Not having approval workflow software is costing your ad agency money

By Jodie Byass

Before we covered the topic of how your ad agency can measure ROI on implementing approval workflow software, lets take a look at why not implementing approval workflow software is costing your agency money.

Remember, this kind of solution is all about making your operations easier to manage and more efficient, so that you can focus on what you do best: being creative.

If you haven?t implemented approval workflow software, here?s how your agency is losing out:

1. Email approvals are not an efficient way to manage approval workflow.
If your creative teams are still receiving artwork approvals via email, then it?s likely a few of these scenarios are occurring: too much time is spent looking for approvals, approvals get lost in a busy inbox, artwork changes are missed, artwork versions get confused and stakeholders get overlooked in the approval workflow. You only need to estimate the time wasted on unproductive administration and work to know that this is costing your agency money.

Approval workflow software, on the other hand, collates all files, feedback, changes and approval in one central hub so that managing workflow is quicker and far less error-prone. Users can also filter approvals through approved pathways to ensure no stakeholders are overlooked in the process.

2. A lack of transparency over projects eats into valuable creative time.

It?s not unusual for management, clients or stakeholders to request an update of any work in progress. If your teams can?t provide this without first checking a number of spreadsheets and/or asking other team members how work is tracking, then important creative time is being wasted on follow ups. Approval workflow software enables users to see an overview of all projects on the go, which virtually takes seconds to do. Additionally, stakeholders in other departments or externally can log on and see how work is tracking themselves as the solution can be accessed from anywhere, at anytime.

3. High artwork revision counts mean your deadlines and budgets are at risk of blowing out.

Without approval workflow software, your teams are probably still deciphering changes on artwork from handwritten notes and mark ups. How many times has a colleague had to call up or email a stakeholder to confirm changes because they?re not clear? How many times has someone made an assumption about a change, only to find out later it was incorrect and then had to update the artwork further? Remember every artwork change is costing you money and delaying the project.

Approval workflow software has been proven to drastically decrease high artwork revision counts. The solution has integrated proofing tools that allow stakeholders to mark up artwork digitally and add text comments. It also enables your teams and stakeholders to compare versions side by side to make sure the correct changes have been made.

4. Campaigns that go to market without legal or compliance sign off may cost you repeat business.

There?s nothing worse than getting feedback that something went to market that shouldn?t have. But if you don?t have a streamlined approval process that checks off every approval touch point then mistakes are bound to happen. Approval workflow software enables you to set up unique approval pathways so that no stakeholder will fall through the cracks. Additionally, it will allow users to plan at exactly what stage, say, legal or compliance need to provide feedback so that it?s not too early nor too late in the process.

5. Tedious administration means that less time is dedicated to the projects themselves.

Ad agencies today are not only juggling multiple projects but particularly time sensitive ones to meet the demands of a fast-moving digital marketplace. The more time your teams spend on inconsistent briefs, manually updating spreadsheets to track projects, chasing changes and approvals, providing manual WIPs and checking emails for correspondence, the less time they have to produce quality, timely campaigns. Approval workflow software dispenses with tedious administration and enables users to seamlessly manage approval workflow with customised brief templates, a project overview, automatic approval reminders, reporting tools, dedicated approval pathways and much more. This equates to more time spent on great concepts and quality designs.

6. Without digital asset management (DAM) artwork can get misplaced or lost.

Perhaps a repeat client wants to rerun a campaign and has requested the final artwork files because they haven?t saved a copy. Generally speaking, will it be easy for someone to locate this or will there be a scramble to locate it? Is there a chance it might not even be found? Approval workflow software with an integrated DAM component means your ad agency will never find itself in this situation ever again. DAM automatically stores final assets in a digital library so that marketing assets are always secure and easy to locate.