Document Services: Creative
The importance of in-house Creative Services (part one)
Steven Hall, November 2009
The purpose of this article is to highlight the benefits of in-house creative service functions and their unique ability to increase return on investment when structured, positioned and managed effectively.
To be effective, In-house creative functions must have the skills to develop solution that contribute of solving business problems in a cost effective and efficient way. In addition, they need to reduce waste and the cost of complexity throughout their processes and those within the supply chain.
This means bridging the gap between creative and business cultures, in pursuit of continual improvement. It also means making sure that all ‘value added’ services are something that the client is actually prepared to pay for.
This is likely to be an overwhelming concept for many organisations and creative services departments, resulting in confusion and even denial. So, let’s simplify things a little and look at the key steps to success:
Collectively, agree a vision and publish a meaningful mission statement
The focus should be on generating solutions that drive results for the organisation, whilst continually looking for ways to reduce cost and improve the creative and supply chain activities.
Implement tools and processes to manage projects efficiently and within an agreed budget
This includes resource allocation and project management tools that aid productivity and communication, whilst effectively managing the client and their expectations.
Initiate a client engagement and development plan
The aim here is to not only understand the client’s needs but to also to help the client understand how they can work more effectively with the creative function to the benefit of the organisation.
Provide a reporting process that engages with all the key stakeholders
This objective not only relates to the delivery of metrics but also the provision of an executive summary that helps all the stakeholders easily understand the opportunities, challenges and risks associated with the creative communication process.
Ultimately, the goal for the organisation should be to utilise the creative function as a control hub (see ‘Maximising ROI via Integrated Services’) for the supply and value chain activities, with resilient support from the purchasing department.
In part two of this article, we will look at effective outsourcing of in-house design functions and how to maintain value-for-money and continual improvement.
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