The business impact of COVID-19 has been undeniable. In response to the global pandemic, agencies have had to navigate the slowing or complete halting of business while simultaneously trying to ensure the health and wellbeing of their newly dispersed workforce.
The adjustment period has been a challenge for many, however, businesses have now set their sights on moving forward — meaning that future-proofing your agency for life after COVID-19 is a must. But how do you prepare now for challenges that may arise in the future?
Our “How to Prepare Your Agency for Life After COVID-19” blog series and webinar covered some strategic steps that agencies can take to be organized, prepared, and ready for continued change:
- Doing more with less
- Increasing focus on your clients
- Staying agile
Doing more with less
Let’s face it. We’ve all had to learn to be more strategic when it comes to managing our resources at this time. Decreased budgets, staffing shortages, and fewer business opportunities have meant huge changes for agencies everywhere.
A whopping 73% of our webinar attendees said their agency had frozen hiring and/or reorganized employee responsibilities since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, 60% of respondents said their agency had furloughed or laid-off employees.
These numbers aren't surprising, but they do tell a story of businesses pivoting in response to resource constraints. So, what does it mean to “do more with less” and how can agencies cut back on resource waste and become more productive?
Optimizing your resource management, automating repeatable tasks, and enhancing employee time management skills will all result in increased efficiency and productivity. Improving these processes can help your agency do even more than before — even if they’re working with fewer resources.
Increasing focus on your clients
If you work at an agency, chances are you already know the importance of a customer-focused project strategy. Customers who are “left in the dark” are at a higher risk of churning. But, increasing client focus is a delicate balance.
You don’t want to find yourself caught in an endless feedback cycle where requests for asset changes are decontextualized and approvals are unclear. Unfortunately, many of us have been there. We asked our webinar audience how many review cycles they go through when it comes to a typical client asset. 58% said 3 to 5 cycles, while almost 12% said they typically go through 5 to 10 feedback cycles. Ouch.
With fewer resources, less time, and other productivity constraints, 5 to 10 review cycles may not be an efficient way to center the needs of a demanding client.
busKeep your customers in the loop by promoting transparency, visibility, and collaboration. With Wrike, dashboards provide a real-time overview of task and project status. That way, no one is left with an inbox full of “what’s the status…” emails.
Wrike’s proofing and approvals also foster client collaboration, ensuring that requests are clear, in context, and stored in a centralized virtual workspace where all project stakeholders have access.
Staying agile
The simple fact is, you don’t know what you don’t know. So, instead of planning your business around immovable processes and protocols, work on implementing flexible systems that allow your teams to mobilize quickly in times of change.
Emphasizing innovation over processes, promoting billable hours over documentation, and preparing your team for continued change will set you up for long-term business continuity.
While the pandemic will eventually end, business after COVID-19 will not look the same as it did before. As a philosopher once said, “change is the only constant in life.” It’s important to not only focus on surviving now, but also on how you will implement disaster recovery and secure business continuity after the pandemic.
We’re willing to bet business continuity is top of mind for your agency right now. Over three-quarters of our attendees said business continuity was near or at the top of their agency's current priority list.
By adopting an agile mindset, your agency can not only be ready for business after coronavirus but also well prepared for any future unexpected changes.
Choose Wrike and start future-proofing your agency
Business after COVID-19 won’t go back to the way it was before, which means your agencies need to pivot, adapt, and collaborate more effectively. Doing more with less, increasing client focus, and staying agile are all ways to future-proof your agency in times of uncertainty and beyond.
At Wrike, business continuity is at the forefront of what we hope to deliver to organizations of all sizes — from agencies to enterprises. With Wrike, you get flexible resource and time management tools, dashboards for increased client visibility, and a robust virtual workspace for dispersed teams.
You also get…
- 400+ app integrations
- Enterprise-grade security
- Advanced access and permission controls for collaboration
- Workload management
- Kanban boards and Gantt chart views
- Dynamic request forms
- Custom workflows
Your agency is experiencing changes that have meant thinking strategically and proactively about how to prepare for life after COVID-19. Check out Wrike’s Solution for Agencies today and get started on your journey to future-proofing your agency — and read more about the move to remote work in our Remote Work Guide.
