Technology can greatly improve a business’ efficiency and efficacy, supporting and enabling solutions that would have been impossible otherwise. But while technology has great potential, its success depends on strategy, configuration, implementation, and adoption—rather than the tool itself.
It’s essential to recognize that there is no such thing as a “magic” tool that operates seamlessly out-of-the-box, and that to achieve success with your organization’s tech stack, it must be regularly evaluated and maintained.
Stay vigilant
Inefficient technology slows down employees’ work processes, leading to low productivity and wasted time.
Technology that feels cumbersome, counterintuitive or unnecessarily complex frustrates employees and impacts adoption.
Technology constraints or other issues prohibit a company’s ability to scale operations and ultimately limits a business’ potential.
Conflicting automation or processes can result in delays, errors, crashes, downtime, increased costs, and more (you name it).
When researching an agency to evaluate and audit their tech stack, prospective clients often have many questions and concerns. We’ve listed a few below, but don’t hesitate to reach out if you have additional questions you would like answered.
Organizations may seek an independent auditor or consultant to analyze their current state and tech stack for various reasons. Typically, companies wish to have their systems and technology audited to address concerns related to efficiency, configuration and setup (either too lean or too complex), outdated automations, unnecessary or redundant applications, and malfunctioning integrations. However, regardless of the reason for seeking an audit, most companies share similar goals: improving productivity, user adoption and satisfaction, reliability and ease of use, well-functioning integrations, custom solutions that are necessary and sensible, and a comprehensive understanding of the system’s mechanics and components.
While there’s an argument for having your company’s digital applications, tools and systems audited as a proactive measure, you might not find a technology audit to be very useful if you are satisfied with your current state and have not observed any issues or challenges.
As technology consultants, we are in a unique position because every large-scale technology project we work on begins with some form of an audit. Audits are mutually beneficial for both the consultant and the customer, as they provide both parties with a new understanding of the current state and often bring previously undetected—but significant—issues to light.
As a team, we have conducted hundreds of audits, evaluating a variety of tools, integrations, and processes. With our deep familiarity and comfort with the audit process, we find it to be the most rewarding aspect of our work because it allows us to solve real problems and deliver tangible outcomes rather than abstract ones.
We ensure a consistent, thorough, and comprehensive approach through the observation of a structured and methodical approach. This includes identifying all relevant technology components and processes, interviewing key stakeholders, reviewing documentation and workflows, and conducting technical testing when appropriate.
We prioritize providing comprehensive technology audits by staying abreast of the latest industry standards, regulations, and best practices. We value feedback from our clients and encourage them to share any issues or errors they may have encountered, recognizing that their knowledge of their tech stack is invaluable in ensuring a thorough audit. Given the complexity of most companies’ tech stacks, which may involve thousands of components and dependencies, we believe that no detail is too small and no amount of background information is too much.
There’s no simple answer to this question, as it depends on the tools in the company’s tech stack, the familiarity and/or experience level of its users, and certainly both the amount and methodology of custom solutions or workflows.
However, common problems we often encounter include outdated or poorly updated systems, inefficient processes, weak cybersecurity measures, inadequate backup and disaster recovery plans, lack of employee training and support, and limited scalability. Other issues may include poorly integrated systems, inconsistent data formatting, unnecessary complexity, and more.
But perhaps the biggest and most alarming issue we regularly encounter is a system, process, or integration that does not work at all.
We recognize the importance of budget considerations for our clients, but given the unique nature of each project, we can only provide customized quotes based on complexity and requirements. As such, we do not have a standard price list.
We work closely with clients to identify solutions that fit within their budget, including phased work over longer timelines and collaborating with their team on certain tasks (if possible and/or applicable).
We do not require a retainer and provide flexibility for clients to pause or terminate ongoing work as needed.
After completing our audit and/or gap analysis, we’ll schedule a call with your team to review our findings and recommendations.
Should you opt to make any changes or updates, our team of skilled and certified developers is at your disposal to provide any necessary assistance.
We pride ourselves on being flexible in our engagement model and can always adjust our level of involvement to meet your needs and preferences.
While Salesforce is our primary focus and area of expertise, we also have extensive experience working with a wide range of external systems on a daily basis. Our team is comfortable working with virtually all digital tools, systems, and applications. In the event that we come across a tool or system that we don’t feel is a good fit for our team, we will let you know right away.
During our technology audits, we take a comprehensive approach and evaluate each and every tool in your tech stack, not just your CRM or marketing automation system. Even if you are a Salesforce customer, your technology ecosystem likely extends far beyond Sales or Service Cloud. Our goal is to ensure that all of your systems work together harmoniously to achieve your business objectives.
The tech industry can be overwhelming with its use of jargon, but we believe in communicating with clients in a way that is accessible to everyone, regardless of role or experience level.
Our team is committed to providing clear and concise language in any documentation we create or demos we provide.
We make every effort to ensure that your team fully comprehends our logic, concerns, and/or recommendations. If a member of your team requires more personalized attention to gain a clearer understanding, we are happy to schedule individual meetings with our auditor or consultant.
There are numerous reasons why your organization may ultimately choose to collaborate with another agency or developer. For instance, you might be able to secure a much lower rate with an offshore developer (though we advise against solely selecting a developer or agency based on cost). Alternatively, you may come across a consultant or auditor who you have better chemistry with, or who understands your vision more comprehensively. Ultimately, this is your prerogative.
That said, we consider any documentation or media created during our audit and/or gap analysis process to be privileged and confidential. We kindly request that clients not share this content with external parties without our explicit consent, as our goal is to safeguard the integrity of our work. We reserve the right to terminate access to any documentation and media if we suspect they have been shared with a third party without consent; we will only agree to disclose such content to third parties if there is a compelling and justifiable reason to do so.
See below for a high-level overview of our technology auditing process, though certainly reach out to us if you have additional questions.
Submit the form to begin the conversation. Once we’ve obtained a few key pieces of information, we’ll be able to provide you with some estimates around pricing options.
