CTO at Wunderman Thompson NA , deploying technology to grow customers in the US and overseas.
One of the transformational opportunities for brands is to connect with as many consumers as possible to better understand what they need and close the gap. and provide them with what they need. Today, agencies can sell and then ship products, but the goal is to ship and then sell based on consumer needs.
Agencies and their technologies are on the front lines with clients to help them innovate and cause this kind of business disruption, but there are different ways to do it. Some agencies create deep partnerships with vendors to bundle digital solutions. Others develop custom internal platforms that target specific customer issues. Many do both. However, few of them are reinventing themselves to compete in this new world. Why?
Unsurprisingly, the growth of proxy technology coincides with three generational shifts on the Internet. Before we dwell on the future of proxy technology, let's take a look at how we got here.
Creating and Running the Agency Tech 1.0.0 Update
Web 1.0 has seen brands attempt to establish digital dominance in the new Internet era. The agency's technology role was to create and manage websites for brands as a new marketing channel. The excitement of learning and retaining customers has led many organizations to develop applications dedicated to managing websites and their content. Agencies competed with software companies in the web space until it was no longer commercially viable at the product level. Agencies therefore began to create their own services. While they never gave up on app development, they were clearly focused on creating the marketing technology customers need to communicate better with their customers.
Tech 2.0 Agency. Continuous and growing
After the bursting of the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millennium, the expansion of the internet into Web 2.0 brought in platform giants like Facebook, Spotify, Uber, Airbnb and Netflix. While Web 1.0 primarily delivered communications from brands to consumers, Web 2.0 involved expanding interactions between producers and consumers through platforms.
Agency technology has deepened into the business and integrated advertising and marketing technology systems through strategic partnerships with leading platform providers to deliver customer experience solutions. With a service focus, agencies assist brands with marketing activities, mass content production, campaign activation, performance optimization, media and audience management, as well as as data and analysis. In short, agencies provide the horizontal oversight necessary to partner with customers throughout their customer journey.
However, brands, agencies, and marketers cannot do it alone. It's a team sport where winners know how to harness the power of collaboration. There are over 10,000 military companies to browse. Agencies and the brands they serve must proactively manage all participants in the technology ecosystem to digitally transform. It's a complex, fast-paced environment where good decisions separate leaders from laggards, pushing brands forward simply to manage the current situation and accelerate future growth.
Tech 3.0 agency. growth and transformation
Moving beyond the incremental growth agenda and envisioning exponential transformation poses current technology challenges and future business opportunities. Consumers move seamlessly between industries to accomplish life's tasks. Grab a platoon coffee: Take the kids to school. Defeat the dentist. Instacart for grocery ordering. dog food. Caviar to order dinner. Uber for a drink. Netflix to stream shows. Technology is breaking down all industry barriers and mobile devices allow consumers to easily switch between channels
Emerging Web3 technologies are spreading. The metaverse, NFTs, crypto wallets and smart contracts are at the core of the company's agenda. Agencies are creating these stories for clients to better connect with their clients, especially as companies build their new digital muscles.
What's next for agency technology?
Technology can break down trade barriers. Digitizing the end-to-end customer journey is where brands compete fiercely for a larger share of consumers. Agencies serve brands and the technology they use. Agencies that think horizontally, work collaboratively, connect through partnerships, build less, and integrate more to create effective service offerings must lead and win with clients.
The rewards are high, but the stakes are high. Organizations are not product organizations. They provide services through projects. Product management is not project management . Sustainable digital solutions evolve with the former and die with the latter. The transition from manufactured services to customer services has arrived and requires new robust and reliable capabilities: product management, licensing, digital governance, risk management, partner ecosystem, strategic planning, team deployment, operations and AI/ML engineering ; Technology Development Agency.
Agency technology is entering a new era of working with clients and partners to gain market share for consumers. Agencies specialize in innovation that disrupts clients' business models and builds technical capabilities to bring pilots to production, deeply embracing the ethos of valuing progress over perfection. Innovation is important, but manufacturing (when done right) pays off.
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