How to Keep Your Client Happy and Make More Money
I hear a lot of frustration lately from web development and web design firms. Their project managers do not know what all team members are working on. Even worse, their clients do not understand their progress.
A new breed of project management tools have made it easier for all team members to track and update the status of the tasks they are working on, thus improving transparency and visibility, resulting in greater productivity.
But clients are still in the dark.
With the Assembla cloud-based project management software, agencies provide clients on-demand access into their workflow and begin a trusting relationship with their clients. Even if the client never actually bothers to drill down into the agency workflow, just the fact that they have access is suffice for clients to have higher trust with their provider.
Productivity increases when team members feel that they are a part of a mission bigger than themselves. In fact, making an effort to boost company morale is still one of the aspects of workplace motivation that money cannot buy. Collaboration on Assembla continues to help employees and clients working on a project together feel significant.
The sense of togetherness occurs most when employees and clients regularly communicate with one another. When a clients and teams connect on Assembla Portfolio, they get the tools that connect workers and clients, regardless of where they are on planet earth.
Everybody immediately knows what someone on the other side of the world is doing, says Arisnova R+D+I Leader Pau Garcia i Quiles.
Garcia also states his enthusiasm concerning Assembla’s stream feature, which allows all team members keep track of project activity and shows the times and dates people were last online. However, that is not the only benefit that attracts users.
Sinclair Schuller, CEO of Apprenda, Inc., says, Assembla replaces traditionally bulky tools with lean, powerful, and easy to use solutions.
Other users say that the absence of screen clutter makes this work collaboration platform easy to use. The Messages, Files, Tickets, Wiki, and other widgets are everything a firm needs to manage its design or development projects end-to-end.
Powerful Collaboration Features
While Assembla Portfolio includes features like code repositories, large file versioning, project information wikis, internal messaging systems, and support ticket forums, these functions are not just for the internal team members. Clients also can keep in touch with project managers and employees during all task phases. This gives them the peace of mind that the work is being done. Additionally, it tracks process and allows for changes in delegation before important deadlines pass.
Time tracking is another function provided by Assembla. Clients can keep record of team members hours worked against each task and easily filter these time entries to create the timesheets for each client or each milestone. These timesheets can also be exported to .CSV format for use with other programs including Freshbooks or Harvest.
Tools like Assembla Portfolio may help companies who hire full time employees, but they have super powers for the 34 million Americans who currently work from home at least occasionally. Telecommuting positions are expected to increase by 43 percent in 2016 and Assembla POrtfolio provides a framework for them to operate as if they are in the same room as their teammates and clients.
Online collaboration makes projects easier. Probably one of the biggest benefits is the ease of project reporting. Workers can submit completed tasks from a remote location without having to take an expensive business trip. It also makes oversight of projects easier for the managers in charge.
Virtual project completion is also said to increase customer satisfaction because of the ease of turning in completed projects without requiring travel. All finished work including artistic designs, code, research reports, and multimedia productions can be submitted in the platform. When a project is completed and accepted, its ownership can easily be transferred from agency to client.
Using online collaboration tools like Assembla is an upward trend that is gaining traction. Part of the reason is because virtual workers are 50 percent less likely to quit. Furthermore, people who work at home are said to be at least 13% more productive as reported by Stanford University and Ctrip. In addition, using cloud-based project management tools and remote teams can save businesses significant overhead expenses.
Why not find out what Assembla can do for you with a free trial today.
