It’s no secret that client delivery is a major differentiator in the technology consulting services industry. At PDG Consulting, we constantly strive to deliver exceptional client experiences that forge long-term relationships. In order to do this, we first need to understand the customer’s needs. What are they and how can our service help meet them?

Whether you’re looking for help migrating to the cloud as a part of your digital transformation journey or want us to develop a custom application, we can handle it. So how do we continue to deliver exceptional client experiences that forge long-term relationships? To answer these questions, we spoke with Navarre Miles, Client Delivery Manager at PDG.

During our in-depth interview with Navarre, we discussed how PDG maintains and develops its client-first culture, with a focus on personalization and partnership. We also get a deep dive into the PDG client delivery methodology, and how these tactics help overcome remote work and build lasting partnerships with clients.

It’s no secret that client delivery experience is a major differentiator in the technology consulting services industry.

We start with the requirements gathering session. At PDG, we take a comprehensive and detailed approach to requirements gathering. We believe that this is essential to understanding the project objectives, identifying potential risks, and developing a clear execution plan. The requirements gathering process typically includes the following steps:

• Defining the scope of the project. This includes identifying the goals, objectives, timelines, and deliverables.
• Conducting user persona analysis. This helps us to understand the needs and expectations of the typical end-user of the product.
• Development of user stories. These stories illustrate how the user will interact with the system and is the basis of requirement gathering. User stories will be reviewed and revised to ensure that all stakeholders are aligned on it.
• Creation of wireframes. Wireframes turn concepts into a visual representation to clarify understanding for displaying particular types of information on the user interface and intended functionality.
• Contextualize user stories. Developing the requirements specification document from the user stories. This document outlines all of the project requirements in detail.
• Identifying risks and estimating resources. This helps us to identify potential problems and ensure that we have the necessary resources in place to meet the project requirements.
• Development. Iterative development is done over multiple sprints, typically periods of 2-4 weeks in which our teams work to complete a defined set of tasks. Sprints help ensure that our projects remain on track and deliver continuous value to our clients.
• Testing and deployment to production. Multiple testing cycles will occur to ensure the development is ready for release. Once the software is ready for release, it is deployed to the production environment.

Each step in the process is an essential component to ensuring the success of any project. By taking the time to understand the needs and expectations of all stakeholders, we can develop a clear and achievable execution plan, and successfully deliver on the project.

It’s because of our people. Our developers have deep business knowledge that is invaluable in understanding client needs and providing valuable insights into solutions that address business problems—insights that are critical to designing and building quality, usable, and maintainable systems. This experience extends into all other project phases including project management, quality assurance, and support.

At PDG, we believe that measuring success in client delivery is about more than just meeting deadlines and staying within budget. It’s also about ensuring that our clients are happy with the end product, and that they feel like they’ve been heard and understood throughout the process. We take the time to get to know our clients, their business goals, and their unique needs. This helps us to create deliverables that not only meet their expectations, but exceed them. We regularly seek out client feedback so that we can continue to ensure the highest level of delivery.

One example of a recent project that we were engaged in was to provide structure to a project that was already in progress. The customer, CEMCO, wanted to upgrade their ERP system and deploy it across the country. To accomplish this, we introduced a deployment schedule and began operational meetings each week to gain insight and provide the needed structure. The process was formalized and made transparent by tracking tickets within Jira and logging in progress made towards established tasks. The weekly updates allowed the client full visibility into the progress of the project.

At its core, hyper-care is intense support to ensure the delivered product is devoid of issues. It is a period where we closely monitor while providing rapid response to any problems that may arise, and usually takes place during the first few weeks or months after go-live. The goal of hyper-care is to address any issues as quickly as possible, allowing for a seamless transition to the new system or application.

We look to provide nothing but white glove service during the  hyper-care phase, working closely with the client team to resolve any issues that may arise. This involves around-the-clock support, regular status updates, and constant communication. The focus is to make sure that the client is completely satisfied with the product and their end users/customers have a positive experience with it.

After hyper-care has ended, customers will still have access to general support to continue to support their needs.

Thank you very much for your time Navarre!