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Choosing a beauty technology partner is a strategic decision that should not be treated lightly. We have put together some guidelines inspired by the thorough due-diligence processes from our existing partners to help save a lot of your valuable time.
Finding the right technology partner that can fulfill all of your requirements is never an easy task. Whether your purpose is to create a better in-store experience or fuel the growth of your metrics with new technology capabilities, it is critical to conduct due diligence on your potential partners.
But, how to tell apart true expertise out of all the buzz? We have put together some guidelines inspired by the thorough due-diligence processes from our existing partners.
To make it easier for retailers and brands to select the right vendor partner, we’ve also developed a checklist to help brands and retailers find the best beauty tech partner to work with. Download our checklist below to make sure you ask all the right questions during your evaluation.
1. Industry Focus and Expertise
The initial discussion with your potential partner should focus on discovering whether your business aligns with your partner's values and mission. Do they know your industry segment the best and target audience? Do they share the same goals? Start evaluating their processes, teams, and productivity levels.
As you gather your technology requirements, take some time to list all the criteria of what you think the implementation partner should bring to the table. Take time to evaluate all vendors as everything must have a purpose and deliver a clear ROI.
Once you discover that a potential partner aligns with your most critical requirements, it’s safe to say they are the ideal industry expert that will support your growth.
Questions to ask your potential partner:
- Does your team provide ongoing support?
- How well do you know our industry?
- What is your business model? What purpose do you serve?
- What is your process review?
Download a checklist for more information.
2. Industry Vision and References
A goal-oriented partner that shares the same industry vision will ensure that you get the technology solution that works for your brand strategy. To support your future goals, your chosen partner must understand your customer needs – even as they change. A good partner will get in the trenches with its customers through unexpected challenges and help build products or services that deliver value.
Moreover, tapping into the partner's client base could exponentially assist with making the right decision. List your potential partner's customers and ask for their contact details. Remember to check how well the potential partner executed the project and how the partner interacts with clients to measure the success of the implementation.
Ask for references and ask them the following:
- Why did you select this partner?
- What were your primary criteria for the chosen partner?
- How would you describe the implementation process?
- How do you feel about partnering with them in the future?
- Does the provider have the resources and capabilities to provide a global delivery solution?
Download a checklist for more information.
Case Example:
A top 3 Pan-European beauty retailer in partnership with Revieve highlighted some of their fundamental requirements when choosing a technology partner. When evaluating vendors to help them with the challenge, the leading retailer looked for an enterprise-grade partner for a strategic and long-term relationship with them. Some of the requirements for the partnership were:
- A technology solution that can handle a lot of users at the same time and provide a frictionless experience to each consumer with ongoing value and support
- A partner that could offer the fastest go to market solution
- A partner that provides exceptional brand experiences & lifetime value
- A true partner with a passion for brand experience
- A partner that drives innovation forward
- A solution that works on any screen size and device
- A solution that is easily scalable across different regions and fully customizable
3. Service or Product Approach
It is essential to remember that your technology partner should provide the same level of experience across all Health, Beauty & Wellness categories to complement your customer's journey. And by ensuring your technology provider can equip you with an ecosystem of support tailored around delivering ongoing value, you will be able to provide the same great experience for any user and across all geographies.
For instance, all of Revieve's Digital Health-Beauty-Wellness Platform modules were built upon the concept of providing the same level of expertise and experience across all brand categories.
4. Ongoing Value and Support
What is the difference between a solution provider and an enterprise partner? In most cases, a solution provider won’t offer a range of support options, provide continuous support, and the team of professionals that keep optimizing the solutions to gain better results. However, an enterprise partner will not only be willing to help with road mapping and consultation but also provide advice on how you can maximize your investment.
At Revieve, we fully manage solutions’ implementation and provide continuous support with dedicated project and customer success teams to support your business from end to end. For example, when partnering with Revieve, you will work with a dedicated team consisting of industry experts who will take care of everything from road mapping and consultation to implementation, integration, continuous optimization, analytics, and beyond.
Questions to ask your potential partner:
- What support options do you offer?
- What happens after the solution is implemented?
- What is the scope of support areas of your business in the future?
- Do you have a dedicated team to support our initiatives?
Download a checklist for more information.
5. Integration Capabilities
Integration is often one of the most challenging barriers in delivering rapid success. A solution provider should solve all business needs, and, in most cases, it shouldn't add more cost to your budget to integrate the new technology into your existing ecosystem. If providing an omnichannel customer experience is at the core of your business, your new solutions should easily integrate on all devices - smartphones, desktops, tablets, in-store AR mirrors, and through all digital channels and operational systems (iOS and Android).
For instance, Revieve provides a ready-to-deploy complete solution for fast go-to-market and effortless implementation. Revieve's solutions can seamlessly integrate into any digital ecosystem with a shorter deployment time than any other solution provider in the market. And most importantly, as your business grows, your vendor should provide you with global delivery. For example, Revieve serves all countries, including China and Russia.
A technology partner should be qualified to perform the work and be a great cultural match. To verify this, you have to get a clear view of their process. Get transparency on your budget ahead of time. Study how their team communicates and what processes they employ to ensure projects stay on budget, on time, and positively.
With Revieve, brands and retailers avoid lengthy implementation processes, expensive single-channel solutions, worrying about the data, interacting with an army of developers, and continuous integrations.
“By combining the technological know-how of Revieve with the Pierre Fabre Group’s expertise in dermatology and dermo-cosmetics, we have successfully developed a flagship experience for the LAB. Pierre Fabre has always put people at the heart of its strategy and is pleased to be able to provide an innovative service for consumers through this partnership.” Géraud Menu, Digital Innovation Manager
6. Privacy Commitment and Transparency
In any business relationship, searching for a technology partner that you can trust with your and your customer’s data is a big responsibility. In the context of data privacy becoming a more significant concern, it is vital to check whether every partner with access to your business’ data is compliant with all the required data protection laws. Data breaches can seriously damage your brand reputation and erode consumer trust and confidence. More customers actively seek to buy from companies with good ethics and transparency in customer data handling practices.
Understanding the importance of data trust issues to our partners’ digital transformation, privacy is among Revieve’s most important priorities. Revieve has an enterprise-grade CCPA, GDPR, and HIPAA -compliant infrastructure to ensure the highest level of protection and privacy of any data entrusted to Revieve.
Questions to ask your potential partner:
- Can you present a roadmap for GDPR/CCPA/HIPAA compliance?
- Do you have additional security credentials?
In Conclusion
Choosing a beauty technology partner is a strategic decision that should not be treated lightly. In a nutshell, select the team that will understand your priorities, build a solid, high-quality product for you, support you all the way through, and bring your business to the next level.
Checking all the criteria we presented above can save a lot of your valuable time and comprehensively help you to select the right beauty technology partner.
Check Off The List
At Revieve, we are ready to make this process as transparent and efficient as possible for you and your team. Complete the form to download our checklist to make sure you ask all the right questions during your evaluation.
