- News
- Paprika Blog
- ‘Better evidence of the impact of design will drive up demand.’
- A finger in the air still widespread when it comes to budget setting
- Bridging the gap between business skills and online reputation management
- What a design agency doesn’t know about communicating the brand idea could be written on the head of a pin.
- Lots has changed since 2002- perhaps a drop in fee income reflects a changed landscape for communications
- Sponsorship on the up but can lead to tricky outcomes
- Is there such a thing as a design job that’s too small?
- Turn the tables on the Procurement people
- Take more care with Linkedin or you could face unwanted consequences
- Rose coloured specs are OK
- Keep one jump ahead of your clients in 2012
- Tardy Timesheets earns Secret Santa payback!
- How often do you squawk- clients want to hear you!
- Do we over-gloom the doom?
- Life's too short- particularly Account Managers
- How can I trust you with my money?
- Contrasting views regarding creative services procurement
- Sir Terry says this is the best of times for marketers- do you agree?
- ERIC shows the way for Shine (plus a suitcase full of awards)
- The bit in the pitch process that gets overlooked…..the cost
- Ogilvy Australia drops AVE's
- Alternatives to AVE’s - Lisbon sets the pace after Barcelona
- Getting the balance right in your business
- Agency models don’t die, they just get reorganised
- Why does integration matter so much
- Does your PR firm sign up to The Barcelona Declaration of Research principals?
- The Power of the Procurement Manager
Why does integration matter so much
There is no question of compromise with Paprika.
The point of the research undertaken by Esther Carder was to compare the accountancy software preferences of Kingston Smith W1 Clients in the creative services sector. The survey compared the choices made by users who were experienced in Sage, QuickBooks, Paprika et al. The results speak for themselves.
In our view an integrated solution has significant advantages for agencies that understand the link between good account management and running a profitable business. An agency might argue it just needs smart tools that generate timesheets/estimates/GANNT charts etc.
Or it can look at the issue as part of the culture of the business and the way it conducts itself, i.e. the performance and delivery of design services to clients.
Tools are fine if you are happy to wait while someone imports the results into other systems. This is the common situation where the hard-pressed Finance people have the job of keeping their systems in sync. It goes with the territory of being a bean counter in an agency, ‘as long as everything balances’ at month end then you are laughing.
But when it’s the account handlers managing a demanding client you want to be able to report on client billings and profitability. If you are a studio manager you want to avoid over servicing, If you are a designer you want to know what is coming up in your schedule.
Waiting for someone else to run that report or post that journal at the end of the month means it’s too late to make any changes.
With Paprika, live data = live decisions. The control sits with the decision makers based on the facts.
Putting your time on a timesheet or producing an estimate for a client is never going to be the most exciting use of your working day, and quite frankly there will always be parts of an account handler’s job that are dull but necessary.
I can’t see the argument about timesheets being ‘sexy, fun and addictive’- why do highly competent, talented and creative employees need to be ‘entertained’ while they are working through their daily routine- it’s not Facebook after all.
But don’t take my word for it:- If you want to see the real reasons why Paprika works just read the comments from users at the end of Esther’s blog.
Please share your views at editorial@paprika-software.com