By Iryna Kozirevych
We are continuing our interview series to help you learn more about our team! This time, we are having a talk with Roman Vrublivskyi, our chief executive officer. Roman is going to share some insights on digital transformation, so keep reading to learn more!
Welcome to our interview series! Before we dive in, can you tell us a bit about your backstory?
Let’s divide my backstory into two parts: before and after I joined Attekmi. So, during the “before” period, my core professional focus was business development in the IT industry: for startups, product companies, and SaaS businesses. I specialized in B2B sales and was responsible for building strategic partnerships. In May 2019, I joined the Attekmi team as a business development executive. It was more than coming up with tactics and strategies for business development – I got a deep dive into cloud-based enterprise-level advertising technologies. That was a new industry, but my colleagues were a great help, especially Olena Chudinovych (currently, she is the CPO of Attekmi). Working in close partnership from the very start of the product, we ensured the evolution and success of our brand.
Later, I became the chief commercial officer, and for now, I occupy the position of Attekmi’s CEO and use my skills and experience for business and strategy development, performance marketing, and customer support.
Attekmi has not always been Attekmi, right? What was the reason for rebranding?
Yes, initially Attekmi was called SmartHub. We earned a great reputation in the AdTech industry and helped more than 150 clients join the programmatic environment with ease. However, we always strive for the best. We became ready to offer more products and services, and this stage of our evolution required a new name. Now we are Attekmi – ready to deliver even more value.
Digital transformation can mean many things to many people. How do you define it in the advertising industry?
In my opinion, digital transformation in advertising is more than simply switching from traditional advertising methods (like banners or radio) to digital media and tools. To me, it implies using data to segment the target audience, outline customer journeys, enhance targeting, and deliver more personalized experiences. Obviously, performing thorough analysis and making informed decisions requires the usage of special tools, but that’s just the basics.
During the process of digital transformation, both advertisers and publishers can switch to programmatic advertising, which is the next step on the efficiency ladder and a way to reach customers across multiple channels, including such options as CTV and DOOH. There are a lot of demand- and supply-side platforms already equipped with all the essential features, including specific functionalities allowing to fine-tune the performance and reach better results. And if we talk about the programmatic industry on its own, it is already a part of the digital evolution. So, my team and I only need to keep improving our products and services to simplify the transition to a digital approach for our partners.
Which companies can most benefit from a digital transformation?
The modern world is getting more and more digital, and technology impacts virtually every aspect of our lives. Therefore, any company can benefit from digital transformation, as it allows for improving the organization’s products, services, and processes in general. However, I would say that businesses operating in the e-commerce and retail industries are those that can make the most of digital transformation. For them, going digital means an opportunity to improve targeting and reach customers much more effectively, develop data-driven and cost-effective strategies, optimize supply chain management, streamline operations, and enhance the overall customer experience. As a result, digital transformation helps such companies drive income and gain a more stable position in the market.
Has integrating digital transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?
Digital transformation is a complex process, so, obviously, it can be challenging for some organizations, and there are a lot of potential reasons for this. First and foremost, successful transformation requires a carefully thought-out strategy. A business needs to conduct market analysis, identify the goals of transformation, outline the milestones, etc. However, if the strategy is poor or missing at all, there will be no positive outcome. Secondly, a company may face a lack of skills. When it comes to digital transformation, even those roles that are not focused on tech have to gain some technological understanding. This implies investing resources in training or hiring individuals with digital experience. I would also like to mention security risks. Since digital transformation involves the usage of data, both for a business and its customers, robust cybersecurity measures must be implemented, which can be challenging for companies entering the digital era.
At Attekmi, my team and I are always ready to help our partners overcome these and other challenges. For instance, we offer a set of ad exchange products that allow our clients to join the programmatic industry without the need to invest time and money in development from scratch. Additionally, Attekmi solutions are compliant with data processing standards and international privacy regulations and are equipped with multiple scanners for ad fraud detection and prevention. Besides, we guide our partners through all the processes, providing support on any questions and issues, including strategy development. Attekmi also offers outstaffing and AdOps training services.
At Attekmi, my team and I are always ready to help our partners complete the digital transformation process, refine the strategy, and ensure total security. Moreover, we provide Ad Ops outstaffing services – we pick and train an expert specifically for the partner. This way, they can focus on their core tasks, while their operations still run effectively.
Based on your experience and success, what are the five ways a company can use digital transformation to take it to the next level?
