Brandon Hull

I think the phrase "engage your audience" is even too vague. These days, you need to have some intentional, well-planned elements in your virtual events that completely wake people up. It's not just about using humor, having breakout sessions, or including polls and quizzes, it's how you incorporate them that keeps people on their toes. I hate to say it, but virtual events need to be more entertaining than they currently are. Of course the content has to be exceptional, but it's the delivery that makes it memorable.

Nothing replaces knowing your audience. Pay careful attention to some of the most effective communicators — including some notorious ones. They tap into something deep inside of their audience. So much so that the audience feels like they are one of them, even when they are not. Knowing how your audience thinks and feels is essential.

One of the most common pitfalls I encounter with organizations is latency in communications. Delayed communications or manual processes lead to team members feeling out of the loop. This leads to error, rework, and frustration. It's vital to have automated systems that provide status reports and notifications to avoid the inevitable "checking in" messages team members send each other.

The leap from chaotic to fully autonomous work environments is huge. Beginning with the end in mind is important, but it's important to be honest about where your team stands in order to know what the next step in your journey looks like as well. What's reasonable with your dispersed team? Also, it's important to seriously cloud-based solutions. On-premises software just isn't the answer. There are security standards such as SOC 2 and ISO27001 that can give you the peace of mind to trust the right cloud partners. Working in the cloud gives you the ability to take advantage of rapid iteration of your operations as software you rely on improves.

No two cultures are alike. It's one thing to understand what's missing in your service operations; it's another thing to know your team's appetite for change. And it's yet another to know your team's capacity for change. You should always set goals, objectives, and KPIs for your service operations. But they should factor in your organization's dynamics as well. Be informed by industry standards, but don't copy and paste from them.

Testing your software against both real-world and someday/maybe scenarios is a smart use of time. It's one thing to make sure the software you use (or the software you sell) solves a specific problem. It's another to be able to play nicely with other operational tools. For sellers, more and more buyers are leaning into the promise of no code and seamless integrations, whether they use the term "no code" or not. Know how well your product integrates with other solutions so you're one step ahead and can educate them. For operation leaders, before deploying any new tool, run through your processes with the "end in mind," then work backwards from there. Process map so you know exactly what functionality is essential vs. what is not.