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Apps can be mobile or web-based, or both. They can be purchased off-the-shelf as standalone, or as part of an integrated stack. If you can’t find an app fit for purpose, you might consider building it yourself. This is custom-application development.

Key considerations when building your own app

The truth is that building and maintaining software applications is expensive and time consuming. There are a number of key considerations when deciding to embark on a customer software development project:

1. Specifications / ScOpe

Perhaps the most important phase of any tech deployment project is scoping. Its essential that you spend as much time as is necessary to properly document your requirements if you are to reap the rewards of a successful implementation:.

• Start with functional and non-functional requirements:
  • Functional – these are the business process requirements (what the app must do). Think about administrative, transactional, corrective and reporting requirements.
  • Non-functional / technical – consider requirements related to processing time, number of concurrent users the app must be able to support, uptime and ease of use requirements.
• Next document workflow narratives:
  • Think of these as ‘user stories’ – define how people in different roles will use the application, and prioritise and log who requires what functionality and any inter-departmental integration requirements.
• Finally, create business process maps:
  • These are diagrams with symbols that map out workflows using standard business process modelling and language. They are designed to express how people in different functions collaborate to get things done.

This will become the backbone of RFPs (Request for Proposals) that you will share with vendors or development houses for comparison.

Your goal here is to define a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – bare-bones but stable, iterative solution that you can fine tune according to actual user feedback.

2. Oftentimes its better to buy than to build

It doesn’t make sense to develop custom apps for core business functions like accounting, payroll, sales tax, inventory, and customer relationship management (CRM), because there are so many off-the-shelf, highly configurable options on the market.

It’s only when you can’t find software that does what you need that you would look to build it yourself. And even then, you need to assess whether there’s a high-value opportunity to seize or a significant efficiency to gain. Indeed, you need to be able to quantify to at least some extent a strong ROI to justify a custom build.

When you are thinking about how to quantify ROI, also consider time-to-value:

3. Development time

The time it takes to develop an app is determined by your needs and wants. With any project, a scope is drawn up to set project goals and realistic timelines and depending on your needs, development can take anywhere from 2 – 12 months. The more complex the capabilities and requirements of the app become, the longer it may take to iron out the kinks.

And don’t make the mistake of thinking that custom application development is can be a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ project:

4. Support and maintenance

As with the development time of applications, there are many things to consider when designing an app. The time it takes to develop, hosting options, updates, what storefront costs you may encounter and how many people will be using your app.

These are only some of the issues to consider when maintaining your app, and that’s where application support and maintenance comes in. Quality support for your online applications can be of crucial importance to you and your company. We can create a maintenance plan for you to ensure everything runs smoothly.

5. UX & UI design

Good user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) are essential if you want to ensure user adoption and ROI. When selecting a developer, make sure that they have solid UI and UX design knowledge and expertise.

Having taken all of these considerations into account, you can be confident that your decision to build a custom application is the right one. And the hard work can begin. When selecting a partner, they should take time to review your RPFs, have a solid track record and follow an agile approach to application development. They should have an appropriate tech stack to support your requirements, too.

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Mobile responsive web design

Every website we build is optimised to ensure it is responsive on all devices. This includes mobile devices as well as tablets. With correctly sized images and text, we aim to deliver high quality websites that perform well on all platforms.

Platforms like:

• Phones (Android & IOS)
• Tablets (Android & iPadOS)

The majority of users on the web are using mobile devices. It’s absolutely essential to have a mobile-friendly website in the current age. Online shopping sees most users on mobile devices. Let’s make your website mobile responsive today.

Website SEO

All of our websites are built using SEO best practices with the addition of an XML sitemap to ensure your website can be easily indexed by Google. Whilst SEO is a marathon rather than a sprint, we make sure that your website is built using these fundamental principles to get ahead of your competition.

Some Key Aspects of SEO:

• Keyword Relevance
• Website User Experience
• Back Links (Referral Links)
• Google Integration
• Social Media Interaction
• Website Content Publishing
• Content Update Frequency
• Technical Crawlability

Contact us today for all of your SEO needs.