1 . Thorough strategies matter, but communication is still key to any organization’s effective performance. Any company aiming for success requires a space connecting all of its employees, and there are numerous tools that can help create such a community. In my opinion, Slack is the most convenient solution, as it is intuitive to use while offering all the required features: private conversations, group chats, and so on. That’s like a unified community for all the employees, and our Attekmi team uses it, too. Tools like Jira help streamline working processes and communication; however, using solutions like Slack is still essential to ensure quick and easy communication. At the same time, I would also recommend providing employees with some space where they can discuss non-business things or have some fun (this can be a separate channel on Slack or a group in a different messenger). This way, by allowing informal conversations, you support emotional connections and ensure more effective collaboration, which is a way to drive better outcomes for the entire company.
2 . Communication is not only about discussing work-related topics – it also refers to knowledge sharing. With digital tools and platforms, this gets much easier. For example, at Attekmi, we have a detailed knowledge base on Confluence, which simplifies the onboarding process and gives hints to those employees who want to double-check something about our product. All the information is structured and updated when necessary, meaning that all of our team members always have access to the same and relevant data. What to include in such a base? Well, everything an employee should know about the company: the organization’s policies, tutorials on the product, descriptions of various procedures, etc. I would recommend creating such a base for any business; otherwise, you will have to answer the same questions again and again. Instead, just keep all the information well-structured and up to date.
3 . Modern customers are getting more and more demanding in terms of engagement and support service, and they expect businesses to meet their needs in advanced ways. Let’s say, nowadays, customers across numerous industries don’t want to send an email and wait for a response for a couple of days – they search for an immediate reaction. Integrating chatbots (making sure that a customer can still interact with a human even if the bot is AI-based) and being present across relevant social networks can help. Additionally, businesses can use technology to provide customers with a better understanding of their products or services: these can be demos, virtual tours, etc. Opportunities depend on the industry, but, in general, it is important to simplify all the interactions.
For instance, on Attekmi’s website, you can find a web form for those who are not our partners yet. By filling it in, a customer requests a consultation without the need to come up with a message from scratch. We ask for the most essential details, which helps us learn more about potential partners and improve our future communication while also enhancing their experience. For the already existing partners, Attekmi has dedicated account managers who assist them with any issues.
4 . As I already mentioned, for businesses, going digital usually means heavier reliance on data, which may pose additional security risks. However, digital transformation is a solution here since it allows for effective security measures. There are loads of opportunities: antiviruses, VPNs, encryption and multi-factor authentication tools, intrusion detection systems, firewalls, password managers, and many more. By combining multiple measures, a business enables strong data protection.
At the same time, the human factor must still be kept in mind. I would recommend businesses provide employees with regular security training sessions, as we do at Attekmi. Keeping your team members up to date with malicious tactics and ways to deal with them will help ensure a safe environment.
5 . Overall, digital transformation enables businesses to become more flexible, productive, and cost-effective. For instance, continuous analysis of a company's performance allows for quick detection of weaknesses and opportunities and, as a result, timely fine-tuning of a strategy. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can automate repetitive manual tasks, even though, in most cases, some human touch is still required. Adopting cloud storage means a reduced need for physical storage (besides, switching from external hard drives to the cloud at least partially is sustainable). These are just a couple of examples, and since the evolution of technology never stands still, we can expect more and more opportunities to enter the stage.
How can companies best create a “culture of innovation” to gain new competitive advantages?
The most important step, as usual, is to come up with a clear innovation strategy. What are the areas that require innovation the most? What are the goals? How many resources are required, and how should they be allocated? After the strategy is ready, it must be communicated to all the employees, partners, and stakeholders to prevent misunderstanding and create a roadmap for implementing this strategy.
However, this is only the basic step – creating the right culture of innovation requires much more effort. For instance, I would recommend businesses encourage informational transparency, open communication, collaboration between different departments, and taking calculated risks. Providing employees with the tools, resources, and training they need to generate new ideas will be helpful, too, as well as acknowledging their success or at least their attempts to reach new heights. Even if someone fails, that’s still an experience that can be used to learn important lessons and drive progress in the future. Remember that adopting digital transformation streamlines these processes, as there are a lot of tools and online platforms for quick and easy communication and collaboration.
Besides, it is essential to ensure psychological safety – have regular team meetings to discuss challenges, ideas, progress, achievements, and failures. Employees must understand that they can think and act creatively without any judgment, and team leaders have to foster such an approach and remove unnecessary bureaucratic barriers. As a result, with a culture of innovation in place, it gets much easier for a business to gain new competitive advantages. When smart risk-taking and creativity are supported, the team becomes able to identify opportunities and solve any issue more effectively, thanks to a diversity of ideas.
We’re going to share more insights from our Attekmi experts, so stay tuned! And if you are ready to start using one of our products or services, let’s get in touch.
