Lately, we’ve noticed an uptick in interest in CurrentTrack® from in-house marketing departments. Traditionally, our goal has been to serve small- to medium-sized ad agencies and creative services firms. In response to this recent interest, we’re enhancing a couple areas of our system to address challenges that are unique to marketing departments, thereby offering more value for these types of customers. However, CurrentTrack, in its current form, works just as well for in-house teams as it does for agencies.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the in-house trend.
As technology and the marketing landscape continue to evolve into the digital spaces, many companies are choosing to staff-up their marketing departments to handle the production of internal collateral, build presentations, create content, and stay active on social media channels. Many of these companies still outsource to agency partners for larger branding campaigns and sophisticated production projects, but they’ve found it more cost-effective to bring smaller projects in-house.
These departments are often staffed by former agency employees who speak the language of the creative industry. The staff already has an understanding and appreciation for the agency life, environment and workflow. There are also functional areas where marketing departments and agencies overlap.
Marketing departments often initiate new projects via job request forms, similar to the creative briefs commonly used by ad agencies. They also have an interest in tracking time and expenses for projects; departmental chargebacks are becoming increasingly common for companies using in-house teams. Employee time reports can also help management justify the need for new hires. And, just like their agency counterparts, it’s always helpful to have a historical record of completed projects when it comes time to discuss or estimate a new one.
In-house teams and ad agencies often face similar challenges so it’s no surprise they turn to similar solutions when it comes to getting work done and monitoring productivity. Is your in-house team in need of an agency-class project management system? Give us a call!