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It's up in the air!

Posted by Gavin George 06 September 2008

 

Cloud computing has become a ubiquitous term in our brave new world. Yet the definition of what computing on the cumulonimbus is tends to be wide and varied depending on who you happen to be conversing with at the time.

 

I recently had a conversation with Stuart Bale (General Manager – Product @ Xero) who drew his version of Cloud computing on a piece of A4. The model consisted of an array of interconnected applications providing a comprehensive integrated solution.

 

This really hit home for me. Cloud computing isn’t just about running your applications across the ether, taking advantage of the numerous benefits of a hosted solution; Cloud computing is about bringing together previously disconnected systems and putting them all on the same page. With specialist vendors plugging into each other through seamless interfaces, the end user now has the ability to access a completely integrated solution that covers all of their needs.

 

Imagine a world where your Job Management, Digital Asset Management, CRM, Payroll and Accounting solutions integrate together seamlessly. This interconnected world alluded to by Huxley, is no longer the realm of fiction it is available today, just look to the clouds. . ..

 

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Best Software for a SMALL agency

Posted by Gavin George 02 February 2008

 

A post was recently made on the Marketing Profs website lamenting the lack of software available for "Small" ad agencies. The company in question had some very basic requirements, the proviso being that the investment needed should be inline with what a small agency can realistically afford.

 

Luckily for us one of our first Australian customers was reviewing the blog and took the time to answer:

 

"The majority charge excessive licence fees, setup fees and - for some - hourly training fees, which just make it too expensive for the average small business.

The best - by far - that I found, from a functional and affordability perspective, was Workflow Max. (see www.workflowmax.com)

It is comparable to Creative Manager, without being overloaded with functions that the average agency wouldn't use. It even links in to your accounting program."

 

That sort of advertising money just can't buy and resulted in a number of new sales for us!

 

 

www.marketingprofs.com

 

 

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Benefits

Posted by Gavin George 11 September 2007

 

Some of the more obvious benefits of using WorkflowMax are self evident. As soon as any of our customers spend time using the solution they quickly realise the benefits of having a very simple and effective tool available to track their jobs and projects wherever they need it. Being web-based has significant advantages.

 

Often when demonstrating the product to different people within an organization, individuals want to know how Max will benefit them personally. With that in mind I've put together a few key benefits that the people in the roles highlighted below will enjoy when they adopt WorkflowMax as the tool to manage the work at the coalface.

 

Management

  • At a glance status and profit analysis of each job

  • Comprehensive reporting making business trends obvious, allowing for improved operational efficiency

  • Accurate financial information for forecasting and decision-making

  • A job-centric interface providing access to all specific project information from costs and employee timesheets to job related document attachments.

Account Management

  • CRM functionality in terms of client contact details, contact database, notes and reminders

  • Meeting or call reports viewable via both client and job

  • Access to a jobs current status

  • Access to a history of work completed for individual clients, including attachments and PDFs. In the event where similar jobs are requested, the historical details can be cloned easily into a new job and estimate

  • Quoting/Estimating process is flexible yet powerful, including a full revision history of each quote produced for each job

  • Current times against each job can be viewed at a glance to ensure that cost overruns are minimized where possible

  • Templated job types, with standardized tasks and time estimates for each job type allow for efficient and accurate job estimates/quotes.

Production

  • Access to a central job information repository, detailing the exact requirements of the job, including estimated times, additional job notes, call reports and deadlines

  • View the status of all current jobs instantaneously

  • Graphical timeline illustrating how each job is progressing with regards its expected delivery dates

  • Track time against each specific job task

  • Upload and view attachments to the job for greater job clarity

  • At a glance reporting on employee and job timesheets

Financial

  • The quoting process is flexible and robust, inheriting the tasks created for each job and any fixed costs

  • Markups can be adjusted for each individual task

  • All timesheets are collated together and there is an interfaces to various payroll systems - reducing timesheet calculation overhead

  • Invoices can be generated from the quote directly or from time and materials

  • Invoices can be partly issued - Max will take care of the hours that are still to be billed

  • Interfaces through to all leading accounting systems ensures no double entry and accurate 'at source' data capture