but also the point at which foundational mistakes can be made, risking turning projects into complex and expensive headaches. The old adage - fail to prepare, prepare to fail - rings true here.
Gavin Sherratt, Mashbo MD, said: “Sometimes even bringing in the right suppliers to deliver a tech project can be fraught with risk. Tendering to bring in a tech supplier usually means that resource doesn’t exist in your business already, so those managing the process don’t always know the right questions to ask or what level of detail is needed in a brief.”
Mashbo client the EFL Trust is one such organsiation that the software development company has assisted through its scoping services. The EFL Trust had drafted an initial project brief for the tender to appoint a digital agency that could deliver the migration of its Official Soccer Schools website to a new ecommerce platform, but it wanted to ensure that it was comprehensive enough.
Mashbo used its experience to identify a number of gaps in the brief and anticipate and answer the kinds of questions agencies would come back with, minimising time spent on questions and clarifications. It also used its understanding of the EFL Trust’s company culture, the technical requirements of the project and its knowledge of other agencies in the sector, to identify a shortlist of suitable candidate agencies, rather than just putting the brief ‘out in the wild’ and hoping for the best.
Using this approach, it took just five weeks from Mashbo receiving the initial brief to the new digital agency being appointed, and a pool of potential candidate agencies for future EFL Trust projects has also been created.
Planning a Digital Project in 2023?
Although every scoping session delivered by Mashbo is bespoke to clients, there are four questions that are always asked. If you’re planning a digital project, you should ask them too:
- What business problem does the project resolve?
- Do you have the technical expertise in-house, or do you need an external supplier?
- Will the new tech work with our current/legacy software?
- How are your employees/customers currently using your IT systems and digital tools?
Want to chat a project idea through? Interested in learning more about scoping sessions?
Contact Mashbo on studio@mashbo.com or 0151 708 1924 or visit mashbo.com