Efficient project management is the business-backbone of any design agency, marketing agency or in-house marketing team, producing one-off or recurring content for marketing projects. In 2024, this will be truer than ever before.
But classical project management processes also have their own problems: traditional ways of working can lead to communication silos, errors with version control and a long review process. This is where a sturdy online proofing software integration can come in: when done right, it can help teams get more work done together and work smarter.
While Aproove is capable of providing both project management and online proofing in one application, we recognise that companies may already have a project management solution already, but still need an online proofing solution. Aproove is capable of helping the company in this case too.
Here at Aproove, we will start by highlighting the evolution of project management, before deep-diving in to the specifics of online proofing software integration.
Until recently, projects were manually managed on spreadsheets and email. Although these methods worked well in many cases, they were also prone to human error, inefficiency, and delays.
With the release of a plethora of project management tools onto the market, work became more organised as teams gained insights into task assignment, progress and communication. As teams expanded and became more geographically distributed, coordinating team members’ efforts on projects was met with a whole host of new obstacles. From keeping track of feedback and approvals from stakeholders across different departments in different regions, to delayed responses and knowledge gaps, work became more convoluted, which led to productivity drain and jeopardised project timelines.
With these hurdles, above, and marketing teams with 10, 20, and even 50 people relying on quick approval of images, videos, documents or web pages before sending them to customers, online proofing software has answered the call. Digital proofing provides a centralised place to review and approve digital content.
But what differentiates online proofing software for marketing teams from regular project management tools? The answer is its capacity for visual collaboration and real-time feedback. When a project team can look at a clear representation of the content they’re reviewing, they can better pinpoint what exactly isn’t working, and communicate their feedback more succinctly. This significantly mitigates the potential for misunderstanding, while speeding up the review process and enabling teams to iterate quickly towards tight deadlines.
Online proofing software can be a valuable addition to your business, but it is only when you link it to your existing project management tools that you maximise its benefits. Connecting the two means that your team can use the software in both systems to build a unified project management ecosystem.
major benefit of plugging an online proofing tool into your project management system is increased visibility and transparency: everything related to a project – from tasks and deadlines and milestones to internal feedback and reviews – is consolidated in one place, creating a clear, shared view of the project status and potential problems or bottlenecks. This helps with accountability and enables teams to make faster decisions while adjusting to changing requirements in real time.
Moreover, integration automates the synchronisation of data between the two systems, which ensures that data doesn’t have to be rekeyed in manually, which is not only time-consuming but also error-prone. For instance, when a new task is created on the project management software, it can automatically kickstart an associated review workflow in the online proofing app, keeping all the stakeholders up to speed and the deadlines on track.
Aproove Work Management for marketing teams has all of the above! Set up the workflows you want (manage the work your way), then automate your stakeholders’ tasks, in the sequence of the workflow. An online proofing tool and task management tools complement marketing workflow management software, making sure your marketing content hits the right stage and all the compliance steps are taken.
Good partnerships and exchange of information are crucial for a good project management. A smart way to solve this is to combine an online checking tool and project management software, this way, employees can work together more dynamically and communication gets simple.
Integration makes collaboration easier by giving a single place for giving and getting feedback in the form of annotations and notes. Instead of having to coordinate disparate email threads and comments on files, feedback can be given in context, and designers, writers and other creatives can apply changes more easily.
Furthermore, this allows for real-time notifications and alerts, where a team will be able to know when something has occurred or changed on the project. This might be an assigned task or a modified deadline for that task, or having a task reviewed, you get the idea. Notifications can be sent out to individuals or to the team, so nothing gets lost and everyone is in the loop.
Time is of the essence in marketing. Marketing teams need to work quickly and efficiently. If their review and approval process is delayed then it can have a knock-on effect on project timelines, which can cause delays to deadlines and disappoint clients. By using online proofing software that integrates with your project management software, your team can speed up review and approval cycles, and deliver your projects faster without compromising on quality.
A crucial function of an online proofing tool is its ability to centralise the collection of feedback. Rather than juggling multiple email threads and other sources of feedback, clients and the team can all access one place where all feedback is registered and organised. This helps reduce the risk of feedback getting lost or overlooked, and it makes it faster for teams to arrive at decisions and move from review to revision.
Plus, integration means that automated approval workflows can be put in place, obviating the need to manually track things along and ping people for status updates. Stakeholders can define custom approval workflows and automate approval routing based on the roles and permissions of different participants. That makes the review process more accountable and less likely to be held up by approval bottlenecks.
The management of version control is always a challenge. With a track record filled with multiple iterations of digital assets, teams can ensure the sanity of a centralised system, eliminating confusion and errors.
Integrating an online proofing tool with project management software addresses that by bringing together all project assets into the same source of truth. Instead of storing assets in various locations, all files are hosted within the project management tool, allowing everyone to work from the same page with access to the latest assets.
Besides that, supported asset sharing and collaboration is also possible, which allows you to share assets with your client and let them review them without asking them to download big files or transfer files to their system. This can be a design mockup of the project, the video storyboard, a marketing collateral, or whatsoever, but your teammate will be able to access the asset that they want to work on, in the context of your project and thus improve productivity and collaboration.
Online proofing tool integration offers a clear win for project management workflows, improving visibility, speeding up review cycles, and getting work to market faster without sacrificing quality when combined successfully with online proofing software.
The key to success, then, is to plan ahead, and make sure that you’re providing the right level of integration, taking into account your organisation’s specific needs and working practices. If you’re implementing integration for the first time, or on existing integrations if your current setup is not yielding the expected benefits, then include your key stakeholders from an early stage, and make sure that the need for the solution is clearly mapped to your business strategy.
In the end, using the twin powers of online proofing software and project management software such as that from Aproove, marketers can work more efficiently and effectively.