Introduction
As technology advances, email is no longer the best or fastest way to communicate while working on collaborative projects — especially while working on multiple projects at once. This is especially true given the current state of the working world, with most people working-from-home. This is a huge adjustment already, but also makes working collaboratively a bit more difficult without in-person social interaction. Most companies have migrated to platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meets to virtually communicate, but how are companies adapting to working collaboratively while at home?
From Unaware to Spotting a Problem
In the summer of 2019, I interned at Independence Blue Cross (IBX) in the Corporate Communications department. My role involved a lot of partnership with my team members and the marketing and social departments to update website content, create social media copy, and more. These processes included sending tons of lengthy emails back and forth to get feedback and approval on various projects — at times, this was a timely process in a very fast-paced line of work. Nonetheless, it was the only process the organization knew, so it wasn’t acknowledged as a problem at all. IBX was content in the Unaware stage of the Five Levels of Consumer Awareness.
In January of 2021, I was ecstatic to be hired full-time in the same department I interned in (Corporate Communications) as a Digital Communications Specialist. At about two weeks into my new role, I participated in a mandatory training for a software that I knew nothing about except that it had been referenced in various meetings as an essential resource; That software was Workfront.
Workfront was described to me as the project tool we never knew we needed. The quick pace of project completion and turnaround time (no thanks to emails) alerted the organization to a problem regarding project management and timing. Upon being trained in Workfront, it was explained to me that one of IBX’s vendors (a small marketing agency) used the software while assisting the team with our B.PHL Innovation Festival. It is important to mention that corporate companies tend to rely on meetings to touch base, catch up, designate tasks, and complete projects. It is equally important to acknowledge that this was IBX’s first virtual B.PHL festival, so remote planning was completely new to the team. Nonetheless, Workfront helped get the job done.
According to the article, “Workfront Recognized on Deloittes’s Technology Fast 500,” Workfront landed a spot on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for several years. Workfront reports that as of 2019, its customers included 50 of the Fortune 100 companies, and 9 of Inc. Magazine’s Top Most valuable brands (“Workfront Completes $280 Million Strategic Secondary Investment”).
“…we are addressing huge problems for businesses — the challenge organizations have to ensure that their teams are focused on the right work, are able to produce their best work, and delivering that work faster than ever before.”
Although Workfront initially launched in 2001, it is fortunately designed to support remote teams. This is especially important and timely considering many people are working from home due to the pandemic. The Workfront software created an awareness around needing a similar resource that IBX could use to efficiently organize and manage projects indefinitely.
From Solution Aware to Product Aware
This initial exposure to Workfront guided IBX through the Solution Aware stage and sparked a search for a project management software that could assist the lengthy email process. IBX knew they were searching for a streamlined platform that allowed for faster, more efficient collaboration across the company, especially while working from home. The company just wasn’t sure which platform could fulfill those needs.
Although the marketing agency used Workfront to help IBX with one of the many projects conducted over the year, my colleagues weren’t convinced that it was a universal solution — just because it worked for the B.PHL Festival didn’t mean it would suit most of the company’s other project needs.
So how did IBX settle on signing a contract with Workfront? — training. IBX went through several trainings with various software companies like Workfront to find which would best fit its needs. The results of these trainings landed IBX in the Product Aware stage when Workfront proved to be the best contender.
Becoming Most Aware
Originally called AtTask, Workfront was founded in 2001 by Scott Johnson and was later renamed “Workfront” in 2015. It is a software company based in Utah that promotes web-based work, project and document management, issue tracking and more (“The Pros and Cons of Using Workfront Software”). It allows for collaborative work throughout an organization, without the stress of relying on email to reach a consensus. The article, “The Pros and Cons of Using Workfront Software,” highlights five important Workfront software uses:
1. To streamline processes
2. To get real-time accurate information
3. To deliver quality work
4. To innovate faster
5. To build customer trust
Here’s an example of how Workfront achieves these five uses at my organization:
i.e. With the new year, Independence Blue Cross has undergone some reorganization. There have been various promotions — one of the largest being Greg Deavens’s promotion to CEO. With these promotions, the executive titles on all our websites needed to be updated. As a Digital Communications Specialist, I directly handle a lot of our websites’ content needs, but the editing is not necessarily a job assigned to me.
Instead of starting an email thread to gauge who is best to handle the job, I logged into Workfront and submitted a job request. In this request, I detailed the need for the executive titles on our websites to be updated, along with a few new headshots. The request streamlined the process by automatically generating into a queue that routed it to the most appropriate person, which was someone on the Web team. That person was instantly notified via email of the request, what the request entailed, and the target date for completion.
The leader of this project worked on making these changes, with Workfront automatically creating a detailed history of every edit made within the project. This provided real-time, accurate information for me as I reviewed the progress throughout its duration. Once the request was complete, I was notified by Workfront via email and asked to view the project, in which I could approve it as is, indicate that changes needed to be made, or deny the Workfront job. In this instance, I approved all the changes, and the project was marked complete. Anyone with access to the company’s Workfront account could go in and see that the project was completed. If I had any changes, I could have indicated them by making comments directly within the document. With use of a quick @ sign followed by the person’s name, they would have been notified of my feedback immediately and could have responded directly to me within the document through Workfront. Not only do these aspects support Workfront’s ability to be innovative, but they also help foster quality work that is beneficial to IBX as a consumer because it builds trust for the organization.
I officially joined the Independence when the company entered the Most Aware stage of using Workfront. As mentioned, the company hosts software training for all new and existing employees and as a result, has created Workfront experts that know the ins and outs of using the application. Although I would not call myself an expert, I am now one of the people who can further contribute to successfully completing tasks as a result of the organization reaching the Most Aware stage.
Parting Gift
Workfront’s various collaborative features enables efficient teamwork across departments without the time constraint of going through email. Upon setting up Workfront, one of the first needs is to assign tasks among team members. Once a request is entered, Workfront recognizes who that specific task should go to. It creates a place where multiple projects can live and be fulfilled at once and it keeps all the work organized within the application. Omitting the hassle of deciding which nuanced parts of a project each person is responsible for while simultaneously working on the project saves time alone. I personally saw an immediate difference in the efficiency of work as a full-time employee compared to when I ended my internship seven months prior. Of course, in my new position I am tasked with way more work — however, my team and myself can get much more accomplished in a faster amount of time.
As a staple in the Philadelphia community, it is imperative that a large corporation like IBX can successfully deliver services to its consumers. Collaboration and innovation are important now more than ever with most interaction and communication shifting online. Was IBX successful prior to using Workfront? Yes. However, does Workfront make project management easier in an online work world? The answer is also yes. And will Workfront still benefit IBX as an agile marketing tool post-pandemic? Absolutely.
“Workfront is rapidly establishing a category in enterprise work management, uniting collaboration, projects, resources, and content management in a single system of record. Workfront’s groundbreaking platform, robust partnerships, and proven track record helping the world’s largest companies transform the way work gets done create significant, long-term growth opportunities.”
From a small marketing agency to a large corporate company and everything in between, Workfront is essential in ensuring tasks are completed quickly and efficiently. If you made it to this point of the article, you’re already at the Product Aware level of the Five Levels of Consumer Awareness. Why not transition to Most Aware and get familiar with the software necessary to deliver your best work?
