Information drives the modern world, and media companies are at the center of it all. These companies are responsible for curating content, improving it, and laying it out in diverse forms. They engage in a rigorous search for data and strive to disseminate new information to the right target audience. Beyond just figuring out what story to tell and how to tell it, keeping the wheels of such a company running in a change-driven industry requires the cooperation of series of specialized teams capable of seeking out relevant data and delivering refined results in their designated roles. These teams are required to collaborate, give useful and timely reports, get feedback, and implement the feedback. Media companies are always on the search for better ways to optimize their teams, and a client approached us hoping to hone their teamwork and project management tools better.
Our client company is a specialized player in the information industry. They operate as a publishing and media company selling financial publications to a mix of an audience including B2B clients who require timely and relevant financial information. The company engages in targeted and B2B marketing depending on the target audience, playing a critical role in the business and economic climate by providing in-depth analysis and financial publications.
In a conversation with the company’s marketing department, we noted that the company’s marketing efforts could be attributed to four teams working round the clock to achieve corporate goals while continually reporting to the team lead for coordination and feedback. The marketing department emphasized a pressing need for an in-house tool that can aid them in managing these teams and projects better. The tool should allow the team members to share information conveniently without necessarily altering the existing workflow. The client also noted the proposed platform should have the features to support twenty to fifty team members who can submit reports on designated tasks independently, while they can also get timely feedback about the information they have provided on the same platform.
OneDesk provides a viable solution to the challenge facing the client company. It makes it easier to communicate, structure, and track projects and activities of teams through an assortment of tools available on the OneDesk platform. These tools are particularly suited to smoothen communication and project management between team members in an organization, such as the case of the client company.
Using the OneDesk platform, the teams head can create, manage, and track projects or reports as tickets. The customer portal allows the team lead to read, and respond to tickets sent by team members. Once a team member’s profile has been created on OneDesk, they can be included as followers on existing tickets, and related tasks can be assigned to them. Designated team members can also submit tickets which are accessible through the customer portal. Team members following a ticket or project get prompt notifications of discussions on the project such that the discussion is visible to the entire team.
Tickets are capable of holding a massive amount of data regarding the project or report in question. They are fully customizable and can be implemented through different stages of a project lifecycle similar to the conventional project lifecycle. OneDesk tickets can also hold file attachments, and they can be configured to suit any project requirement with customizable fields to capture relevant data.
The projects menu on the main application dashboard provides a full structure of all existing projects or tickets, the designated team members, and the tasks assigned. The portfolio can be used to represent the various team members with tickets for each member or related projects structured within the member’s portfolio/folder. Project folders and sub-folders can be dragged and dropped to get the desired structure.
The OneDesk dashboard solves the primary challenge of communication and project management as it enables team members to send task report or project status and get feedback they can’t miss – through the app and by mail.
OneDesk allows teams to receive or submit tickets in multiple ways conveniently. One way to achieve this is through the customer portal in which the ticket and customer information will be captured automatically on OneDesk. Alternatively, the admin can import tickets in CSV format provided the tickets were collected in a spreadsheet file. Tickets can also be retrieved from existing systems in use within the company by seamlessly integration OneDesk. OneDesk can also receive tickets by email when users by submit tickets to a company-specific email address.
Team-leads can easily view ticket details on OneDesk in the main app. They can also automate responses for tickets. The platform makes it easy to customize automated messages in response to specific tickets. This is particularly useful in getting certain information across to team members on submission of tickets or completion of specific tasks.
OneDesk also provides Android and IOS versions of the system. These apps enable team members to create tickets on tasks, discuss tickets on the tasks that they are following, log time, get notifications about new assignments and new discussions. Whether in the company’s central office or the corner of their room, team members can update and respond to project updates hassle-free, an approach that simplifies communication and collaboration between teams.
Users can also be divided into various access levels with different permissions and privileges. This ensures only team members with the right privileges get access to data and information about ongoing projects. The portal is different for each user and users can be restricted to only their own tickets or all tickets as seen fit. Therefore, our client can easily customize their workflow or integrate OneDesk with their existing workflow, improving operations through better efficiency in communication without having to make major operational changes. OneDesk’s friendly user interface, well defined access levels, and a host of other features will help the client company to achieve a seamless adoption of the platform, better task designation suitable for the size of the team and nature of work, and hassle-free project management.