Discover how DigiChefs was able to better renegotiate its rates with COR
Introduction
DigiChefs, a digital marketing agency based in Mumbai, India, focuses on return on investment and faced significant challenges in time management, team collaboration, and project profitability. The implementation of COR has been a fundamental change, enabling them not only to maintain but also to increase their performance during challenging times, such as the pandemic.
Challenges faced
The main challenges included inefficiencies in managing employee time, task organization, real-time collaboration among creative teams, and identifying the most profitable clients. The reliance on traditional methods like spreadsheets was fraught with errors and inefficiencies, affecting profitability and the overall operation of the agency.
Solution implemented with COR
COR provided a comprehensive solution that transformed how DigiChefs visualizes and manages projects. The tool not only optimized time and task management but also improved communication between teams, allowing for more effective and real-time collaboration. Increased visibility into the hours dedicated to each project enabled more effective renegotiations with clients.
Deep Mehta, co-founder and CEO of DigiChefs, highlights how COR was decisive not only for improving efficiency and profitability but also for maintaining business continuity during the pandemic.
Another key issue was the time spent talking with clients. By implementing COR software, they obtained information on how much time projects required over a month, giving the team a clear picture of the problem. In some way, they were making less money, but no one could see it clearly.
Moreover, Sarvesh Blanc, Partner and Creative Director, explains how COR allows him to have a complete view of his entire team, enabling him to know which team member can take on more work and who cannot.
Results Obtained
It stands out as one of the most efficient agencies, achieving performance well above the benchmark.
- Workload
The agency improved workload management, achieving healthy levels of team overload at 14%. Real-time knowledge of the availability and capacity of teams and their members helped the agency distribute work more efficiently and accurately, avoiding overburdening talent.
- Client Integration and Visibility through COR
The implementation of COR allowed DDB Colombia Group to offer its clients transparency in operational processes. COR has been essential in allowing clients to obtain a clear and precise view of their teams’ performance and functionality. The ability to monitor activities and performance in real time ensures complete alignment and fosters a trusting relationship.
Impact of COR Transparency
- Increased Profitability
Detailed visibility of time and resources allowed a 15% to 20% increase in profits on key projects. Additionally, the company realized they were selling a social media marketing service at half price, so they ended up saving time and could invest their money in better opportunities.
- Enhanced Efficiency
Gathering all communication channels in one place and real-time feedback is now feasible and very valuable for the team, making it easier for them to focus on relevant projects and leverage their talent. The precision in time management improved the delivery of tasks and projects. Another benefit of the time management feature is that the agency noticed they were wrong about time calculations, so this strategy earned them a 12% improvement in on-time compliance with deliverable dates.
- Access to Metrics
They now have a clear view of how long it takes to develop a project, so they can generate better time estimates. This translates into detailed reports on profits and warnings to clients about poorly made investments. Reviewing projects and seeing how team members invest their time in them is a reality that facilitates making better decisions based on those reports.
- Operational Cost Optimization
Through a better understanding of team capacity and efficient resource and time management, operational costs were reduced by 3-4%.
- Improvements in Fee Renegotiation
Knowing how many hours are invested in each project is crucial. Profitability becomes important when we talk about complex projects with high salaries and, on the other hand, projects with resources with lower salaries. This helped DigiChefs analyze the hourly cost of each employee based on their salary type and, thus, obtain the appropriate hourly cost for each project. This allowed for precise, information-based decisions to negotiate better rates.
- More Satisfied Clients
Improved transparency and communication resulted in clients being more informed about how much time is invested in each task, who is responsible, and when the deadline is. They benefited from receiving the plans and being able to follow the project to approve it. They know what was achieved monthly, weekly, and daily, and thus, they can know what to expect, which translates into a smile and happy clients.
- Identification of Rework
The amount of rework and the attention that the client demands are more or less the same, but before using COR, they were not measured nor was their impact on costs assessed.
“We were able to resolve these issues thanks to COR. Its system includes an individual space for each person to enter information and for team leaders to review what each member did. It also has a follow-up mechanism in case someone forgets to enter information, something that helped a lot…”
Deep Mehta – Co-founder and CEO of DigiChefs
Conclusion
The implementation of COR has enabled DigiChefs to overcome significant challenges, transforming their operations towards greater efficiency and profitability. The tool has been fundamental in redefining how the agency manages projects, times, and client relationships, ensuring a more robust and profitable future for the agency. COR helped automate and organize the team’s work by allowing them to see, in real time, how things are going in relation to schedules, deadlines, and time calculations of current projects and tasks. In terms of profitability, making better decisions based on information and clear figures leads to negotiating better rates, and having a broader view of the projects and knowing which are more important results in more profits.
This is a real story about how the implementation of new software improved the overall performance of the company and solved various daily routine problems.