Social media integration

We will integrate your social media accounts with your website in order to help you engage with your audience, improve your followership and generate more traffic by making your social platforms accessible to your target audience and customers via your website.

Integrated Social Media Platforms like:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• WhatsApp

• Google Analytics Set up and Integration

A good website is also a conversion funnel with touchpoints that progress buyers on a digital journey to engagement or transaction.

If your website is to be effective in this regard, you must track visitor behaviour. Any web developer worth their salt would be remis neglecting this step.

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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the process of improving the quality of a website to rank higher in search results organically.

We refer to it as a marathon, not a sprint as it is an ongoing process that takes time. If you’re looking to increase your local SEO rankings in the Johannesburg area, or if you would like to have a more national approach to your SEO strategy, contact us to find out more today.

SEO Strategy

From keyword research and optimisation to On-Page and Off-Page SEO. We are here to assist you with all the technical aspects of your website, so you don’t have to.

We are an SEO Strategy management company based in the Bedfordview area of Johannesburg and we can help you build a perfect plan to get your website ranking higher. Call us today for more information about SEO Johannesburg Strategies.

On-page & Off page SEO

We will ensure your on-page content is optimised for search engines by improving site speed, mobile friendliness, indexing and crawlability. There is no need to worry about alt text, meta tags and the technical parts of SEO, we’ve got IT.

Off-page SEO helps strengthen the influence and relationship your website has with other websites.

The difference between On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO is basically exactly how it sounds. On-Page SEO refers to things you can control, ranging from keywords, page structure, internal linking, content and load time. Off-page SEO refers to things you can’t control like backlinks.

Content for SEO

SEO is largely content driven, meaning that your website content needs to be relevant, informative, and optimised. We will assist you in creating content that is keyword optimised in order to reach your target audience.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Johannesburg, if done correctly, can catapult your website to the top of search engine rankings. SEO also can increase the traffic to your website organically, generate leads and improve business credibility. Within SEO, there are a wide variety of strategies to accomplish the aforementioned goals, some of which are more effective than others. This could be anything from developing website content around keywords related to your industry to maintaining a strong presence across multiple social media platforms. SEO practices and strategies are constantly changing to remain effective as internet search engines continuously update algorithms.

This is all done through strategic SEO keyword research and selection, optimizing code, content and the website structure, with the aim of increasing the organic traffic to your website. Our team will get you to the best possible position for your market.

Let us help you increase your Google Ranking.

Start your SEO today!

Search Engine Optimisation is crucial when trying to rank well on Google and other search engines. Our custom SEO packages are tailor made to help drive people to your website and rank highly online. SEO isn’t just a one-size-fits-all solution, and we aim to fulfil your SEO needs with one of our branded solutions.

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What is digital transformation?

In a nutshell, digital transformation is about changing how we do business through technology. The objective is improvement – streamlined processes, automated tasks, improved customer experience, greater agility etc.

It’s making sure you can compete in a progressively digital economy. And make no mistake – whether you’re selling to a business, or consumers, providing products, or services, you’re competing in a digital economy for an increasingly digital-first customer.

Digital Transformation can be as simple as a start-up setting up Xero Accounting and integrating with their bank so that manual reconciliations become a thing of the past. Or as complicated as a century-old bank modernising legacy systems to enable data integration with custom mobile apps.

Digital transformation presents businesses with a chicken-and-egg dilemma. As technology disrupts, customer expectations change which drives further disruption. Similarly, the pace of technological change necessitates the type of organizational agility that only technology can deliver.

5-key benefits of digital transformation:

• Increased agility and resilience – in a market characterized by unprecedented change, agility is essential. The right technological levers can make you more adaptable and resilient to change.
• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and reduced Time to Value – consumption- and subscription-based software- and infrastructure-as-a-service offerings mean reduced capital and wasteful expenditure.
• Improved and increasingly personalised customer experience – integrated tech stacks that allow for an end-to-end view of a customer’s journey and omnichannel digital touch points create more opportunities for engagement and optimization.
• Data-led business decision-making – integrated data visualization yields actionable insights that businesses can leverage to improve processes and customer and employee experience.
• Improved employee productivity and satisfaction – automating repetitive, manual tasks frees employees up to focus on high-value business activities.

