Blog

Managing Change in 2020

Change, is the only constant. Guaranteed, and never more evident than in 2020. Entering Q4, it is time to look back at my first nine months as VP Client Services EMEA at Paragon. When embracing a significant career change, you start to re-evaluate your role in the industry and how that too has changed. In the last 15 years, I have seen constant evolution of what was originally considered ‘digital’. First, we saw the dedicated digital agencies, then there was the genesis of specialist digital teams within the largest six Global Holding Groups, where we saw digital quickly becoming integral to client strategy.

Today, consolidated multi-channel teams execute a variety of agency service models that include overseeing managed service partners and client in-housing, not to mention responding to competition from consultancy vendors and consolidation of global tech. Change is hard. But what remains central throughout all this change is the client experience. Having worked as a Global Lead for agencies groups at platforms and publishers, I’ve seen first hand how each agency group are taking different roads to evolve their strategy in response to client demands. In my view, service, quality and value remains paramount – but re-imagining the approach and measurement of success is the challenge.

Now, I’m ‘in the building’ with the experts at dentsu and am influencing how we are addressing client needs with the latest industry shift – offshore solutions. I am contributing to a new development phase for our industry, that has been fast tracked due to fundamental changes to everyone’s day to day lives – much like those early digital agencies. I have been blown away by the knowledge, expertise and passion of our Paragon offshore teams including specialist teams executing across operational delivery, creative consultancy, client management right up to complex business intelligence.

This has reaffirmed my pre-2020 view that offshoring strategies via new markets that facilitate established ones, is key for industry sustainability. Never more important than in today’s uncertain Global environment.

So much like my personal evaluation and new direction – we find advertisers, agencies, technologies and publishers asking the same questions of themselves and making plans. Paragon may just be the answer for them – as it was for me.

Change? Yes please.

To find out more about how we can help transform your business, get in touch.

Author:John Paul James

Date:14th October 2020

Blog

Business benefits of a bespoke outsourcing strategy

Years ago, I worked for a leading print publisher specializing in technology publications. One day, my boss announced that he had planned to sell the printing press used to print B2B technology publications. We questioned why – to which he replied that the printing press was no longer strategic to our core business. He mentioned that it required too much management to maintain but by outsourcing the printing, we would be able to focus on more important tasks such as face to face client support, new business meetings, relationship building and premium quality editorial and content creation. A couple years later, the business was sold for higher than average EBITA…$940 million.

Fast forward 20 years and sure enough, digital publishers (also media agencies, brands, and ad tech platforms) are asking themselves the same question – “should we start outsourcing some of our arduous business processes or do we continue to pour time, resource and budget into tasks that are no longer critical for us to own?”. Tasks such as creative asset management, ad trafficking, campaign set-up, trafficking and reporting, revenue reconciliation, some account management activities etc.

Business benefits

Following the initial transition process, many new clients from media agencies, publishers, brands and platforms have expressed the value they have gained from outsourcing such tasks – and how this has wholly exceeded their initial expectations.

Across the board, every client that I work with expects cost savings to be the #1 outcome of outsourcing ad operations. While there is no denying that cost savings are meaningful, there are other benefits which exceed the cost component in terms of value.

Below are the top 5 added benefits reported by Paragon clients:

  1. By reviewing our workflows and roles, our team is now aligned / focused on the most important tasks to our business
  2. By outsourcing less strategic work, our employees are learning higher value skills which aligns nicely with both their career paths and our growth requirements
  3. By allowing our employees to engage in more creative, strategic and challenging work, the operations department morale has never been higher
  4. By utilising high-quality, dedicated support, the quality and efficiency gains were instant – leading to a dramatic increases in campaign KPIs and client satisfaction surveys
  5. By outsourcing specific tasks, management time is freed up from recruiting and training new employees and this churn rate is reduced

To find out more about how bespoke outsourcing can boost your business, get in touch.

Author:David Tyler

Date:9th October 2020