Workgroups DaVinci: Streamlining and Automating Project Management

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Workgroups DaVinci

Will Goad, VP - Solutions, Workgroups DaVinciWill Goad, VP - Solutions
It is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that a project stays on track regardless of its size or complexity. The simplest way to do this is to clearly define scope, budget and process at the beginning. That is easier said than done.

Workgroups DaVinci delivers a powerful project management tool that helps enterprises define both scope and process on the hundreds or thousands of projects they complete each year.

In conversation with CIOApplications, Will Goad, Vice President of Solutions at Workgroups DaVinci, discusses how the company is using its experience and expertise in delivering productivity and workflow management solutions, to help internal marketing and creative teams, along with others, deliver on the ever increasing number of projects they are being asked to complete.

Could you give a brief overview of your company?

We work with clients who run hundreds and thousands of projects each year. The projects vary in scope, from email blasts and social posts to organizational re-branding and product launches. I believe that we can serve our customers because creative project management has always been core to who we are. Approximately 25 years ago, we had our genesis in a print shop, with a job ticketing system that allowed print shops to keep work on-time, on-budget, and in-scope.

Over time we’ve added more features: a request portal, workflow automation and digital proofing. That is why companies use Workgroups to manage the marketing and related projects that drive their business forward.

What’s really exciting is that many of the world’s top brands use Workgroups to manage the creation of not just their print and digital marketing, but also sales collateral, product packaging, user manuals, training videos, presentations and so much more. We help automate what can be automated, so they can focus on creating accurate, compelling, valuable work.

How does Workgroups DaVinci’s enterprise tool help ensure project success? What are the things that derail any project?

Scope Creep, blown budgets, passed deadlines and endless revisions to deliverables.

Workgroups Davinci helps the client limit those threats.

Workgroups DaVinci is successful when our clients see their number of project revisions go down and their on-time completion go up

We do that by focusing on three key things: - Project Intake - Workgroups DaVinci provides a single point where our customers can field requests. This is simple but critical. The request process gets the right people together to define, understand and agree on what project success looks like.

- Workflow - Our Advanced Workflow and Scheduling allows customers to define their processes, add varying degrees of automation, and automatically create project schedules based on the type of project. This allows the project team to focus on the project, not the project management tool.

- Feedback and Approval - Whether it's an instruction manual, a piece of signage or an executive presentation, our customers’ projects usually have multiple stakeholders, from subject matter experts to copy editors, to distributors, executives and more. Our proofer consolidates feedback, tracks versions, and keeps a full audit trail of every decision. This is tightly integrated with our workflow automation, ensuring users can focus on doing work, not trafficking it.

We also offer asset management, along with time and cost tracking. But everything supports our core of Ticketing, Workflow and Proofing/Approval.

We are successful when clients see the number of project revisions go down and on-time completion go up. We also love hearing that they no longer wade through endless email trails and attachments.

Could you talk about the client base that Workgroups DaVinci caters to?

We serve a wide range of customers from SMB to Fortune 100. We’ve seen success Financial, Consumer Packaged Goods and Medical Device Manufacturers. One thing that surprised me is that we truly are vertical agnostic. Instead, our customers align on other attributes:

- They are internal Marketing, Creative, Technical, or other groups within larger organizations

- They have a high volume of work

- They want to automate/streamline parts of their projects.

- They have several stakeholders doing work, giving feedback, and approving what’s been done.

- They are data driven and need to understand where they’re winning, losing and what to do about it.

Could you talk about some of the key factors that differentiate Workgroups DaVinci from its competitors?

Workgroups DaVinci helps clients be more efficient and productive. Our tool works well with one-offs, but also with large, complex projects and initiatives.

Also, our proofer reduces headaches by bringing all feedback into one place. We’ve found that tightly integrating the production workflow with the feedback and approval process is an area where we provide tremendous value for our clients.

What does the future look like for Workgroups DaVinci?

Our primary goal is to serve our clients better. Double digit growth allows us to invest in new features. Workgroups DaVinci Insights is a recent example. It launched in August and delivers reporting dashboards that let users look at the big picture, and also dive deep on specific projects or tasks. This bridging of general and specific helps clients plan for the future, and deal effectively with the present.

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