Blending innovation, a strong employment brand, and profitability

What do the three concepts in this title of this article have in common? They are the essential characteristics of a successful services firm, particularly an agency or consulting firm, which Adviso is.

Without a culture of innovation and drive, an agency or innovation firm won’t be able to help its clients push their limits.

Without a strong employment brand, it can’t attract and retain the kind of top talent that will allow it to innovate and serve its clients in an effective way.

Without profitability, balance is threatened and either innovation or the strong employment brand will have a very short lifespan.

At Adviso we believe that striking a balance between these concepts is one of our strengths. To maintain this balance, we make sure to always have two types of mandates in our mix: some that drive innovation and others that make a difference for society. This coexistence ensures that all our clients are well served and satisfied, and that our company attracts the most talented team and motivates them to deliver the very best to our clients.

Sometimes it’s start-ups that bring us this type of mandate, but not always. They face difficult budgetary realities, and both need and want to do things differently in industries that can be bogged down with old ways of doing things.

Because of these characteristics, they are difficult to satisfy and very difficult for a firm of experts that is the least bit structured to manage. But we absolutely want to take on these types of challenges. These difficult and innovative mandates are the ones that drive us to push harder, rethink our ways of solving problems and ultimately renew the way we serve our entire client base.

They also present interesting problems for our most demanding experts who seek out these types of challenges to grow and evolve. Adviso aims to give them this opportunity, as well as the resources to achieve their objectives in spite of the constraints. They thank us by staying longer, knowing that there are few companies able to provide them with the same opportunity.

We help our clients succeed in dozens of different industries, and we love the diversity. However, it’s not always easy to allocate resources to projects or clients who can’t necessarily afford our services because the work is for a cause, foundation or non-profit organization.

Adviso has made it its mission to be a generous member of the community, and we can’t deny that our employees are more engaged when they can participate in this mission. Our policy is to devote a portion of our annual revenue to provide pro-bono or discounted services to support causes where our digital expertise can be put to good use to help these organizations achieve their goals. From the very beginning we have given our time to the Foundation for Celiac Disease for example, and to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Moisson Montréal, the Movember Foundation and the Fondation Jean-Lapointe, where we collaborated on the creation of the 28-day sobriety challenge.

In 2017, we decided to invest a lot of our time and passion for digital into Tremblant’s 24H, which supports several organizations dedicated to the cause of severely ill children. Our expertise has already enabled the organizers to surpass many of their targets. We also offer programs to other groups and cultural organizations such as the MSO, the MAC, Goodness.TV and Allô Prof.

By investing in this way, our employees are proud to work for us. This sentiment gives them the energy and motivation to excel in all their mandates for Adviso. And that’s where the ideas of employment brand and profitability intersect.

I am a firm believer that this level of balance is needed in a company, and would be curious to hear how you integrate and see these concepts within your own organizations.