Whilst project management systems and processes are hugely important to the vast majority of businesses, for agencies (who have multiple projects to manage at any given time), these become that much more vital to effective business operations. As a result, we at Catalyst thought we’d offer a brief little insight into the way we do things here, starting with this blog that outlines our use of Basecamp.
Basecamp
Within any agency, it is imperative that communication and project management in general are heavily centralised and occur with minimal fuss. With a global roster of clients, we at Catalyst require a system that allows us instant access to their projects and allows for seamless, continuous communication with clients. As a result, much of our communications are conducted through one single platform: Basecamp.
Basecamp essentially allows all the messages, files and tasks associated with a project to be managed from one central point, allowing you to control individual’s level of access in accordance with the sensitivity of the content.
Whilst Basecamp boasts many useful features, below we summarise the primary benefits it offers our agency:
Clear Accountability:
The task allocation system allows us to clearly identify the individuals that are responsible for each task, reducing the time and resources wasted through confusion. This allows us to focus on delivering results for our clients.
Effective Project Review:
Basecamp allows us to effectively review every aspect of a project, both during its execution and retrospectively. Through this level of access, we have embedded in our best practices an after-project audit process, sifting through the trail of information pertaining the project on Basecamp to search for ways to improve in the future.
Another Layer of Redundancy:
With systems specifically designed to stay operational in the event of multiple server failure, Basecamp’s commitment to exceptional security standards offers us the peace of mind of having yet another layer of redundancy in place in addition to our own internal servers. This helps us militate against the loss of important documents.
Seamless Handovers:
Other than generally being a fantastic platform for collaboration, Basecamp’s task allocation features, as well as the fact that content is stored inside projects, offer a particularly valued benefit: seamless handovers. With the ability to offer individuals varying levels of access to information, we are able to ensure that in the case of absence or annual leave, the relevant individuals are armed with all they need to progress projects.
This blog is the first of our series, highlighting some of the systems we use to stay ahead of the curve. We’ll also be discussing different software and online resources that you too can use to optimise your business’s efforts.