"Design agencies can either be your best friend or your biggest nightmare; the choice is yours,” says Bruce Temkin, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
Temkin will join Bill Kane, vice president of web design at 1800Mattress.com Inc., at next week’s Internet Retailer Web Design ’09 Conference in Miami Beach, FL, in a session entitled, “Choosing the right design partner.”
“In this session we’ll show how Forrester evaluates web design agencies and find out about best practices in working with the agency that you’ve chosen. In addition, you’ll hear how one company, 1800Mattress.com, successfully selected and worked with its agency,” Temkin says.
When Forrester evaluates a design agency, it uses its Forrester Wave methodology that examines the vendors’ current offerings, strategy and market presence, Temkin says. “During the session, we will not only expose the underlying criteria in each of those areas, but we’ll also show results from our last evaluation of 15 design agencies,” Temkin says. “While Forrester is working on a new Forrester Wave, attendees will gain insights from the strengths and shortfalls of the agencies.”
“But selecting the right agency doesn’t guarantee success,” Temkin warns. “Firms need to actively manage these relationships from the very beginning; starting even before they finalize the contract. We’ll identify some of the best practices, and pitfalls, in the ongoing relationship with design agencies. While we’ll have some formal presentations, we expect to have an extended period of time for Q&A."
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