When you first launched an online presence, whether through a website or mobile app, you probably sought out and used technology that was either free or low-cost and could be easily personalized to your ministry. And it’s awesome to have simple, plug-and-play tech stacks available, especially if you have a young church or ministry.
But is the tech stack you started with keeping up with your current demands and needs? Or are you confining yourself to their limited capabilities? Suppose you have bigger, bolder, and more ambitious strategies for your digital ministries. If that’s the case, it could be time to evaluate your current tech stack… and discover what’s possible with customized technology solutions.
When Should You Evaluate Your Tech Stack?
It’s often easy to set up the technology, then forget it, assuming what was fine last year or even five years ago is still adequate. But adequate is not the goal. Take a moment to remember why you first integrated technology into your ministry—to reach people where they are. The world is increasingly digital and populations from each generation are plugging in. As new digital capabilities become commonplace, people will expect your digital properties to have them.
If you are running on an antiquated or outdated platform, you are not effectively reaching your audience. For example, MySpace was revolutionary in its day. Napster? There had never been anything like it. Yet those platforms have given way to other social media networks and music streaming apps and sites. You can’t stick with your tech stack just because it was once cutting edge. Your ministry’s continued growth and effectiveness rely on constant evaluation and progress in your digital presence.
So when should you evaluate your tech stack? The most common evaluation is annual. Add “tech stack evaluation” to your yearly to-do list, alongside budget and ministry calendar reviews. You may find it coincides perfectly with the other annual reviews and can even roll the results of your tech stack evaluation into your budgetary and ministry focuses.
However, if you are growing rapidly or a tech-heavy ministry, you may find that a quarterly tech stack evaluation better suits your needs. And if you’re in the midst of a large build, it’s okay to postpone the tech stack evaluation. After all, the last thing you want to do is halt or disrupt progress on a current project or build.
How Should You Do a Tech Stack Evaluation?
Now that you’re on board with the idea of evaluating your current products, what exactly are you looking for? How do you even start? A great place to start, especially if you haven’t evaluated your technology versus your needs in a while, is through a tech audit.
Instead of assuming the plug-and-play option is sufficient, analyze:
- what technology you’re using,
- how you’re using it,
- how many options you’re utilizing,
- if you have overlaps or redundancies, and
- how end-users and target audiences are using your technology.
Do you have multiple platforms doing the same task? Do you find yourself frequently fixing or cleaning up the tech side of your ministry? Or have you noticed your relationship with your tech vendor beginning to sour because of their inability to meet your new or ongoing needs? If you seem to be more focused on playing catch-up or cleaning up your app or website instead of fostering real growth, you may have outgrown your tech stack.
Outgrowing Your Tech Stack Is Actually a Good Thing
Most general-purpose tech stacks support some personalization for your ministry. However, you might be using one of these and, after you’ve analyzed things, you feel like there must be something better. If you’re sensing that for your ministry, it’s actually a really good thing!
Your ministry should be growing and expanding, and that will naturally cause you to outgrow your current technologies. Bringing in fully-customizable technology to support your growth is often the next logical step.
What Next? Why a Technology Partner Might Be Your Best Bet
At the end of the day, the technology is not the ministry. It is there to support the ministry and the mission statement. God has called you to that very specific mission, one that He has prepared you for, laid upon your heart, and empowered you to do. But that doesn’t necessarily mean every aspect of your ministry has to remain your sole responsibility.
Outsourcing projects that support your mission and ministry, such as a necessary tech stack replacement, allows you to focus on the vision God gave you. It also allows you to be good stewards of your resources. Instead of hiring new full-time people for a project, find an organization filled with people God has called to a similar mission, but who also have the expertise and experience you need to get the job done.
How to Evaluate a Partner to Update Your Tech Stack
When you decide that hiring an agency will be the best approach for your ministry, you’ll want to find an organization that fits your mission and tech needs. The technology begins and ends with the focus on God and what He is doing to reach people in a fallen world. While there are numerous options of companies that focus on non-profit sectors, there are fewer companies with the talent and ability to take you from strategy through design and development whose passion is for God and the ministries of their clients.
Other considerations in choosing your new partner for technology collaboration include Time to Market (how quickly can the project be ready for the user), Scalability (the ability to easily adapt to support traffic and easy upgrades), Measurability, and Forward-Looking.
Time to Market
It’s important to have realistic expectations of the time it takes to get your product to the user. Remember, this is a customized tech stack designed specifically for your ministry. Therefore, you need clear communication about what is feasible and what to expect. If it takes too long, the fire in your belly for the new project can wane into a few glowing embers, or the technology can be outdated before it’s had a chance to launch. But if you rush the project, it may be insufficient or inadequate to meet your current and future needs. Finding the balance between too long and rushed can be found by spending time with your tech stack agency in strategy sessions. Before a project begins, the heavy lifting of planning is critical to ensure the project’s success, particularly in the time-to-market deliverable.
Scalability
Your ministry and your mission field deserve a user interface that is, well, usable. If you don’t have scalability built into your project, your app or site may not be able to meet your future needs. In that case, you would find yourself back at square one as your traffic increases or your users’ needs change.
Measurability
If your ministry is paying for a custom digital app or website, it’s important to know if it’s reaching your target audience or doing what you intend it to do. You might be interested in having the ability to use metrics to see things like:
- the use of the app to foster donations,
- increase in pageviews,
- increase in new users, or
- sermon or podcast audiences.
Be sure to figure out what you want to measure and communicate those needs to your tech partner early in your relationship.
Forward-Looking
Just twenty years ago, mobile apps were largely limited to calculators and calendars. Just as we’ve come a very long way in a short time, it would be arrogant to assume technology won’t continue to grow and change. Your partner agency needs to be able to grow and change as well in order to futureproof your tech investment.
Be wary of agencies that sell a set list of solutions and force you to fit into their model; this is exactly the situation you’re trying to leave behind with non-custom platforms! Rather, listen for cues that the agency you’re considering uses modern technology and ask them for examples of technology they’ve used in the past. Comparing the two should give you an idea of how they incorporate new technology and, thus, how forward-looking they are.
Take the Leap of Faith
The parable of the talents spoke to the reward of those who took risks. It still speaks to those who take what God has laid upon their hearts and invest in it, pouring into the future. It is often tempting to be risk-averse. After all, you don’t want to be foolish with that which has been entrusted to you by both God and those who contribute to your ministry.
But God has called you to be a good steward of what He has given, to be risk managers, not risk avoiders. Taking on the daunting task of evaluating your tech stack can feel like too great a risk. Instead, consider that it is an innovation that prevents your ministry from stagnating and ensures you’re doing everything you can to be a good steward and faithfully answering God’s call.