Utilities face a lot of headwinds in digital design. From JD Power to Accenture to Uplight, studies and surveys continue to report the slow pace of digital transformation and customer criticisms of outdated utility websites and digital experiences. And, it’s very hard for energy utilities to recruit and maintain cutting-edge design resources. Most new design graduates and experienced professionals gravitate towards large agencies in big cities with new tools and large creative teams that develop and advance their skills. And with salaries for graphic designers leaping ahead far faster than inflation, it’s difficult to afford even a small design team and all of the modern tools they use to build their amazing work.
Luckily, utilities don’t have to build an in-house group in order to leverage the benefits of an experienced and dedicated creative team. Design Agency Staff Augmentation has become a ready resource for utilities to work with a qualified and experienced team with all of the modern tools and creative skills required to upgrade their websites, refresh their CX, and deliver the modern and intuitive “look and feel” that customers demand today.
Many design agencies enable utilities to augment their marketing and communications teams with a range of talented designers who specialize in different aspects of the graphic design ecosystem. Utilities can leverage creative staff augmentation to find expert resources suited perfectly for the different projects in your design roadmap rather than depending on limited in-house resources to tackle all of the different kinds of design projects that you may require.
Staff augmentation for creative resources enables Utilities to attach specific skill sets to each project without the need for a dramatic increase in staffing and technology costs. Augmented designers bring their own tools, have a range of experience, and work directly with your team to ensure a great fit for your organization as each project demands. Â
Finding an agency who can deliver creative augmentation services with utility experience can be a challenge, but the rewards are worth the efforts. Once onboarded with the right agency, utilities reap many benefits:
Convenience and Adaptability - shops that specialize in working with regulated industries and have utility experience come ready made for the special needs of your business. These teams can quickly and easily plug in resources that are right for the job and understand your industry and customers, which keeps your projects on track.
Cost Savings - with the right partner, utilities get the services of a digital agency at more traditional staff augmentation rates, plus the benefit of attaching just the right resource for a project. No need to expand to fill multiple design roles on an in-house team if you have a partner with branding, graphic design, website, modeling, video, and animation experience. Each project in your design roadmap can have an expert designer involved at costs up to 70% less than staffing an internal team, without the added costs of recruiting and attrition.
Quick and Dependable - hiring the right creative augmentation partner means getting a team of experts with all of the tools to deliver the highest quality and most modern design work on time and on budget. By leveraging staff augmentation designers become extensions of your project team, which offers more continuity and design integrity over a freelancer doing individual assignments. Think of creative staff augmentation as a faster way to add creative resources to your team for the long run without the long ramp up period and high costs.
Utility customers expect the same modern and intuitive customer experience and high quality design from their utilities as they get from their most trusted brands in retail, financial services, healthcare and ecommerce. And those industries shape the accelerating pace of digital design that fuels higher and higher customer expectations for their digital experiences. Utilities that lack in-house design teams don’t need to struggle to keep up with those customer expectations or the high costs of a big digital agency program. Creative Staff Augmentation helps utilities by adding experienced and qualified resources to your marketing and communications teams who have the skills required to add immediate value and advance your projects without the costs of expensive agency retainers or internal labor costs. Find a good partner with experience in energy and utility industries and catch up with the modern utility CX your customers demand.
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