Digital transformation of sales and marketing

Digital Sales Transformation is about using technology to improve business sales and marketing functions – end-to-end – from top-of-funnel market awareness, to lead generation, to onboarding and customer relationship management.

The 4-pillars of digital sales transforation:

1. Strategy – Digital transformation is business transformation. It should start with a clearly defined and well-articulated objective centred around improving the customer experience and digital buyer journey. It should take into account various personalities and where they digitally consume information and make purchasing decisions.
2. Technology – Technology is the great enabler of digital transformation. Choosing your tech stack is critical for success. Part of your digital sales transformation strategy should include a business process scoping exercise that informs what applications and platforms you select.
3. People – one of the biggest obstacles to successful digital transformation is cultural. Working with your people from the outset is critical for buy-in and adoption (and therefore success). Talk to sales, marketing and account management teams and make sure your tech stack addresses their needs and pain points.
4. Data – Data is the most valuable byproduct of doing business. And perhaps no more so than in sales and marketing. The right tech stack will enable and should include data analysis and visualization tools that result in actionable insights to streamline buyer journeys and optimize conversion funnels.

Selling today is about leveraging multiple platforms, channels and disciplines to engage digital buyers where they are at and harness the power of technology to visualise engagement data, automate processes and integrate systems.

The ultimate objective of digital sales transformation is sustainable, scalable business growth.

3-Ket indicators that you need to pivot to digital sales enablement:

1. Cold calling isn’t producing the same results – your sales and pre-sales teams are spending no less time prospecting and calling, but can’t meet their KPIs. They report that prospects are better at screening calls and less inclined to engage on the phone.
2. Referrals are drying up – you made a name for yourself and consistently met revenue targets through referral business. But the network is saturated, or your contacts are retiring and their successors don’t do business in the same way.
3. Repeat business is less reliable than it used to be – you are finding customers increasingly fickle and increasingly empowered to switch to competitors. Your competitors are also getting better at conveying compelling messaging online where these customers are shopping.

Why digital sales transformation matters

Digital Sales Transformation matters because B2B buyer behaviour is changing. Digital adoption and online buyer comfort, already trending, were fast-tracked by the Pandemic and restrictions on physical engagements.

Gartner estimates that 33% of all buyers desire a seller-free sales experience and projects that, by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers to occur in digital channels.

Add to this, new technologies that make it easier for prospects to screen calls and changes in regulations that make it more difficult for companies to make unsolicited calls and the imperative to shift to digital buyer enablement has never been greater.

To compete in this buyer-centric digital market, you need to reset, pivot, and transform operations to meet digital buyer expectations and behaviour.

Key takeaways:

Digital Sales Transformation is about building a sustainable, scalable sales strategy that aligns sales, marketing and customer service, increases market awareness, generates leads, and reduces sales cycles. Before embarking on this journey, it’s a good idea to understand:

• What is Digital Sales Transformation and why you should care?
• The 5 key pillars of Digital Sales Transformation.
• Why traditional prospecting/lead generation is failing.
• 3 key indicators that your business is at risk.

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Imagine walking in to a shoe shop. The clerk at the front then asks you if you would like some help finding a good pair of shoes. This clerk is essentially an API in this situation. You don’t know the whole process behind manufacturing, shipping, arranging and pricing the shoes but this clerk is there to help make the process of buying your favourite pair of new shoes that much easier. An API is the clerk for a websites information and processes. The API just gives you all of the relevant information needed in a convenient manner.

An API is a software mediator that acts as the middle man between two applications and allows them to communicate with each other. When you use apps like Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram together, it’s an API that allows them all to talk to each other seamlessly without having to develop the code to do it. An API Essentially connects one process to another, making API’s essential for use between two programs.

An API is your interpreter when dealing with other applications, making everything easier.

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The age of the customer

In 2013, Forrester coined the term ‘the age of the customer’ to denote a notable shift in power dynamics between sellers and buyers (in favour of the latter).

