Technology Advising at Transform Labs

The team at Transform Labs are technology advisors. What does this mean, and how do we help clients to empower growth and efficiency through technology?

First, let’s start with the why. We’ve been advising clients about technology for almost 30 years because it is our passion and purpose. Technology can be a great growth driver and differentiator for organizations. More so than just about any other area. Technology allows smaller companies to compete with and sometimes disrupt large ones. Technology helps nonprofits have a significant impact and serve more people. Technology enables efficiencies of scale not previously thought possible. Technology is the single most considerable lever of growth and return on investment. We exist and work every day to help organizations maximize their potential through better use of technology. And not just any technology, technology that drives organizational transformation (hence the name) and value.

So, what is technology advising for us at Transform Labs? Here is how we define it: We provide executive-level, strategic technology advice to clients on an ongoing, subscription basis, helping them align and leverage technology to support their organization’s strategic growth.

Let’s dig a little deeper into some of the aspects of the above:

• Executive Level: Many mid-market companies and nonprofits don’t have a technology executive (CTO or CIO) as part of their leadership team because they don’t have a full-time need for technology leadership. This doesn’t mean they don’t have a technology need; in fact, their ability to leverage technology smarter and more efficiently is paramount to growth and success. It just means they don’t need someone in a full-time leadership role aligning technology with the rest of the organization’s strategy, plans, and execution.
• Strategic Technology: Technology should be a strategic imperative for every organization. Effectively leveraging technology is no longer optional; it is a requirement for operating efficiently and smartly. Being a technology laggard is a path to irrelevancy, whereas being a technology leader is a differentiator and value driver. Organizations will only be as viable and competitive in the future as their technology prowess.
• Subscription basis: We provide clients with ongoing technology advising on a tiered basis based on their revenue size. Why revenue size? A company’s revenue is a significant factor in its need for technology to support and grow it. This correlates to a more profound need for technology advising in more areas. We provide all clients with a core set of monthly technology services and deliverables and then expand them to larger clients. We also have a special tier for nonprofits.
• Align Technology: Technology should not be implemented for its own sake. Technology decisions and investments must align with an organization’s strategic objectives and plans. Even better, technology should help inform the overall strategic objectives and plan. Technology should be strategically leveraged to solve problems and unlock organizational potential.

One of the considerations for an organization around technology advisory services is whether to engage a firm or an individual. Not surprisingly, we believe engaging with a firm makes more sense for most organizations because engaging with an individual is riskier. Freelancers come and go and don’t have a team behind them to support their work with clients. At Transform Labs, we provide an executive-level technologist to provide our technology advisory services to clients at an affordable and competitive rate while also giving clients peace of mind that a broader team is behind their advisors. Our technology advising is tailored to the needs of each client and backed by a 30-year firm.

If a technology advisory client needs technology implementation, integration, and creation services, we have a team of architects, engineers, and designers who are more available to execute projects with or on behalf of a client to improve their digital capabilities. This can span from selecting, implementing, and integrating software to creating new custom software to leveraging a new technology such as AI. A highly trusted and experienced team backing our technology advisors is of immense value to our clients. Some clients only ever need technology advice, and that’s great. Other clients require some level of technology and digital production services to augment their team and capabilities, and that’s great, too. We meet and serve our clients where they are and then adjust as their needs change.

We believe every organization should have experienced technology expertise as part of its leadership. Technology is too important to be treated any less. We also believe technology advice and guidance should be available to organizations of every type and size and not just reserved for the biggest of the big.