Most technology companies today operate on the idea of DIY or self-serve due to the innovative nature of technology and the changing needs of customers. Self serve technology companies have been around for a while now, but since COVID there has been a huge shift towards these types of services.
Operating a DIY tech business can be extremely beneficial and rewarding, but it does come with its challenges. A few of these challenges may include but are not limited to: lack of funding, not enough resources, lack of product awareness and lack of user support material.
Below we will go through the challenges some DIY tech companies may face and potential ways to overcome them.
1. User adoption
The first challenge a tech company may face in the process of becoming DIY is user adoption. It is human nature to be resistant to change because of the uncertainty and risks it may bring – and this is prevalent in most individuals. To overcome this, it is important that your users are provided with plenty of information and enough proven data to back up your technology.
Another challenge related to user adoption is having barriers to usage, as a result of being ‘overly complicated’. Is your technology usable for a first time user or does your technology require extensive training? These are questions to think about and must be considered while building your technology.
According to a poll conducted in 2021, “Up to 51.3% of respondents did not feel confident utilizing self-checkout lanes (Figure 6) while up to 65% of grocery store customers who used self-checkout lanes were dissatisfied.” This shows that there is a huge gap between human and technological trust difficulties.
2. System growth
Another big challenge DIY tech companies face is reaching system maturity. In other words, building your system to a point where it can provide the service for which it was designed. Getting to this position with your company requires time and money which can be limited depending on budget constraints.
It is also important that the system you are building satisfies the organizations requirements and also promotes efficient service, which can be difficult. To get here, regular system updates are necessary for the technology to be effective and meet customer needs.
3. Expensive implementation
Investing in a DIY technology company can be quite costly depending on the industry and ultimately what your service offers. Costs associated with building this type of technology include: hardware, software and human resources.
DIY functionality may be jeopardized depending on the funding a company has as a result of increased implementation costs. Some companies may require more initial investment to get the technology going, and of course continual updates will be necessary.
Smaller businesses often struggle to secure necessary funding and it can be quite costly when updating the software or trying to fix poorly designed systems.
4. Competition
Competition is huge and if you are one in many then continuous upgrades are extremely important to offer optimum connectivity. Companies that experience this type of competition include: Netflix, Facebook, Amazon etc. These companies compete on a ‘winner takes all’ basis.
About the series authors
The team at Adacado have been pioneering Dynamic Creative and programmatic advertising since late 2009. It all started as a platform with full service, where creative costs scaled into crazy 6 figure numbers. From the get go this made no sense at all, however big brands and agencies were satisfied, at least at the moment in time. Adacado knew this was not sustainable and began almost immediately shifting to self-serve and now to a fully DIY advertising platform that allows an agency or brand to create and launch a campaign in minutes.
Sounds like an instant success. No, we are not quite there yet! In fact we are a frustrated group of people as we watch in amazement, while prospective customers glow about its capabilities and ease of use…. But when it comes to rolling up their sleeves and doing the job (becoming DIY) they procrastinate, stall, ask for help, almost everything imaginable, except getting the job done themselves.
Thank goodness for our customers who recognized the proverbial opportunity of DIY, have figured out how and why to use Adacado, and have quickly become perennial customers with ever increasing usage. They keep our hopes alive.
So why not everyone? Not sure, so the journey goes on… Adacado continues to improve and educate, and has decided that perhaps the basics of DIY are not that obvious, so we have set out on a venture to learn more and more about DIY, and pass on our learnings, with the hope that it will encourage more people to become DIY with more things, including advertising.
We hope you enjoy the series!
The Adacado Team