A brief history of the Age of the Customer:

The Age of the Customer is a byproduct of The Information Age. With its roots in the development of the transistor in 1947, and accelerated exponentially by rapid advancements in information technology, the ‘information age’ saw the democratization of information.

Prior to this and during the industrial revolution, industry was the custodian of information. Brands controlled how much information was shared and where. In this era, the consumer had little choice but to take advertising and sales at face value.

Advancements in information technology (hence the name), changed all that.

Consumers could suddenly access a wealth of competitor information, easily compare prices and features, and find and share product reviews – all from the comfort of their home or office. And spurious claims by sales reps and marketers could be debunked at the click of a button.

Mistrustful millennials, ever skeptical of big brands and advertising messages, are the byproduct of misleading advertising messaging by overzealous advertisers, countered by broad access to information.

In the Age of the Customer, brands and industry are no longer in the driver’s seat. Buyers define and control the journey to purchase. They research problems, solutions and suppliers themselves before engaging with sales reps. They confer with peers and evaluate products based on the community of consumers who follow them.

A new paradigm

In case you were in any doubt, here are some key statistics that demonstrate just how empowered consumers are today:

1. 93% of consumers read online reviews before buying.
2. 81% of consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses.
3. In B2B, buyers spend just 17% of the buyer journey engaging with sales reps.
4. They spend 45% of their time independently researching.

In this new paradigm, competing for consideration means recognizing that the customer is truly king. Marketing and Sales must align and evolve to meet the journeys that buyers are crafting for themselves if they are to remain competitive.

That means truly understanding the buyer journey. What is the buyer’s current state? What is the problem they need to solve as it relates to your solutions, and how are they affected by it? Do they know they have a problem? If yes, do they know what’s involved in solving it? Is yours just one possible solution? And if so, why should they consider your approach? Finally, why should they consider you?

Isn’t that sales’ job?

Indeed, traditionally, the job of great sales reps was answering these questions. The trouble with the Age of the Customer is that most customers don’t want to talk to you. And they certainly don’t want unsolicited calls and emails.

With changes in legislation (the introduction of GDPR and POPPIA, for instance), and call screening technology, not only are your overtures unwelcome, but they are less and less likely to result in engagements and might even land you in legal hot water.

Instead, like a Berlin Wall, the old distinctions between Sales and Marketing must come down. The role of Marketing is to create content that addresses these top-of-funnel buyer journey concerns. The evolving role of Marketing is to facilitate a journey of self-education and supplier-evaluation that, if well executed, leads to your door.

The death of sales?

Just like Marketing, Sales isn’t going anywhere, but the role of sales must evolve to meet changing buyer behaviour. It’s estimated that by the time buyers engage with a sales rep, they are more than halfway through the buyer journey (57%). This means that they come to sales engagements with information, but also with preconceptions. The role of Sales is to validate good choices, disrupt misaligned preconceptions, and consultatively design solutions, rather than sell.

The ultimate opportunity cost

In the Age of the Customer, traditional sales strategies are less and less effective. The challenge most organisations face is one of legacy operating procedures. For many, ways of working are so entrenched that pivoting to digital sales enablement seems insurmountable.

The result – many organisations stick to the status quo. Marketing remains an intuitive tick box exercise independent of sales who, in turn, continue to rely on outbound lead generation and analogue one-to-one engagements with prospects. The market insights that those engagements yield, are not relayed to marketing and exist only in the memory and mailbox of the sales rep.

You may recognize the need to adapt and evolve but, as the gap between you and the market widens, so you must work harder and harder to produce the same results. And all of this manual ‘busy-work’ means that no one has time to collaborate, strategise or drive the change necessary to fix the core problem.

The longer the hamster wheel runs, the bigger the gap between you and the market – and between you and your competitors – becomes, until the chasm is just too big to traverse.

Also driving organizational change-resistance is the perceived added complexity and cost of the technology. Many organisations feel that they don’t have the skill or resources to deploy and maintain the tech stacks that underpin digital sales transformation.

