VOTN VideosOnTheNet – Process & Productivity Improvement, New Technology Deployment

VOTN is a video production, media and creative agency that helps new and existing brands with video content promote and enhance marketing strategy. VOTN also provides streaming and social media promotion of high quality content to build brands of enduring loyalty from pre-production through production and post-production.

VOTN used various tools to collaborate and deliver on projects. However, there were gaps in resource & equipment planning, which occasionally impacted quality and difficulties managing project changes, which meant that delivery and billing weren’t always accurate or timely. Given the amount of time out of the office on shoots, the team needed better visibility and tracking of projects.

We needed to develop a project framework to manage the customer journey from project estimation & creation to delivery & archive, with robust processes and tracking of status, issues and billing, to enhance quality, reputation and profitability.

As a result of mapping the process from estimate to archive, a productivity tool was needed to improve project management, track time and customer deliverables, and link projects with billing.

Several tools were trialled before the team landed on Scoro, which is a software-as-a-service solution for professional and creative services. The all-in-one business management software combines project management with time and team management, sales, billing, and professional services automation. We revised workflows based on the above and Improved project planning, reducing mistakes and dropped balls, e.g. with equipment, scheduling etc. We improved time tracking and therefore estimated. With greater visibility for all when resources are redeployed, dependencies are spotted and managed.

There is now better reconciliation of estimated time v. actual time and better awareness of project changes triggering more accurate billing, delivering a 10% increase in revenue.

“We have now laid out step by step “The VOTN process”. It takes us from start to finish of a project. It will act as an onboarding tool for new employees or freelancers and a project reference map for every project we undertake. This will ensure that we serve our clients better every time, and we are confident that each step of the way, we know who’s in charge or taking on the next task or responsibility. We identified opportunities to up-sell, improve efficiency and cash flow, and we also became aware of the office-based skillsets that are needed currently in VOTN.

All in all, it has been a great project so far, and I am confident that VOTN will be entering a more profitable phase in the next 6-12 months thanks to Deirdre and the work we’ve done on the Lean Micro Programme.”

John Sherwin