The UK digital sector is enjoying healthy growth but is struggling to service key areas of work. The simple answer is there's a 'Flash skills' shortage. Great news if you have Flash skills, right. But before we all pack our bags, dust of our passports and start camping outside the British Embassy, a word of warning. There are Flash developers in the UK. Thousands of them. Place a job ad in any industry journey and you'll be inundated with requests. The problem is finding excellent quality designers and developers.
With Flash skills in short supply agencies are looking abroad. Now, it may be an oversight of the NMA article but South Africa isn't listed as a preferred vendor location, even though the majority of our online advertising and search engine optimisation contracts at Cotomo Digital Media is from the UK. And we are not alone. The countries mentioned are Brazil, Estonia, India and the Far East.
So why these non-English speaking location? There is more British blood flowing through our veins than all the counties mentioned put together. Well, Estonia is a two-hour flight from London and Brazil, India and the Far East have massive pools of talent, providing smaller agencies with large office services at a manageable cost. Larger UK agencies are even looking at long-term investments by acquiring good off-shore agencies.
So how can we entice the leading agencies down South? And how can we develop a sustainable competitive advantage? It goes without saying that our work needs to be of a superior quality and, of course, we need to be cost competitive. The secret for South African agencies to be a leading contender is 1) to understand the British work culture and 2), to learn from the mistakes of those countries who jumped on the outsource bandwagon first.
Lets tackle with second point first. Although agencies are reluctant to admit it, cost is the biggest driving force to outsource off-shore. But before long, the lack of communication, cultural misunderstanding, undefined processes and lack of accountability, projects end up costing more. Agencies have to micromanage down to the last full stop. Project managers end up spending more time flying from one location to another than in the office. There are too many horror stories to mention. There is now a belief that only large projects are financial viable off-shore.
There is a lot of criticism levelled at British agencies for a lack of tolerance in dealing with foreign teams and cultures. We need to be careful not to bite the hand that feeds us.
Outsourcing in the UK is a very emotive topic. No matter how much spin managers put on the subject, staff members know it's all about cost. And if it works, their jobs will be in jeopardy. Outsourcing sends shivers done the spine, and can undermine the morale of the tightest of units. We must be need sympathetic to their predicament. It's our job to help facilitate the change in a positive way. We add value by being an active extension is their development team.
Our primary concern needs to be the commercial effectiveness of the work we produce for our clients. We need to be effective, and accountable.
The fundamental key for a successful partnership is effective communication, clear documentation and good project management methodologies. If you lack these skills, read Writing that Works by Joel Raphael, an excellent resource on business writing. Send your project manager on a good industry standard course. Hire someone with a good working knowledge on the British work ethic.
The British, at times require a subtlety in language and tone that doesn't come naturally to South Africans. Our brashness can at time be perceived as arrogance. Nothing irritates those across the English Channel more than arrogance. Ask any Frenchman!
And if all else fails, watch a lot of Premiership Football. Plan your meetings for a Monday morning, drop the great goals of the week-end into the conversion early on, and before you know it, you're in there.
The long term solution for UK agencies is to invest in graduates in Britain. But until that happens, digital agencies will look for alternative locations to fly the Union Jack. We have the skills, creative and ambition to provide an excellent business partnership. How we develop a relationship beyond the animated banner is up to us.
