“I’m sorry, man, but that’s the software developer’s problem.”
“The hardware guys are the only ones who can fix that.”
“Your IT department doesn’t understand the scope of the project.”
In our age of virtual work groups and collaborative teams, is there still a place for someone—anyone—to take total responsibility for a project?
As new business initiatives require the increasingly granular breakdown of tasks by specialization, the customer is often left wondering: “Who’s in charge here?”
Someone needs to step up and say, “We’ll oversee the whole thing. Start to finish. If there is a failure anywhere along the way, it’s our fault.”
One throat to choke.
Business leaders are continually faced with two choices: “Do I turn this project over to Company A to handle, start to finish, and maybe pay a little more? Or do I want to save a few bucks by playing General Contractor and hiring out subs to do the various tasks.
On paper, the latter looks less expensive, and most business leaders see themselves as more than capable of managing a team of independent specialists.
The problem is that it ends up taking longer, requiring more meetings, causing more interruptions and creating more stress than it appeared it would at the outset.
It also pulls the business leader away from his or her core competency, and that’s the irreplaceable cost to the company.
Paying a full-service provider to do everything usually runs a little more in initial costs, but the opportunity costs are low. So it’s actually less expensive in the long run. And the customer has only one phone number to call to check on the status and effectiveness of the project.
This is true of nearly everything—from construction projects and IT implementations, to corporate jet transactions and marketing services.
At this time in our economic history, where lots of specialists have become available due to high unemployment, the temptation to farm things out to lots of low-cost providers is understandable.
No doubt, virtual teams are accomplishing a lot these days. But my guess is that every industry has a slot for a can-do, hyper-responsible leader to emerge—a company that will say, “You bet, we’ll manage this thing from concept to completion…and long after the sale. The buck stops here, and only here.”
For business owners and leaders, to hear that from a vendor or service provider is a breath of fresh air.
In our business, we see a lot of talented people out there available for design, writing, web development and the like. But the reason people hire us—and other total-accountability service providers—is that we offer one-stop, absolute, no-excuses accountability.
Far beyond delivering on a punch list of services, we act as long-view brand stewards, making sure that every move is a smart one for building brand equity and creating a more valuable company when it comes time to sell the business or pass on to others.
Interestingly, this long view is the nexus where marketing, PR, customer service and sales support all come together. Only with one reliable steward of all these channels, simultaneously looking at how each affects the others, can the company’s long-term business objectives be achieved.