team – iView Labs

Why should companies look at pre-built teams instead of individual hiring?

The IT industry is on full throttle with an estimated increase of 7.10% annually (CAGR 2022-2027). The projected market volume is $1,570.00 billion by 2027. As the industry expands, there will be an increasing demand for tech talent.

However, many companies need help hiring, training, and retaining talent. One solution is to hire pre-built teams tailor-made for their specific needs. These teams can provide the skills and experience required to meet the demands of the businesses. In addition, they can be hired flexibly, making it easier for companies to scale their workforce up or down as needed.

This post will elaborate on this concept and why tech companies should rethink their hiring strategies for smooth and efficient business delivery.

What are pre-built teams?

Pre-built teams are groups of professionals who have already been assembled and are ready to start working on projects immediately. These plug-and-play teams have all the necessary skill sets already in place.

This can save time and funds while ensuring your project gets off to a good start.

Why a pre-assembled team is the first choice of entrepreneurs

A Deloitte survey shows more than 54% of global companies outsource their IT functions. Rightly so. Sometimes, it can be daunting for CTOs to build an optimal tech team.

Pre-built teams offer several advantages over traditional individual hiring practices.

Pre-built teams can be quickly assembled and deployed, which is essential in today’s fast-paced business environment.
Pre-built teams are scalable, which means they can be easily expanded or reduced to meet the changing needs of the business.
Pre-built teams are more efficient and skilled than individual hires, which results in better business delivery. As a result, pre-built teams offer a quick, scalable, and efficient solution for businesses that need to fill talent gaps quickly.

Who should hire pre-built teams?

A pre-assembled team is ideal for complex long-term projects that may extend further. Let’s look at when you should hire a ready-to-go tech team.

Start-ups

There are many reasons why start-ups should consider hiring pre-built teams. The most important reason is that it can help to save a great deal of time and money. The CEO of one major fintech unicorn stated that he spent one-third of his time on recruitment.

When start-ups are in the initial phase, they often have minimal resources and need to make every dollar count. Hiring a pre-built team can help get the start-up off the ground more quickly and efficiently without investing in costly recruitment and training processes.

Long term projects

Long-term projects can be difficult to staff. They often require specific skills and knowledge, and finding the right people can take time. This is where pre-built teams can be helpful. These teams can hit the ground running, which is vital for any long-term project. With a pre-built team, you can start your project immediately without worrying about recruiting and training new staff.

Projects with vague requirements

Projects with unclear requirements can be challenging to manage and often result in subpar results. This is because it can be challenging to define the scope of work clearly, and there is often a need for more communication between the stakeholders. As a result, it is often more beneficial to hire competent pre-built teams already familiar with the project requirements. This can help ensure the project is completed on time and within budget.

Short on tech talent

Many companies find themselves short on workforce due to various factors, including increased demand for their products or services or seasonal fluctuations. In these situations, finding the time and resources to source and train new employees can take time and effort.

Thus, by hiring a team that is already trained and experienced, companies can short-cut the onboarding process and quickly get new employees up to speed. In addition, pre-built teams can provide much-needed flexibility during periods of high demand.

In essence, whether or not to hire a pre-built team depends on the business’s specific needs. However, in general, companies can benefit from the flexibility and speed that a pre-built team can provide.

Get the best tech team with iView

If you wish to skip the hassle of building a tech team and get going with a plug-and-play model, iView can be a potential partner.

iView Labs is a reliable partner for finding tech talent and building an efficient tech team. With iView Labs, you can access hundreds of pre-assembled, specialized tech teams ready to work on your project. You can also find pre-packaged services with a clear scope of work, timelines, and costs. iView Labs is the perfect solution for your unique tech needs. We’ll assemble your team fast and deliver the work you need on time and within budget.

Footnote:

At iView Labs, we offer on-demand technical team talent to supplement or add to businesses’ current capacity and meet their needs for technical development. In accordance with the talents required by the business, we match, build, manage, and operate their technical teams for a more sustainable functioning. This broadly fits with the core principle of the digitisation movement, in which technology should ease your life and allow free creative minds to reach new heights. Rest assured that our team will continue to put our best foot forward to deliver astounding results. Want us to become a part of your growth journey? Get in touch today.To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs, just write us an email at info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com. Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

How to Recruit Product Engineers

Product Engineers are changing the face of the product development domain. They are a step up from full-stack engineers and a level away from product developers. Simply put, product engineers are not plain coders; they code keeping user experience in mind. They not only understand technical stacks but also understand product design. You could call them “jack of all trades.”

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Do you get frustrated when your app’s features don’t reflect your vision? You had a perfect idea, precise product specs, technical resources, and tools, so what went wrong?

