The Radically Simple Way to Make Technology Your Superpower
Ever feel like technology is progressing at hyper-speed and you just can’t keep pace? Or that you don’t have the means to leverage new breakthroughs and increasing returns? We started Elastik Teams for this very reason – to turn technology into every organization’s superpower.
For decades, we’ve all watched as exponential growth in every category of technology has transformed the world and how we live in it. Organizations of all shapes and sizes have reaped the rewards, but certainly not to the same extent.
Until now, the explosive power of accelerated change has disproportionately benefited large organizations with a deep set of IT resources. Now it’s time to level the playing field for bootstrapped organizations.
We’ve pooled our experiences as lifelong entrepreneurs and information technologists to finally “flip the script” for membership associations, not-for-profits, government agencies, and other mission-driven organizations that have – for far too long – only marginally benefited from technology.
Through Elastik Teams, we’ve created a highly flexible staff augmentation model that gives you access to a dedicated team of top tech talent, with no strings attached. The adjustability of this staffing paradigm allows you to ramp up or down your internal IT team at any time.
In this article, we’ll dive into the common IT pain points for organizations with relatively limited financial and human resources, and how Elastik Teams bridges these gaps.
Challenge #1 – Scaling IT Up and Down as Needed
Professional organizations today face more obstacles and complexity than ever before. Industry and digital transformations are changing rapidly, and you either have to pivot in real time, or risk descending into obsolescence.
Only the agile survive.
Effectively responding to new developments may require you to swiftly and decisively increase or decrease the size of your technology team. Or you may need to rapidly adjust IT roles or fill missing skill-sets.
For example, let’s say you need to produce a new virtual event or create a last-minute eLearning course to meet quarterly goals. Or, maybe you’ve purchased a new AMS, LMS, or events system and need to strengthen integrations between your software systems.
Scaling up your IT team’s bandwidth during these scenarios may be key to successful execution and KPI performance.
Or, on the flip side, you may have just passed a major milestone and no longer need as many supporting hands. It’d be wise to then scale down your technology team to reduce costs and conserve IT resources.
You can see how organizational agility allows you to achieve your goals, maximize your ROI, and drive operational efficiency. This is precisely why agility is so central to our business model.
The flexible nature of Elastik Teams allows you to rapidly adapt and mold your association’s technology team on the fly. We give you access to any size team, from as small as just a two-person team to as large as you require. The sky’s the limit, and you can adjust your team at any time.
Challenge #2 – Access to Top Tech Talent
Techies grow and thrive by feeding off each other, challenging one another, and learning together. So naturally, they prefer to work with other tech-savvy people.
The problem is, most associations, non-profits, and purpose-driven organizations only have a single or handful of IT staff. These environments often don’t attract or retain the best talent, regardless of financial incentives.
Elastik Teams combats this challenge by uniting and motivating top talent from several key technology disciplines to work together in service of our clients. We’ve built a collective culture that brings world-class software developers, business intelligence and analytics specialists, integration wizards, and other technology experts directly into your organization.
Team members are part of your team and simultaneously part of ours. Our unique culture and strong value systems promises rewarding long-term career growth, and allows in-demand IT employees to flourish and innovate together.
In turn, you get a dedicated technology team with the skills, support, and laser focus you need to reach the next level, accomplish key goals for your association, and free up your resources.
Challenge #3 – Consultants are “Outsiders”
To keep up with escalating customer expectations, digital technologies, and remote workplace demands, more and more organizations are relying on outside consultants and third-party services.
The problem with consultants is that they’re inherently “outsiders.” Yes, they offer a number of expertise, but they’re temporary in nature and kept at arms-length. Many third-party specialists are also hyper-focused on software, hardware, networks, training, or another specific area.
The business model of Elastik Teams addresses this widening gap between the growing number of consulting companies and the increasing need for accessible internal technology teams in the association space.
The fully dedicated team members we put directly in your organization are “insiders.” We recruit, train, and grow strategic IT teams to work with just one organization.
Many “outsourcing” services have existed for decades. But let’s be honest, “outsourcing” doesn’t generate the same warmth and fuzziness because third-parties are often seen as a threat to staff, produce inconsistent results, and are ultimately kept at a distance.
The key difference is that Elastik Teams isn’t a third-party or consultant in the traditional sense. Rather, we source and prepare a tailored team to serve within your organization and handle your evolving needs.
Challenge #4 – Keeping Up With Accelerating Change
Technology is an evolutionary process in which each new generation of technology builds on the advances of its predecessors. But technological evolution is unique in that it moves at a breakneck speed – an exponential speed, in fact.
That is, the rate of technological progress from version to version, generation to generation, follows an exponential growth curve. The “returns” of technological change—such as greater productivity, lower costs, better ROI, and innovative power—are also accelerating.
The exponential pace of technology and its accelerating returns has forced all organizations, regardless of industry, in a do-or-die situation. You either need to think exponentially as well or you won’t survive.
Problem is, putting technology to use has been a tall order in the past. For associations with limited time, financial resources, and technical skill-sets, achieving this level of ‘technological savviness’ has historically been unrealistic.
Elastik Teams’ industry-first staff augmentation model is a viable and sustainable solution to stay on the cusp of progress.
Challenge #5 – Full-Time Staff Is Expensive
Full-time, in-house technology teams are wildly expensive today.
The overhead and commitment is overwhelming for many professional organizations and government agencies.
Not only is it costly to employ full-time staff, but it’s also difficult to find and then retain the right IT people.
Elastik Teams combats this challenge by blending team members from across the globe with people in your area. This distributed IT workforce provides a cost-effective, no obligation solution for nearly any organization and budget.
Beyond this large and diverse pool of best-in-class tech talent, our partnerships with the rest of the companies in our family allows us to offer end-to-end technology solutions for membership associations, non-profits, and mission-centric organizations that you can actually afford and maintain.
For example, we can help with everything from association strategy, professional development, and workplace culture to website/CMS development, LMS and AMS vendor selection, and streamlining your member experiences.
We also have predictive modeling tools to forecast and enhance individual member retention and other organizational goals, as well as a depth of knowledge of the best platforms and strategies to integrate all of your best-of-breed association software systems including your events management, community engagement, staff collaboration, association management, content management, and learning management systems.
Make Technology Your Superpower With Elastik Teams
Turning technology into your superpower may sound far reaching. In reality though, every organization has this potential through Elastik Teams.
Our adjustable IT staffing model keeps you on the forefront of innovation, regardless of your financial and human resources. With no long-term commitments and a flexible pricing structure, you can scale your technology team as needed.
Are you ready to take advantage of the escalating returns of technological change? Get in touch with us today to see how we can help make technology your superpower.
