Making a Move: Digital Authority Partners, a Digital Strategy and Implementation Agency, Plans to Launch its Own Product Line

We’re moving healthcare forward by connecting innovative companies and empowering healthcare leaders through highly engaging content: Codrin Arsene.

For many businesses around the world, outsourcing has become an important part of developing and implementing new digital strategies -- and it continues to grow in popularity as a way to improve upon core business functions.

Digital Authority Partners (DAP) is a digital strategy, digital implementation and product development agency. From startups to seasoned companies, the company helps businesses by implementing online strategies that deliver real results.

The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Codrin Arsene, Digital Authority Partners CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

Digital Authority Partners was founded as an emerging technology consulting company. Our first client was one of the leading companies in the world, specializing in audio noise reduction. Their digital team wanted to leverage the company’s expertise in audio encoding and a breakthrough in the mobile space.

We helped the team define a cohesive digital strategy, user experience and go-to-market strategy. The product we worked on actually went on to become very popular in Canada. Since then, we’ve expanded our service offerings significantly to include development, user experience & design, analytics and marketing services to provide an end to end solution for startups and established companies.

How successful was your first project roll on? Share the experience.

As I mentioned, our first project involved a multinational company specializing in noise-reduction technologies and hardware manufacturing. As a $1B company with more than 2000 employees, our client recognized that they needed outside help to break into the “millennial” market. They hired us to help them in every phase of their product development cycle.

We worked with their team to define the vision of a new mobile app, the user experience and design, and we also managed their development team from a business point of view. Four months later, the mobile app was launched and became very successful among their target audience. It was a great experience for us – to not only embark on such an ambitious project, but to also see the rave reviews the product received after launch. The mobile app in question ended up getting more than 200,000 downloads within the first month after launch and still holds a 4.7 / 5 star review in the App Store.

Is your company a leader or a follower?

Our strategic advantage comes from us being a leader in our industry. We are the go-to agency for NextGen technologies. We have 11 Fortune 500 companies that proudly use our services on an annual basis and an amazing track record with 92 percent retention rate after the completion of the first engagement. We are proud of our work and proud to have helped over 200 companies with their digital initiatives.

In addition, we build our own software products within our core industries to disrupt the status quo. Later this year, we are launching a healthcare two-way communication platform for doctors and hospitals to better manage their workflows. This past spring, we also launched www.HealthcareWeekly.com, a digital magazine and peer-supported community for C-suite executives in the healthcare industry. We’re moving healthcare forward by connecting innovative companies and empowering healthcare leaders through highly engaging content. Through all our work, we believe we have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that we are a leader in our industry propelling companies into the future.

“Earning trust and respect of consumers is through consistent focus on delivering high quality in all of our actions.” How do you interpret this statement?

Many companies talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. In other words, the majority of our customers have had a horrible experience with other agencies when they come to us. We’ve heard so many horror stories. For example, one of our clients fired their service provider because they were unwilling to take feedback from them. So our client was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars but their service provider would refuse to make changes to their work. That’s ridiculous.

Another long-term client of ours had spent $1M on a product before coming to us desperate that their product was severely under-performing. A very quick analysis showed that the execution of the project was done incorrectly.

Finally, one client we signed up earlier this year had a service provider which recommended building two native mobile applications for a use-case where no one would ever download an app for (the company services clients that would use their product once a year, at best).

Bottom line: We’re uber-focused on providing the best quality and delivery to our customers. And we are very frank and knowledgeable when it comes to everything digital. We take pride in our open communication policy, our amazing team of strategists, and our ability to deliver on our projects flawlessly. Our impeccable track record speaks more than any of our pitch decks or media kits.

What are the factors that make your brand stand out from the competition?

What makes us unique boils down to the following factors:

We provide honest and frank feedback: Unlike most of our competitors, we do not simply take on new clients and projects for the sake of adding new clients to our portfolio. If your idea isn’t good, we’ll tell you upfront. For example, if you come to us saying you want a native app but you don’t need an app, we’ll tell you right away.

We’re not in the business of building products just for the sake of money. We’re invested in our clients’ future. And that means we care deeply about your success. And we work with you to make sure that whatever ends up being built, it makes sense and is guaranteed to provide you with a return on investment.

We learn every day: All our employees have to go to conferences, training workshops and events relevant to their day to day job at least once a month. This is non-negotiable. To help companies succeed, we need to always learn new things and be aware of the latest trends in our industry.

We have some of the best benefits everywhere: Fully-covered employer-paid medical insurance (no copayment, $250 deductible/year); 4 percent 401k match. Unlimited vacation. End of year offsite retreats. We treat our employees well. We’re only as strong as our people. And we appreciate them, every single day.

How does your company contribute to the competitive global IT platform at large?

When we said we’re helping companies define NextGen services and solutions, that wasn’t marketing talk. We are literally at the forefront of technological advancements. We have worked on and continue to work on cutting-edge technologies in the supply chain space, healthcare, interconnected devices (IoT), artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

We are proud to work in this amazing and slightly dangerous space. We want to be there when true innovation happens, right from the beginning. And we’d like to believe that it is our clients’ success stories which help move entire industries towards a better, more interconnected and brighter technological future.

Do you have any new products ready to be launched?

As mentioned earlier, we’ve recently launched www.healthcareweekly.com, a digital magazine dedicated to executives in the healthcare space. We are also in beta-testing for www.hiresphere.net, an artificial intelligence recruiting solution dedicated to helping recruiters find the perfect candidate in two minutes or less. And later this year, we’re planning to launch a collaboration and productivity solution for doctors and healthcare professionals all over the US. We’re very excited for what the future holds for DAP.

As a question on sustainability, where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Today, 90 percent of our revenue comes from the consulting side of the business. In a couple of years, we foresee major changes in our business and expect to see 90 percent of our revenue come from our own product lines, digital media businesses and new ventures. We also believe more and more of the leaders in healthcare, fintech, government and retail will catch wind of our success stories and as a result, we will become the go-to-agency for the most ambitious and forward-looking companies in the world. That is already happening. So it’s only a matter of time until more and more companies will do business with us and we will help them achieve their goals and objectives.

Leadership: A Brief Background

Codrin Arsene, CEO: After working with several leading brands, Codrin Arsene saw that many companies under-delivered on their digital initiatives. He founded Digital Authority Partners to help startups and enterprises adopt new and exciting technologies to solve complex problems and achieve their business goals. Codrin loves helping companies succeed, and lives his life according to Floyd Mayweather’s famous quote: “A true champion can adapt to anything.”

Originally from Romania, Mr. Arsene received a full scholarship to attend the University of Chicago, where he received both his B.A. (Hons) and M.A.

Michael Reddy, President: Michael Reddy has worked with Fortune 100 companies in a variety of roles: media mix modeling, statistical modeling, test & learn, product/program/project management, process improvement, loyalty program management, and web analytics.

Michael’s area of expertise is the intersection of Product Management, Product Development and Analytics. He has repeatedly obtained outstanding business results using insights gained through analytics to drive decisions in product and business management. He has led product management teams through the entire journey from analytics strategy through testing and learning.

“Through all our work, we believe we have proved beyond reasonable doubt that we are a leader in our industry, propelling companies into the future.”