Lana Antonova from WebVixxen Design describes how project management software from Teamwork.com allows her to effortlessly manage creative people and projects.
“From the first time I used Teamwork Projects, I knew right away that the platform was perfect for my team.”
WebVixxen Design is a fully-integrated boutique design agency/brand collective located in Venice, California, and specializing in high-end design and branding. Founded in 2003, WebVixxen Design incorporates website design, photography, eCommerce and more into their services. In this case study, we spoke to Lana Antonova, founder and creative director of Webvixxen Design to find out how Teamwork Projects allows her to collaboratively manage her team, clients and projects.
The Challenges
“I needed a way to keep all client and team communication organized and under one roof. It’s extremely time-consuming to sort through hundreds of emails and or several apps to find what you’re looking for — and time is money.”
When WebVixxen was a small startup, simple tools could keep pace with the team’s needs, but as the company grew, so did the number of conversations, tasks and materials that needed to be coordinated. Project information and documents were scattered across email, desktop and cloud accounts, and Lana was becoming overwhelmed by the process of managing projects for her agency’s growing client base. After taking several different project management systems for a test drive, the WebVixxen team were left disappointed. In each case, software was adding extra steps or confusion to their workflows instead of saving time.
“Other platforms we tested were quite confusing and overly complicated. The user interface wasn’t intuitive, and there was always too much going on. Our clients were frustrated, and it didn’t aid to our internal infrastructure. Instead, it was almost more work trying to figure out all the pieces.”
Since her growing team were working on projects for a rapidly expanding client base, Lana also wanted the security of knowing that every team member had all the information they needed at any time.
“If anyone had to access a file or a specific thread, I wanted it to be right under their fingertips in a very user-friendly way.”
The Solution
During her search for the ideal project management software, Lana discovered Teamwork Projects in 2011, and she immediately saw positive responses from her team and clients. Her team members picked up the software quickly, and daily progress on each project accelerated because comments and files were in a central location, not spread across email, texts and various messaging apps. Just as WebVixxen was gaining momentum using Teamwork Projects, Lana had to deal with an emergency in her personal life. A family member had a major health issue, requiring her to run WebVixxen from a hospital bedside in another country.
“Teamwork saved my business that year, as it gave my team the ability to project manage clients without me being right there with them. I couldn’t imagine running WebVixxen from that distance using email, as at that point we had over 25 active projects.”
A couple of months after Lana arrived back in the US, WebVixxen faced another emergency that proved the value of Teamwork Projects. A client’s website was hacked, forcing WebVixxen to revert to a previous version of the site because their database was erased and backups hadn’t been made. As Lana and her team tried to rebuild the website, they realized that this client had opted out of using Teamwork because the client assumed that learning a new platform would be too time-consuming. All of the files that would have been available in one place with Teamwork Projects had to be reclaimed from several platforms.
“It became a very messy situation for both our clients and our team, trying to piece this all together and hunting down all the necessary emails, files, directions, and other platforms where we had discussed this project. If they were using Teamwork, it would have taken us a fraction of the time, as all the material would have been in one place. So to avoid this scenario, every client that signs up with us is required to use Teamwork Projects.“
The Benefits
Now that Lana insists on every bit of information — from original requests to final design approvals — is added to Teamwork Projects, which allows her team to have a perfect record of each change or suggestion throughout the project. Teamwork Projects has also won over many of the agency’s clients.
“All of our clients love Teamwork Projects. Quite a few of them have even purchased it for their internal use. It increases productivity, organization and streamlines communication in a way that email simply cannot!”
Teamwork has also helped WebVixxen create more efficient, coordinated workflows. Lana’s team is reporting significant savings in time and money thanks to the fact that collaboration has become effortless and lightning-fast.
“Teamwork Projects makes it possible for our team to collaborate despite often working across locations. We’re experiencing less delays and our projects progress seamlessly.”
Removing these problems has made every aspect of team performance better: morale, flexibility, creativity and managing growth. The WebVixxen team is now able to focus on their work and provide an excellent experience for clients no matter where they’re located.
“I can’t state strongly enough that Teamwork Projects has transformed how our team operates. It has simplified our process tremendously and made team and client communication quicker and easier than ever before.“