The difference between our Tech Platforms and Add-ons

There are very few successful businesses that solely rely on one revenue stream. Big brands such as Facebook, Apple and Google all have multiple revenue streams that contribute to their overall success. This is because it gives businesses the opportunity to penetrate different markets and work with all types of clients or customers.

While we have heard the saying, “jack of all trades and master of none”, this is not something that is necessarily true for all businesses that have multiple facets to their service offerings.

Whether you are operating a traditional bricks and mortar business or something more online, it is imperative to do a good job and offer value to the end clients. Having great products, services and support are all vital ingredients for long term success.

One of the biggest challenges of having multiple revenue streams is the need to become highly skilled and proficient in all the different products or services that you intend to supply. This means brushing up on your knowledge and skills as well as having an appreciation for the wider competitive market.

However, the plus points certainly outweigh any challenges as it opens up more opportunities to generate revenue as well as build a larger business in the long run. It is for this reason that in order to have longevity, many businesses look to introduce additional products or services, either at launch or over time, to future proof their businesses.

At iOB Business, we believe it is vitally important that our partners and their clients can benefit from multiple ways to collaborate and build the businesses they deserve. With that being said, in this week's blog we wanted to highlight our thought process for having a blend of solutions as well as some of the differences between our Tech Platforms and Add-ons.

Our thought process
If you are a regular reader of our weekly blog, you will already know that unlike a lot of technology franchises, we have developed our own software over the last few years rather than white label solutions from third party companies. We won’t go into the advantages of this during this blog as we have written separate blog posts around this topic previously.

One of the biggest advantages of developing our technology in-house is the ability to have many options when it comes to the features but also the overall ecosystem we are looking to create.

As a central head office organisation or franchisor, we are acutely aware that when partners join our network and launch a Digital Agency with us, they have inherent skills. These skills have often been developed in previous roles or experiences and vary from partner to partner.

As a team, when we sat down to map out our technology, we wanted to give our network and their clients options when it comes to the type of solutions that were available. The digital marketing and technology sectors are huge, but one thing that binds all types of companies together is the need to build an online presence and engage the end user.

Therefore, as a company, we decided to remove the traditional barriers associated with starting a technology business, namely a Digital Agency. Our technology platforms have been developed with no coding or programming experience required and this is perfectly blended with a range of add-on services that are fulfilled by our team.

The end result is a mix of services that our partners can offer their clients to add value, without needing to learn complex systems. This also frees up our partners to direct their time on revenue generating activities which will ultimately affect the profitability of the business.

Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that having lots of services to offer clients will result in a lack of focus or specialism. However, the tech platforms and add-ons that are included in every Digital Agency are actually designed to complement each other.

If you think about many end businesses, such as hair salons, restaurants or even law firms, their end customers all share common characteristics. For example, all their customers expect to browse a businesses website, engage on social media, make a booking and even read testimonials/reviews.

This means that the services offered by a successful Digital Agency need to include solutions that have multiple touch points or engagement levels that will connect businesses with their customers.

Tech Platforms
Our technology platforms cover a wide variety of commercial aspects and are continuously improved with new features. This gives our partners the ability to work with over 100 different industry sectors and offer value to their clients.

For example, our Food Ordering platform is specifically designed for hospitality businesses to sell food/drink on their own website. As a result, businesses can save money on commissions paid to third party platforms as well as build their own database of client data which can be used to market promotions in the future.

The Reputation Management platform is focused on helping any business capture more positive reviews on their preferred review site such as their Google My Business page or Trustpilot. In addition, potential negative reviews can be captured at source with a feedback form that is sent directly to the business to initiate one to one correct action. This helps businesses protect their brand and overall image, online.

Next, our Social Posting platform allows businesses to create, post and schedule content to a variety of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This helps businesses build their social presence as well as save time when compared to manually signing into different social networks to post content.

Our newest platform, Online Booking, is something that is especially valuable to businesses in the midst of the global pandemic. With more and more businesses encouraging customers to book in advance to control numbers and comply with social distancing guidelines, our system is ideal for helping businesses facilitate this.

All of our technology platforms have been created with the ability to be added to a businesses existing website/infrastructure, therefore they are desirable for clients as it removes the need for them to redo/reconfigure their existing digital footprint.

With more and more technology platforms currently in development, our goal is to build an entire ecosystem of solutions that our partners can provide to local businesses that add value in numerous ways.

Add-ons
To date, we have eight optional add-on services that our partners can provide to local businesses. These include things like web development/design, SEO, explainer videos, content writing and design services.

The crucial difference with our add-on services are they are not fulfilled by our partners, rather they are completed by our team of experts. Every add-on service has a detailed consultation form that is completed in collaboration between the partner and their clients. This sets the project brief and gives our team a detailed understanding of the clients requirements as well as eliminating endless communication between our head office team, our partners and their clients.

Each partner is then given a detailed quote or project cost for completing the project. The partner is also provided with a suggested selling price. Once a project has been agreed, our team gets to work completing the requirements and the solution is then passed to the partner to present to their client.

Every add-on service is priced at a competitive rate to ensure our partners can secure the highest possible profit margin on every project.

We decided to include the add-ons as valuable upsells and cross-sells to each of our technology platforms. With more and more businesses looking for a single point of contact to manage their digital presence, we believe it is important that our partners can offer a breadth of solutions that will be attractive to all types of clients.

Combining services
Every business has a need to improve their online presence and this is something that has been amplified with the global situation. Business owners understand the need to invest in their digital footprint as they can’t rely on traditional methods to engage their customers.

As customers of local businesses, we are spending more and more time online than ever before, therefore it is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity for businesses to improve the way they market themselves online.

Our combination of tech platforms and add-ons are most effective when combined for a complete package. For instance, think about a local nightclub or dentist that has an existing website, but not much of a presence on social media or on review sites.

Working with our partners, in this example, these businesses can benefit from having their website upgraded so it’s responsive (displays correctly on mobile, tablet and desktop) as well as adding in vital systems (Reputation Management, Online Booking and Social Posting) to enhance their customers experience in connecting with them online.

All of our solutions can be configured or deployed in isolation, but once combined they add a further level of value to the business from a digital presence perspective. From our partners' viewpoint, combining services allows them to substantially increase their revenue potential as well as having the opportunity to deploy additional services for their clients over time.

Summary
As we have seen throughout this blog, our technology offering is a combination of things that our partners can configure themselves without any technical skills (Tech Platforms) and solutions that are fulfilled by our team directly (Add-ons).

Having this blended approach to technology gives our partners the agility to work with all types of clients and focus the bulk of their time on revenue generating activities which will help them build scalable, long term businesses.

With additional support mechanisms and access to our Learn Centre and Digital Office, we believe our partners are equipped with the right infrastructure to succeed.

To find out more about our Technology Platforms and Add-ons, please contact a member of our team.

Until next time, take care.