For instance, you need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform where sales reps consistently capture outcomes of engagements. Marketing should then review the resultant data (which should be displayed in a data visualization tool) and create search engine optimized content that addresses recurring objections or frequently asked questions.

Resultant leads generated by Marketing should be loaded onto the CRM for engagement by Sales and, again, outcomes recorded so that conversion rates can be tracked and lead quality, improved.

That’s to say nothing of automating lead nurturing, or integrating your website conversion funnel with your CRM, for instance.

All of this requires training, adoption, change management and upskilling.

The question to ask yourself is what is the opportunity cost of maintaining the status quo in the interests of short-term survival, versus investing time and money in digital sales transformation for the future?

“Small businesses are small because they can’t or won’t standardize and automate processes. If they could, they would scale up and grow up”. – Eric Schwartzman (paraphrase)

Harnessing the power of digital sales transformation is about the digitalization of your sales process. And because it’s digital, it’s scalable. It allows you to break free from the physical constraints of how many calls a single sales rep can make in a day, and how many sales reps you can afford to hire, train and retain. And it means that your skilled sales force can focus their attention on closing prequalified deals, rather than wasting it on increasingly ineffective prospecting.

In the beginning, its about incremental improvement in the pursuit of exponential growth potential. The alternative is a succumbing to the law of diminishing returns.

Unlock your sales potential with digital transformation now!

Ready to elevate your sales strategy and navigate the digital landscape effectively?

Connect with our expert team for a Free Consultation to discuss your unique challenges and explore tailored solutions that drive your sales into the future.

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Embark on a journey towards digital sales transformation and explore pivotal steps that ensure a seamless transition, driving revenue growth, and enhancing the overall sales process.

{Key takeaways}

• Embrace Digital Tools: Leverage innovative technologies, CRM systems, and digital platforms to streamline the sales process, enhance customer engagement, and improve sales team productivity.
• Strategic Alignment: Ensure coherence and strategic alignment across all sales channels and between sales and marketing teams to provide a unified and optimized customer experience.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Utilize data analytics and digital insights to identify areas for improvement, optimize sales strategies, and enhance pipeline visibility, ensuring targeted and impactful digital transformation.
• Engage and Train Sales Teams: Prioritize getting sales team buy-in through transparent communication and invest in robust training and coaching to enhance their digital proficiency and performance.
• Continuous Measurement and Adjustment: Implement a system for continuous measurement of digital strategies using KPIs and analytics, and ensure regular adjustments for sustained success and improvement in the sales process.
• Prioritize Customer Experience: Focus on providing a personalized and seamless customer experience by utilizing data analytics and ensuring consistency across various digital platforms and touchpoints.

Revenue Growth

In the era of digitalization, revenue growth is intricately tied with leveraging digital platforms and tools. Adopting digital sales strategies, such as utilizing data analytics and embracing e-commerce platforms, can significantly amplify your revenue by reaching a wider audience and providing personalized customer experiences.

Increase sales efficiency

Increasing sales efficiency involves the strategic use of technology to automate repetitive tasks, streamline sales processes, and enable sales teams to focus on high-value activities. Implementing CRM systems and utilizing AI in sales can drastically reduce the sales cycle and enhance customer engagement.

Improve sales team productivity

Enhancing sales team productivity is pivotal in a digital transformation journey. Employ digital tools that facilitate seamless communication, automate administrative tasks, and provide instant access to crucial customer data, thereby empowering sales teams to perform optimally.

Improve pipeline visibility

Improving pipeline visibility involves utilizing digital analytics and CRM tools to gain insights into the sales funnel, enabling better forecasting, resource allocation, and strategy formulation to enhance conversion rates and customer acquisition.

Align sales channels

Aligning sales channels in the digital realm involves ensuring consistency and coherence across various digital platforms, ensuring a unified customer experience and optimizing each channel for maximum reach and conversion.

Achieve competitive advantage

Achieving a competitive advantage in the digital sales landscape involves leveraging innovative technologies, adopting agile methodologies, and ensuring your sales team is adept at utilizing digital tools to enhance customer interactions and drive sales.

