Envisioning Digital Growth and Expansion; An Overview.

When you hear the concept of growth and expansion, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If you thought increment of statute in any entity or anything similar, you are right. Growth paints a picture of development in size or importance of an entity, and it is usually a result of the actualisation of the objective of an organisation. Growth is very vital; that is something we can all agree to but expansion signifies an even greater achievement. When an organization experiences expansion, it is usually as a result of statute and position elevation. Although growth is achieved through deliberate planning, expansion is realised through the need to nurture growth.

An entity is said to have expanded if there is an increment in revenue, sales, company’s value, staff strength, output quality, market expectation, and demand. However, expansion makes it possible to increase the project scope they take on, the expertise they hire and their value cap. The consistent growth of an agency’s GDP is an indicator that the company is expanding in capacity and needs to create more room to accommodate future expansions. Hence, increasing recruitment, client’s confidence, and premium equity is necessary. Business growth and expansion, therefore, is a major shift in the overall modus operandi of an organization due to meticulous and strategic planning. A boost in revenue and an increment in income from bottom-line service delivery automatically results in growth and expansion of diverse kinds.

Strategically planned sales growth, market expansion, and value cap has been the experience of digital agencies across the country. Nigeria has experienced a surge in A-List agencies and top technology firms offering premium digital services for brands at home and abroad. This surge has enabled increased investment from foreign quarters and digital skills growth among the young population across the country. The digital and physical presence of these technology firms across Nigeria has brought the country to prominence for innovation and global tech development; Big Field Digital which is located in the heart of Ibadan city has been a significant part of this growth.

Digital Growth and Expansion could come in many forms; it could be an addition of expert employees, forming strategic partnerships, offering new services or products, entering a new market, or out-rightly opening up another business location.

The Rationale for Digital Growth and Expansion

Every digital agency desires growth and expansion; it is a testament to how much an agency has improved within a given period of time. The need to experience digital growth and expansion can be summed up by the following moderating factors:

• To appeal to new customers, new market, and new target audience.
• In response to market demands, especially when there is a growing need for a certain level of expertise.
• To make the most of re-branding opportunities.
• To unveil new products.
• To attract more proficient and skillful experts to work with an agency.

Forms/Types of Digital Growth and Expansion

Digital growth and expansion come in different forms based on the focus of an agency’s management. However, there are two basic growth forms which has been extensively talked about by several experts in the growth & management field over the years; and these two sums up the most obvious dimension any organization could experience growth. Both growth metrics are called Logarithmic and Exponential growth; they are termed as curves by giving dimension to the kind of development a company can achieve. These two terms show speediness and steadiness of growth respectively, but to shed more light on this, here is a concise definition of both growth curves:

Exponential growth simply means steadily increasing growth movement which becomes less challenging once it reaches a particular peak. This kind of growth doesn’t show much to be excited about at the beginning other than the little progress being made here and there.

Logarithmic growth, however, means a significant leap in growth intensity which is commensurate with the effort exerted at the beginning and after a while, the growth level stalls or balances out at a specific stage. An immediate rise in developmental gains is the key experience of this growth type, so also is the stagnancy of its peak after the growth process has slowed down.

Altogether, the expectations surrounding an agency’s growth and expansion can only be defined by the process it took to achieve whatever goal it set and what was employed to execute it. However, there is another distinct growth metric called “Organic Growth” which is simply described by effort used to achieve the goals set by an agency. Organic Growth is achieved purely on the demand and needs of the target audience and market. This kind of strategic growth is reflected by the influx of projects a digital agency has to execute over a particular period of time. It is the kind of growth that is experienced while trying to guard against being overwhelmed.

Benefits of Digital Growth and Expansion

Benefiting from a planned digital growth and expansion is self-explanatory with the phrase used as the topic. A digital agency that has experienced growth and expansion will have obviously put itself in the limelight, most especially, when there is an amount of publicity surrounding the growth.

Economically, Growth cannot be overstated because it is what leads to expansion in the first place. The scale of the economic weight that growth and expansion brings will only be evident in the value cap of the agency. This kind of economic growth and expansion exposes digital agencies to new markets as well. Exposure creates an avenue to thrive inventively and increases the quality of competition agencies work to emulate or beat. The competitive edge that the newness of brand re-development showcases affects the public perception of the digital agency positively.

Subsequently, the quality of talent a digital agency will attract is going to be more professional in their approach to service delivery and more passionate about thriving in their chosen fields in relation to the general services the agency offer. A significant gain associated with such growth and expansion cannot be overstated, also, it guarantees the agency of some level of financial stability that is considerable enough to create other revenue opportunities. This could occur by launching new products, new service lines and even the acquisition of a pre-existing brand.

Implications of Digital growth and expansion

A digital agency will likely experience some drawbacks as a result of growth and expansion, most especially when it wasn’t strategically planned or adequately executed. The financial consequence of such lack of appropriate judgment before taking a leap forward could create a kind of risk that the agency will not be able to manage effectively, thereby, leading to increased expenses on liabilities and not commensurate to the profit margin initially anticipated.

Another unforeseen consequence of ill-planned growth and expansion is the inability to deliver on the increased wave of services due to excessive workload and overstretched staffs, creating an atmosphere of lethargy and reduced commitment to work. Digital growth and expansion requires continuous hard work and an undivided attention.