Dubai is booming and its advertising industry is growing at a fast pace. The establishment of the Dubai Media City (DMC) has attracted a number of globally recognised broadcasting companies and international networks, as well as, advertising companies. There are many factors, which have contributed to the success of the advertising industry, in Dubai; these include: vision, government support, creativity, technology, and the human factor. As the industry grows, its challenges grow and become more complex. Sustaining growth and success becomes a main concern.
On the other hand, manufacturers and software providers such as Adobe, Apple, and Macromedia are spending millions of dollars on R&D to improve the capabilities of their product and its performance, in order, to sustain global leadership. It would be a shame not to be able to capitalise on these developments, to continually improve on creativity, not undermining cutting costs, and increasing productivity. You will be surprised to find that certain features that may have been a bottleneck in the past have now been made easier and more efficient. These improvements are engineered by creative designers - who are leaders in the industry and who understand the necessity for such improvements - with reference to creative achievements within the global market.
The culture today calls for a paradigm shift. It is important to maintain the right balance between creative pulses, technical superiority, and project management in order to achieve creative deliverables, which are timely and cost-effective. I am scared to think of the time wasted by creative staff to solve their problems with technological matters before they raise their hand and ask for help. This is the culture. I remember listening to a manager saying "I hired him because he said he was an expert on the tools, well he better be."
Reading the manual to learn 'on-the-go' is a practice that must be avoided. We do it because we are too busy to leave the office to train. I dread to think of the time spent to understand the manual and time wasted, in trial and error, to work out a new learning point, while a professional instructor can deliver a better message and learning experience more quickly. The manual can be used to remind the expert of a method not often used; it is cumbersome to use it and to learn new features on technological upgrades. A manual may highlight some of these facts, but an expert trainer, who is also commercially active will be able to put things into perspective and teach the hidden benefits because he/she simply is more exposed and dedicated to learning them. In addition, he/she passed many tests that confirm his/her superiority technically.
Artists may struggle with their tools and subsequently compromise on their creative idea just to get through the job on time. A terrible waste of potential can be eliminated with proper and on-going training. Many companies have one or two experts responsible for 'on-the-job training'; I say to them, you are passing on your bad habits instead of instilling best practices.
Training is seen as an additional cost, born by individuals and companies, which can be avoided by hiring the right people. Training combines existing knowledge with creative ability and the technology at hand to cut costs and improve through put. Collectively harnessing maximum power of the available creative tools enables the industry to command top rates for their services, while reducing unit cost and improving on quality. The effort is spent on the creative pulse rather on how to transform the idea. We master technology to exploit it in this creative transformation.
We live in a challenging and competitive environment, where customer decision is not always based on creativity and quality of the deliverables. Cost plays a big part of the decision making process and is sometimes weighed higher that we would have liked. Other occasions, time plays a high role in the decision process due to challenging commitments. Costing a project carries a big factor of human performance and efficiency. Our estimated 'man-hour' may comprise the bigger portion of the cost. Our estimates for 'man-hour' are based on past experiences in delivering similar jobs. There is little consideration given to the learning curve and for advancements in technology, now available to us, this remains unexploited. Professional and relevant training will reduce actual man-hours spent on a project and, hence, it will reduce costs with the benefit transferred to the customer. It will also boost productivity thus reducing number of projects declined for lack of time and increasing revenues.
For those who intend to pursue their careers, further product specific training is essential to ensure that their technical expertise becomes an aid to their creative expression.
A 'one-off' training course can often eliminate the short-term problem but the real solution is a long-term commitment to training and retraining. This is not easy to implement, it requires planning and budgeting on yearly basis, so that expectations are set, work programme is pre-defined and staff are adequately allocated. The paradigm shift is from considering training an additional cost, "we are already experts" and "we are too busy to be trained" to a more strategic commitment to quality and efficiency not forgetting the realized benefits of staff development and moral boosting. To commit to long-term training with proper planning and clear benefits defined and appreciated.
So, the next challenge is, decision makers must have the insight to set long-term training and re-training as a strategic objective and to change the mind-set of middle management to understand the benefits of training. Subsequently, we need to see a culture change within organisations to commit to long-term training where benefits are sought and understood.
Without a doubt, the ever-increasing pace of change within the technical arena will continue to have a great effect on the advertising industry. The future certainly holds many challenges, the challenge that lays ahead for all of us is to harness the technology and maximise its benefits for profits. It becomes imperative to find the right training establishment that delivers an approved standard delivered by certified trainers. Dedicated training in the local market is required to facilitate professional and advanced training with nearby locations and flexible timings.
* The author is the managing director of the International Training InstituteJihan Achkar*
© ArabAd 2004