You missed the critical link between the design board and the market. You envisioned a product. You conveyed your idea to your designer. He communicated required technical specs to your engineer, who started coding. Where’s the collaboration? Where’s a continuous improvement? Consequently, you have a product that neither delivers ROI nor garners user acceptance.

Why Do you Need Product Engineers

If you have engineers who solve problems using code and product managers who take care of product features, why do you need product engineers? They are the critical bridge between design and development teams. By fostering two-way communication, product engineers ease friction between cross-functional teams.

They code but with end products in perspective. Whenever presented with a coding opportunity, product-minded engineers evaluate how the code will impact the end product. More importantly, they think about user experience and business goals. They balance product specs with technical demands. The result is a product that meets market needs and business objectives- a win-win situation for all teams involved.

You need a change in mindset here. Having product engineers in your team will create a pragmatic work culture with everyone striving towards building a winning product.

How to Recruit Good Product Engineers

Product engineers need to have a blend of coding skills, analytical thinking, and business knowledge. A bit of creativity is a bonus. Plus, they have to be efficient managers and smooth talkers.

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Step 1: Build a Job Description

Outline the proficiencies you desire in your potential product engineers. List their role and skillset categorically.

A sample job description could be:

Product engineers will play a pivotal role throughout the development cycle, right from conception to testing. An astute understanding of market trends is necessary for the candidate.

They need to be aligned with user expectations in a relevant niche. Once product specs are made, they will evaluate specs against market needs and re-align strategy to satisfy budget, time, and market constraints.

Product engineers will also have the responsibility to generate technical documentation and support material before a product is launched. They have to perform prototype testing for functionality, intuitiveness, and market appeal.

Add-on responsibilities can be assistance in the manufacturing process and guidance in packaging and marketing the product.

Step 2: Interview Candidates

Go in for a structured interview instead of a generic banter with candidates. Have multiple screening rounds spread across different days? Screen at least two candidates per day so that you can eliminate unsuitable people early. This will save you lots of wasted effort and time.

Divide the evaluation questions into:

Career goal and inspiration
Academic and professional background
Coding proficiency
Product-based thinking skill
Project communication

Take time to weigh each candidate. You need an all-rounder who will impact your future products in a big way. Determine a candidate’s worth after analyzing his capabilities carefully. Have a ballpark figure in mind and leave room for negotiation.

Sample screening questions can be:

Define our company’s vision and values.
Why do you want to join us?
What interests you in product development?
Explain the layers of full-stack.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of database procedures?
If a product designer lists five desirable features at the end product (give the features), how will you prioritize them?
Which setup do you prefer- MVC or some other?
What’s the use of the front-end framework?
How do you gather user feedback?
How important to you is product testing?
What team structure do you prefer- full-stacked or layered?
How can we scale our teams?
What makes a good mentor?

Invite questions from the candidate. Indulge in a discussion if opinions on a question vary widely. Try to gauge the person’s mindset and affinity. Are they concerned only about employee benefits? Do they have genuine concern about delivering classy products? How can they add value to your team?

Your recruiter’s job would include the following:

Study candidates’ body language: Make a note of how confident and composed a candidate is. Since this isn’t an entry-level job, you’d expect experienced candidates to not get nervous during interviews.

Don’t do passive listening: Listen actively to answers. Jot down your doubts and allow the candidate to clarify or rectify their answers. Reflect on previous answers. Also, refer to them in connected questions. This will show how genuinely a candidate is answering.

Make notes while interviewing: Prepare a checklist of must-haves and good-to-haves. Write down your observations succinctly. Highlight each candidate’s unique capability and its impact on the product development process. Summarize the interview answers into brief points. Read back answers to the interviewee and ask if you’ve understood them correctly. By doing this, you can avoid miscommunication.

Give instant feedback: If you find an answer unsatisfactory, call it out immediately. Let the interviewee explain their viewpoint. Once the evaluation is over, don’t leave the candidates in a lurch. Communicate the next steps clearly. Don’t hesitate to end the interview early if you find a mismatch between your expectations and the candidate’s capabilities.

At iViewLabs, we consider recruitment as a vital building block of team building and product delivery. We invest time and energy into it. You can do the same. To save bandwidth, delegate interviewing and screening responsibilities to experienced product managers. Brief them before so that they know what to look for in a candidate. Let them add to the questions and rounds since they are more in touch with the actual development process.

Let us know how you recruit product engineers. We would be glad to assist you with more helpful resources and free consultation.

If you are looking to build a web, mobile or a cloud product, you can avail of a round of discussion with iView Labs’ tech team. Our developers and project team are always here to help and suggest what is required and necessary for your products.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com.

Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

5 Effective Ways of Retaining Product Customers

In a saturated marketplace such as ours where competition is stiff, it makes sense to conserve the customer base that you have acquired. It’s a well-accepted fact: if you service the customers you have, you won’t have to go around hunting for new ones. Yet, sales and marketing people exert effort and expenses in generating leads.

