Three weeks to a plan leadership can act on
A fixed scope review of how your digital function is organised, staffed, supplied and measured. It ends with a 12 month plan and the first three actions agreed.
What a digital function is
The people, platforms, suppliers and decisions through which an organisation reaches, sells to and serves its customers on digital channels. In practice it has six parts.
Websites, apps and booking
The digital products customers use, and the people who own and run them.
Digital marketing operations
How search, social, paid media and email are organised, supplied and measured.
CRM and customer data
What is known about each customer, where it is held, and how it is used.
Experience design and content
User research, interface design and the content that fills the channels.
Technology delivery
Product owners, developers, integrations and the vendors who build and maintain.
Analytics and reporting
The numbers, who produces them, and whether leadership can act on them.
Not included: office IT, networks and finance systems, brand strategy and creative campaigns. We look at them only where they meet the digital function.
The problems we are asked to look at
- Several agencies and vendors are engaged, their work overlaps, and nobody clearly owns the outcome.
- The website or app was rebuilt and the results did not improve.
- Visitors drop out of the booking journey and nobody owns the conversion rate.
- A CRM was bought and is barely used. There is no single view of the customer.
- Marketing, IT and digital disagree about who decides what.
- Two reports show different numbers for the same thing, and leadership trusts neither.
- The team has grown without clear roles, and key work depends on one person or one vendor.
- A large contract is up for renewal and there is no basis for the decision.
- A new destination or attraction is opening and the digital function has to be built from nothing.
- Leadership cannot tell whether the money spent on digital is paying back.
What the review examines
Six areas, one plain question in each.
Operating model and governance
Who decides, who owns what, and how is work prioritised?
Team and roles
Is the structure right, and where are the skill gaps?
Vendors and contracts
What does each vendor deliver, at what cost, and where do they overlap?
Platforms
Do the website, app, booking and CRM platforms fit the need?
Customer data and CRM
What is captured about visitors, and is it used?
Reporting
Does leadership see numbers it can trust and act on?
How it runs, and where it leads
- Week 1
Listen
Interviews with leadership, the digital team and key vendors. Existing documents reviewed.
- Week 2
Analyse
Analysis across the six areas. A first read of findings shared with the sponsor.
- Week 3
Decide
Final findings, a 12 month plan, and a leadership session that agrees the first three actions.
- Month 3
First changes in place
The plan is built so the first three actions can be finished within a quarter, by your own people.
- Month 12
Clear owners
The aim of the plan: decisions with one owner, vendors with clear scopes, numbers leadership trusts.
The review What it sets up
What you receive
Four documents and one session, all written so they can be acted on without further consulting.
A findings report
What works, what does not, and why, area by area.
A 12 month plan
Priorities in order, with an owner and a rough cost for each.
A governance model
Decision rights, roles and the meeting rhythm that keeps the function running.
A vendor assessment
Keep, change or exit for each vendor, with the reasons.
A leadership session
The findings presented, and the first three actions agreed.
Start with a short conversation
Tell us about your digital function and what is not working. The first conversation costs nothing.