Everything Flows to the Sea
In the competitive world of agencies, the way to stay ahead is to offer clients something better than the competition. Oliver and Graimes prides it self on just that. We look at their latest advancement and how it's already making a huge impact with their clients.
The Company
Born out of the need for a good quality agency that could deal with design and marketing, Oliver and Graimes was set up by David Graimes in 1979. It started life in Shoreham by Sea, where it is still currently located until the end of the year. 2007 will see David move the company to new facilities in Brighton and Hove , where they will have space to grow in line with their aspirations. Today, they are a full service agency, dealing with adverting, print, on-line and new media.
Problem
The company have been using paper job bags up to now, with all the associated problems. Gavin Graimes, their New Media Director discloses "They are difficult to work with, we are constantly taking them between Account Managers and Designers; we end up spending a huge amount of time walking backwards and forwards". He adds "They are sometimes difficult to track, who had it last? Has it been approved? All of this wastes valuable time. Storage is also an issue, with the increasing work volume; we have had to invest in off-site storage".
At the moment communications with clients is mainly email based. This is often accompanied by a telephone call, to talk a client through an item or to get a response from them. Gavin advises "This is not something our Account Managers like doing, it sometimes feels like we are pestering them, but it needs to be done to ensure projects are completed on time".
The company had been looking for a better workflow for some time. There weren't many options available, the ones available were either too rigid and not suited to the way they work or were too fluid and therefore didn't do much. Gavin recounts "It was frustrating, we had lots of hype from companies, but we couldn't see ourselves using their solutions.
"We started looking at a custom build, but this was expensive and we were worried about upgradeability. That was around the time we were approached by Silicon Systems, who asked us to become a development partner. At first we were reluctant, but we soon saw it's potential and signed up".
Flowmation
The main advantage the company saw was the client interface. Gavin explains "The way we saw it was the workflow could help with efficiency, but it was the benefits to the client that could win us more business. The idea of clients having all of their projects in one place at one time with the ability to access them when and where they want is really powerful. Combine remote approval at the same time and this adds to the excitement".
"Then there are the automated routine tasks, which can be set up to send email for example, which will help us push projects through faster. We don't like chasing our clients, but sometimes they need pushing. If the system sends out a reminder email they find it far more palatable. Our Account Managers especially appreciate this, plus it frees up more of their time to look for new business"
The Projects within Flowmation are effectively digital job bags, which can be accessed and stored by anyone who has been given permission. Gavin informs "This eliminates the need for paper job bags and storage of them. This alone will save a lot of time and money. Add to that all of the other efficiencies Flowmation offers and it makes an excellent case for itself."
The Future
All of the Oliver and Graimes team have bought into the system. Gavin reveals "It wasn't difficult we can all see the advantages, both internally and externally. This is important for us, we can't afford to half heartedly start using a system, either we are all behind it or it just won't work.
"We have started to demonstrate it with new presentations, and everyone who has seen it has been excited. Compared to what our competitors are offering it is a huge advantage, some of our clients have been blown away. A few see it as a way to streamline their own processes. For us it is an opportunity to revisit our own database, a key to unlock opportunities we have lost in the past"
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