Decrease new hire ramp time

Decreasing new hire ramp time is crucial in a fast-paced digital sales environment. Implementing a robust digital training platform that facilitates quick learning and adaptation to the company’s sales processes and tools is imperative.

Sales transformation strategies

Get Sales Team Buy-In

Ensuring the sales team buy-in is crucial for successful digital transformation. Engage the team through transparent communication, involving them in the transformation process, and highlighting the benefits of digital adoption.

Identify Areas for Improvement

Utilize data analytics and feedback to identify areas for improvement within the sales process, ensuring that the digital transformation strategy is targeted and impactful.

Map Sales Process

Mapping the sales process digitally involves creating a visual representation of the sales journey, identifying touchpoints, and leveraging digital tools to enhance each stage.

Align Sales and Marketing

Aligning sales and marketing teams through integrated digital platforms ensures coherent strategies, unified communication, and a streamlined customer journey from awareness to conversion.

Audit Tools

Conducting a thorough audit of tools involves evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of current digital tools, ensuring they align with the sales strategy and facilitate optimal performance.

Implement New Technology

Implementing new technology involves adopting innovative digital tools that enhance the sales process, improve customer interactions, and drive sales growth.

Training and Coaching

Investing in training and coaching ensures the sales team is proficient in utilizing digital tools and strategies, thereby enhancing their performance and productivity.

Measure and Adjust

Utilize analytics to measure and adjust the digital sales strategies, ensuring they are yielding desired outcomes and continuously optimizing them for better results.

How to transform your sales process

Sell The Need For Change

Articulate and sell the need for change by highlighting the benefits of digital transformation, showcasing success stories, and demonstrating the impact on sales growth and efficiency.

Identify Areas For Change

Utilize data-driven insights to identify areas for change, ensuring that the transformation is targeted and addresses the pivotal aspects of the sales process.

Outline Your Process With OKRs

Outline your process with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to set clear goals, measure progress, and ensure that the digital transformation aligns with the overall organizational objectives.

Align Sales and Marketing Teams

Ensure sales and marketing alignment by adopting integrated digital strategies that facilitate unified communication, coherent strategies, and a seamless customer journey.

Track Progress Over Time

Utilize digital analytics to track progress over time, ensuring that the transformation is yielding desired outcomes and enabling continuous optimization of strategies.

Measuring Your Success

Measuring your success in digital sales transformation involves utilizing KPIs and analytics to evaluate the impact of digital strategies on sales growth, customer acquisition, and overall revenue, ensuring continuous improvement and sustained success.

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Understanding the structure you need take with your website development takes knowing what you are aiming to achieve. With a website, it’s best to imagine your business like a car of sorts. Now I know what you’re thinking… “What does a website have to do with cars?”… But bear with me for a second. If you need to get from point a to point b, you also need to think about what needs to go with you, how long you are going to take to get there, how many people need to be in the car, how often you need to refuel, how comfortable you would like the trip to be and even, does it look good? We could all just go out and buy the cheapest car on the market and put time and effort into building it up, but that takes time and money that we can’t always foresee, and sometimes a mechanic or any knowledgeable person might help make this process a little easier.

With websites, knowing what platform to build on is the same as building your dream car. “How many visitors can my website handle?” “How far will this website take me?” “What will my website be for?” “How often do I need to update my website?” “How easy is my website to use and does it look good?” If you’re looking for an online shop, sites like Shopify are a perfect solution to help you on your journey to becoming the next Jeff Bezos. If you’re looking for a beautiful blog to host your many adventures or recipes, WordPress could make your life a bit easier when uploading your next Pulitzer prize winning article! The idea that a website should be one-size-fits-all has long since faded into memory and knowing where to start might help you understand the best platform for you.

With website design and development, there are many things to consider when building your online identity from what your website needs, how much will your website cost, how often do you need to update your website to what are you building your website for. With the need for an online presence growing ever-more important in today’s global village, one has to find the perfect platform for their website, and with so many to choose from, it isn’t easy to know where to turn, and this is where choosing the right path can be a genuinely difficult experience and finding your perfect website shouldn’t be. That’s why we are here to help you in picking the right platform for your website.

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