Business technology vendors and contractors assign project managers, but some standard project management methods can hurt client relationships. I have seen it first hand how traditional project management methods are counterproductive in technology sales premium iptv. Project managers are taught to narrow the focus to a particular set of steps, while a technology client is always looking to leverage technology adoption and expand their scope.
It’s not the project manager’s fault. The common vendor practice of braking up a technology implementation into separate specialties of system design, budget estimating, and project management does not provide for a feedback loop from the client to modify projects as the client comes to understand the potential applications for the technology they are buying.
Most project managers are responsible for a particular project and not for maintaining an ongoing consultative relationship with the client. Clients must continually evaluate, modify, and expand their use of technology. Their current vendor is the logical resource for clients to turn to in planning future technology adoption. Those new technology applications are likely an outgrowth of the current technology plan, yet project managers forestall such ad-ons and expansions so they can close out the current project as originally planned, even if the client’s requirements have changed or become better informed than when the project was initially conceived.
Traditionally project managers are tasked with completing a project within the current budget estimate. The sales consultant will typically discuss the client’s needs. Those needs define a rough specification for the equipment or software to be used. Then an estimate is rendered by an estimation specialist who makes certain assumptions about manpower requirements and how systems will be integrated. Integration can include a wide range of tasks, from delivering and installing equipment, to programming and testing connections to the corporate servers. This visualization by the estimator is rarely shared to the project manager, but instead the system designer reduces the requirements to a specific equipment list. The project manager then focuses on the equipment list to get the project “signed off”.
Salespeople know that one of the best times to sell to their client is immediately after the client has just purchased something. In technology sales, that after-sale window of opportunity occurs before the initial sale is fully installed and operational. When project managers fear expanding the project scope, the client is left to seek those follow-on features from another vendor. The potentially lucrative long-term technology advisory relationship with the client does not materialize, no matter how efficiently the initial sale is closed out.
The principles of the Project Management Institute, which awards the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification, include many important principles for construction projects. Chief among them is communications with stakeholders and definition of scope. Without a clear, agreed definition of project scope the client’s expectations will be ambiguous and therefore you cannot definitively satisfy those expectations. Those PMI principles are taught to audiovisual professionals in the CTS curriculum (Certified Technology Specialist, certified by the AV industry trade association Infocomm).
How do you define scope without limiting the overall project? Creatively! At each step in the design process, as you are defining needs which leads to equipment selections and tasks lists, document it! Then, any changes or add-ons become new projects. As technology advances there should always be something new to provide the client, so don’t get trapped into defending an older system design or steering the client dialog back to the project at hand if the client wants to talk about adding more stuff.
Live streaming has made its way to the social media in such a short period of time and now it has almost engulfed it as we see everyone having a taste of live streaming service in the popular apps. If you are a YouTuber and you are looking for contents to make live videos this might just be the right place. It happens several times that we are eager to go live and assume that we are simply going to speak with the audience and have a great time but as you go live and you turn clueless! But once you have the right content the ideas might just come floating around.
Here are some of the content ideas for your YouTube channel that you can use for your live feed:
Art
Are you an artist? If you are, then going live and showing the viewers how to paint can be a great idea. How about finishing a painting on a live video or do a video on their request and paint what they are demanding. This will keep your audience interested as videos on request gain high view scores.
Chef or not a chef it does not matter but if you love cooking and you have a talent for it then you can share you own signature recipes and delight your audience. Cooking live will be beneficial for viewers as you can clear all their doubts in real time., which is why they will choose a live video over a pre-recorded program.