When it comes to digital technology, user expectations are rising exponentially. People want software that’s better, faster and more powerful at a fraction of the cost.
Pete Smyth, chief executive officer and founder of Iamota – a digital marketing agency that has been named one of B.C.’s fastest-growing companies by Business in Vancouver –said industry insiders describe the challenge for companies in a unique way.
“We actually call it the ‘user expectations arms race,’ and we coach our clients on this a lot,” Smyth said. “User expectations are continuing to accelerate with no signs of stopping, so on the one side of it now as users we expect everything to work magically. So what we have to do is reel this stuff back in and make sure we’re measuring this against overall business performance as well.”
Smyth has been working in the digital space for two decades. Previously he was with an Internet consulting and development company called Columbus Group Communications Inc., which was acquired by Telus (TSX:T) in 2001. Smyth worked for Telus for about a year before heading off to complete his MBA at Royal Roads University. It was during his schooling that the initial birth of Iamota took place. Smyth said the name stands for “I am over the air.”
“It was the early days of over-the-air technology,” he said. “So how do you send content from the web to a mobile device? And so from 2002 to 2004 this is where I was doing the research and incorporated the company in 2004 to solve a bunch of problems that ultimately were solved by iCloud. We started the company about three years before the iPhone existed and we were trying to tackle some major problems in how you get web-based content to mobile devices and share content between devices.”
Since then Iamota has been on a steady rise, picking up some prestigious clients along the way including Vega, the British Columbia Lottery Corp., the City of Vancouver, Hockey Canada, Red Bull and Telus. Smyth said he’s built Iamota’s reputation on the long game in an industry dominated by the quick-fix, quick-hit strategy of business.
“Our whole position is that we are there for the long term, so it’s not just about one project. It’s about truly understanding the end customers’ and the end users’ needs, and their context across all devices and how that context is changing and how their needs are changing. And then what we do is execute at the strategy level, at the creative level and at the development level, and we’re constantly monitoring that.”
Katie Drechsel, vice-president of marketing for Saje Natural Wellness, has worked with Iamota for more than two years on Vega projects including product pages, a tool for product selection and a store locator. She said Iamota knows the industry inside out.
“They understand brands, business objectives and how digital can support rapid growth,” Drechsel said. “They’re true partners, and we trust them to help us achieve our goals on time, on budget and while having fun.”
Smyth said the next wave of digital technology is being propelled by the understanding that people are constantly swapping hardware devices as they go.
“That same end user is now switching between devices all the time,” he said. “You may start something on your desktop but you’re going to finish on your smartphone, or start it on your smartphone and maybe move it more onto a tablet environment, based on where you are or the context that you’re in. And the user expectations are that they need to be able to do whatever they want, wherever they are based, and the context that they’re in.” •