You can sell to an existing customer 7 out of 10 times, but only 1 out of 10 times to a new customer. Plus, acquiring new customers is costly. You can retain present customers at a fraction of this cost, one-sixth to be precise. And here’s the trump card of statistics in favor of customer retention: Gartner states that 80% of all your future ROI will come from just 20% of your customers. Wow, that’s an eye-opener! This means your business can survive (at least break even) just by cross-selling or up-selling to your existing customers. You almost don’t need to onboard new customers.

Are you thinking – this doesn’t concern me, I have a great product and my customers will never abandon me? Then, there’s another bitter pill you’ll have to swallow: no matter how good your product or service is, your customers might leave if they feel neglected. This is why many top-notch products and companies shut down. They just don’t work hard enough to build customer loyalty. In fact, a good 68% of customers say a company’s uncaring or impersonal attitude is a relationship-killer.

The graphic below will prove our point:

Source

So putting things in perspective, we have compiled battle-tested techniques for retention of product customers.

1) Deliver Quality Products: The key to gaining repeat business is delivering top quality products. Nothing works as well as a product that wows with its features. Even if your product is marked higher than competitors, it will reign supreme if it’s a cut above the rest.

Let’s illustrate with an example: Two doorstep service providers, Urban Clap and Yes Madame. Both offer at-home salon services at competitive prices. Urban clap is priced higher than Yes Madame. Yet, it is market share is bigger. Why? The differentiator is service quality. UC technicians are better trained, use branded products, and are punctual and courteous. Granted, UC has the first-mover advantage, but it’s managed to keep up and even beat competition just because of its killer services. Although, the great marketing helps, but remember, even the most radical marketer can’t sell a product that sucks. Do ample market research when creating your product strategy. Understand what your audience needs. Have a long vision plus short-term goals. Never compromise on quality when faced with time or budget constraints. This is a non-negotiable area that every successful product company excels at.

2) Nurture Customer Relations: KPMG in their study found customer retention to be the biggest revenue driver for companies. The secret that many product companies don’t know is that loyal customers are their best promoters. Satisfied customers become brand ambassadors of a company. They campaign unknowingly about the superb experience they’ve had with a company or product they’re using. Their genuine, first-hand account is a marketing billboard in itself. You don’t need to hire expensive influencers for generating brand awareness or leads for yourself. Your happy customers are doing it for you. So, provide excellent customer service. Reward your return customers with gated offers, discounts, and resources. Treat them well and they’ll treat you better. Keep in touch with them via email, newsletters, and your website. Feature their stories on your social apps and website. Make them your family. Involve them in your journey and they will stay till the very end. A practical way to do this is to draw a list of customers who buy from you regularly. Reach out to them via exclusive offers and make them feel special. Another good tip: List out subscribers to your newsletter. These are people who show an active interest in your work but haven’t purchased anything yet. To make them jump boat, send a first-time promotion offer or discounted service/product.

3) Lend a Personal Touch: Personalize all your emails and offers. Rid the assembly line approach of sending mass emails. An Ecoconsultancy survey has proved personalized offers, based on a user’s purchase history and preference, can surge your ROI to the sky. This infographic compares the business returns of companies using personalization vs. those that don’t.

4) Listen to Your Customers: Some product companies just never stop selling. Every effort of theirs is geared towards the cash register. This is hardly effective as customers, existing or new, don’t want to be taken for a ride. You’ll have to give them something in return. One of the best ways to make the relationship mutually beneficial is to incorporate their feedback into your future offerings. Don’t send lengthy questionnaires to customers asking them for their opinion or experience with your product. Keep it short and simple. Encourage specific, precise feedback regarding what they liked or didn’t like. Try to collate points and factor them into your product strategy. Do keep respondents in the loop, reassuring that their feedback isn’t ignored. When you value your customers’ opinions, they become stakeholders in your business. Your product becomes more aligned to market needs. Your ROI improves and so does your customer satisfaction index. Source

5) Use a CRM: A CRM system is a handy way to keep track of how customers interact with your product. Draw up metrics of customer inquiries. What bottlenecks are customers facing with your service or product? Are they content with the after-sales service you’re giving? Do you need to improve in some areas? Deeply inspect issues that are reported by the majority of your customers. These have to be resolved on a priority basis. CRM also gives you a sneak peek into how well your sales or customer service staff are working. Disgruntled employees and lackadaisical post-sales staff can annoy a customer big time. This is a serious red flag for any organization and should be attended to immediately.

Wrap Up

By now, you must have grasped the impact customer retention can have on the sales and success of your business. Work your magic on your current customers. They are the big fish that’ll act as bait for the other fish in the pond.

Download the latest portfolio to see our work.