{"id":4251529,"date":"2014-09-16T13:07:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T13:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/insight\/what-business-as-usual-bau-means-to-me\/"},"modified":"2014-09-16T13:07:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T13:07:00","slug":"what-business-as-usual-bau-means-to-me","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-uki\/insight\/what-business-as-usual-bau-means-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"What is digital BAU and why should you outsource it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/button>\n\t\tWhat is digital BAU and why should you outsource it?\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\n\t<\/div>
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\n\t\tCaz Cowley\t\t
\n\t\tUK Head of Digital Operations Services \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tDate\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t16 September 2014\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\tBusiness As Usual (BAU) is the \u2018bread and butter\u2019 of your digital touchpoint updates. It usually doesn\u2019t receive the kudos of, say, the launch of a new website, but is vital to the ongoing optimisation of your digital strategy.\u00a0At DEPT\u00ae, we have a team dedicated to providing BAU support to a number of global clients.\t<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\n\n
\n\t\tWhat is digital BAU?\t<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\n\n
\n\t\tBusiness As Usual tasks are the day-to-day updates that form part of normal business operations for websites and digital touchpoints. Usually smaller pieces of work that need a fast turnaround, BAU tasks can include:\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
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  • Creating new content and adding new website pages;<\/li>
  • Making small changes to website functionality;<\/li>
  • Updating existing content and sections;<\/li>
  • Maintenance activities, such as checking log files and cleaning up disk space;<\/li>
  • Responding to urgent bugs and issues.<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tBAU tasks differ from project work. Projects tend to be larger pieces of strategic development work, and usually disrupt normal operations. Projects may introduce something new, or implement change in the way something existing is presented or works. BAU is focused on maintenance and ongoing improvement and optimisation.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tTeam skillset\t<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tA successful BAU team must be multi-disciplined. The broad range of tasks undertaken require skill areas including: development; QA; content entry; content writers; creative; and UX.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tThe DEPT\u00ae BAU team works closely with our clients\u2019 central marketing and IT teams, as well as liaising directly with business units and country website managers. This ensures the flow of improvement requests, content tasks and issues are prioritised and managed.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tWhy outsource your BAU?\t<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tGlobal efficiencies<\/strong>

    Many of our clients operate in multiple markets, with localised websites for each country. Outsourcing BAU ensures consistency across all the markets\u2019 platforms; we act as a central hub, with the ability to rollout changes and amends efficiently and accurately. This means that effort isn\u2019t duplicated, and clients save on the cost of multiple markets managing separate updates.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tSkills-gap<\/strong>

    If a team is particularly small, or currently does not have the necessary skills to complete BAU tasks, our team can plug the skills-gap. This provides our clients with the reassurance that the work will be completed efficiently and skilfully, without the cost and time expenditure of employing additional team members.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tProject focus<\/strong>

    Having a dedicated BAU team gives our clients the freedom to continue with large, new projects, whilst still retaining focus on operating its current websites. Our BAU team will make small, incremental changes to optimise what\u2019s there, as well as satisfying ad-hoc requests from business teams.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tThe BAU team use their expertise to optimise sites on a daily basis, constantly adding value and implementing improvements that do not require lengthy business case sign-off.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
    \n\t\tConstant momentum<\/strong>

    Fundamentally, a BAU team allows your websites to maintain momentum after they are launched, rather than waiting for the next big project \u2013 by which time things may have started to go stale.\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t