Digital technologies have transformed the advertising industry in dramatic ways, shifting how consumers behave and how marketers reach potential customers – which is increasingly online. In fact, industry estimates show digital accounting for over 60% of total global ad revenue in 2021.
The shift from traditional to online channels has also led to an explosion of AdTech innovation. Digital agencies and AdTech start-ups, alike, are bringing to market new platforms and services that connect brands with publishers and advertisers with consumers.
However, managing large and complex campaigns in today’s digital world presents a myriad of IT challenges. Whether it’s an agency building eCommerce websites for clients or an AdTech firm running programmatic ad inventory, building the right IT infrastructure that meets both performance and budget requirements is critical to success. Getting their IT wrong can lead to unexpected outages, lost revenue and frustrated customers.
Consequently, AdTech companies have become ever more reliant on infrastructure partners to provide an IT solution that is properly optimized for the needs of their clients while minimizing any potential risks.
However, with so many infrastructure options on the market, how can AdTech organizations or other digital agencies know for sure that they are working with the right partner?
Below, I dive into the critical factors that should be considered when AdTech organizations or digital agencies are looking to work with an infrastructure provider.
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Maximizing Infrastructure Investment
Controlling IT costs is a perennial challenge for many digital firms, particularly when faced with significant budget constraints. They have to strike the delicate balance between infrastructure investment and performance in order to deliver ad campaigns that achieve client expectations and maximize revenue.
When deciding on a hosting strategy, the first question marketers and advertisers should ask is “How can we save money on our infrastructure without compromising performance?”
This is where choosing the right consultative infrastructure partner can make all the difference. The right hosting provider can lay out multiple options within the constraints of a budget and will align with your goals.
Acting as Another Member of the Team
Agencies don’t want to be thinking about the day-to-day management of their hosting solution or having to increase their storage. They want to know that the websites, apps, and campaigns they’re looking after for clients run seamlessly and without disruption.
The right technology partner can help alleviate this burden by consulting closely with internal teams and designing a solution that matches infrastructure components with business needs – at the most optimal cost.
For example, that might mean pursuing a hybrid approach where the predictable workloads and high-bandwidth utilization systems are moved to bare metal dedicated servers – while leaving other workloads that require specialized tools and rapid scalability on a public or private Cloud. This type of design will make monthly infrastructure expenditures far more predictable while allowing agencies to take advantage of the tools available on different Cloud platforms.
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Finding A Match
When choosing an infrastructure provider, agencies need a reliable, experienced and versatile partner that will serve not just as a hosting company, but as a trusted technology advisor. Designing IT infrastructure can be very different across industries, which is why it’s important to find a provider with deep knowledge and a solid track record in the digital ad space.
In addition, agencies should look for an infrastructure partner that can:
- Customize solutions to their specific and often changing needs,
- Provide direct connections to other preferred infrastructure partners for hybridized or multi-cloud requirements,
- Facilitate future business growth, while deploying or scaling within a timeframe that is consistent with expansion needs,
- Keep their data secure through extensive software and hardware-based tools, around-the-clock physical security, and 24/7 support services.
These combined capabilities will help solve the challenges that confront many agencies when building out their IT infrastructure. A properly-designed solution takes the technical load off developers and marketers, allowing them to focus on their clients and digital campaigns.
In today’s competitive advertising marketplace, it’s hard to imagine running a successful agency without a robust technology infrastructure. While it was once considered a side issue to their core business, technology and IT management is now critical to how agencies get things done.
Having the right infrastructure partner not only provides valuable peace of mind, but it can also deliver a competitive advantage with greater returns on their IT investment.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
