Explore the Future of Agency Efficiency: Get Exclusive Insights from Screendragon’s Q&A Session
Whether you are a marketing professional, a digital enthusiast, or an agency decision-maker, this Q&A offers a valuable peek behind the curtain of cutting-edge agency management.
In this insightful Q&A session, we had the opportunity to dive deep into the world of agency management with Fergus Ashe, Chief Commercial Officer at Screendragon, a leading SaaS platform tailored for the dynamic needs of marketing, agencies, and professional services teams.
Fergus shed light on how Screendragon addresses the core challenges faced by agencies today, from optimizing the brief intake process to automating workflows with digital proofing and approvals. What sets Screendragon apart is its seamless integration of scoping, resourcing, budget, and project management through an innovative workflow automation engine.
Fergus emphasized the platform’s unique selling points: workflow efficiency and exceptional configurability allowing agencies to tailor the tool to their specific needs, and a user experience that truly resonates with the agency culture. Moreover, Fergus provided a glimpse into Screendragon’s forward-thinking approach, hinting at upcoming features such as AI integration for resource management and workflow enhancements.
Dive in and discover how Screendragon is reshaping the landscape, ensuring agencies can focus on what they do best – delivering exceptional results to their clients!
Introduction to Screendragon
1. Can you give us an overview of what Screendragon is and how it serves agencies?
Screendragon is a project, resource and workflow management SaaS platform specialized in the needs of today’s marketing, agency, and professional services teams. Our clients include some of the biggest global brands and agencies including Kellogg’s, Mars Inc., Keurig Dr Pepper, TBWA, McCann Worldgroup, Landor & Fitch, and many other agency groups.
Screendragon enables companies like these to create more efficiency and agility in how they plan their resources, manage projects, and deliver content. We have been doing this for more than 20 years, so we would like to consider ourselves experts in our field!
2. What specific challenges does Screendragon address in the agency landscape?
To put it simply, we help agencies standardize and improve their core marketing and creative processes. This includes the brief in-take process, scoping work, demand planning, resource management, cost tracking, time sheeting, and content workflows.
I can expand further on each point here:
3. How does Screendragon stand out from other work management software available for agencies?
Our primary differentiators revolve around three key areas – workflows, configurability, and user experience.
Screendragon’s workflow automation engine seamlessly connects the scoping, resourcing, budget and project management components. Based on customer feedback, our workflow tool works better than anything they have experienced before. The main reason is that Screendragon is a totally integrated tool where any change in a cycle will update all connected items in real time.
Another USP for Screendragon is our level of configurability and customization. No other agency management software offers the degree of flexibility and personalization as Screendragon. Agencies love the ability to apply their brand, language, and process methodology within Screendragon so that the tool truly speaks to their culture and ways of working.
4. Can you provide insights into how Screendragon’s recent improvements align with the evolving demands of the digital marketing ecosystem?
Our recent work with a global brand organization to help them improve their digital shelf workflows would certainly fall under this category. The digital shelf concept is reasonably new, and many companies still need to modernise their processes in that area. It can be challenging from a workflow perspective as copy, visuals and video assets need to be developed in synch by different internal and external teams to be delivered to market at the right time.
For example, many agencies are still using Excel sheets and struggling to pull assets from DAMs and PIMs. Screendragon solves this challenge through workflow automation so that content and teams are pulled together at the right time to deliver the work. Every aspect of the flow is managed and centralized for better visibility and efficiency.
Key Features and Functionality
5. Could you highlight some of the key features that make Screendragon a valuable asset for agencies?
With almost 20 years in the industry, Screendragon is seen as a specialist tool for agencies. Among our most popular features for agency management are:
6. Agencies often have unique workflows. How does Screendragon adapt to the specific needs and processes of different agencies?
While many agencies work in a similar way, there are always nuances in workflows especially when it comes to serving key clients. At Screendragon we understood this from the beginning as our first client was Procter & Gamble. From the very outset, we had to build workflow configurability into our platform. Screendragon now has a no-code workflow designer which allows trained users to create their own custom workflows in a simple drag and drop manner.
Industry Trends & Future Developments
7. How does Screendragon stay up-to-date with industry shifts and incorporate relevant features or updates?
Steve Jobs once said, “You have got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around”.
At Screendragon, our customers are our greatest source of learning. We are fortunate to work with some of the most innovative brands and global agencies who push us to stay at the cutting edge of sector innovation.
In addition to inspiring customers, we have an ambitious and innovative Screendragon team. Our product development and client services teams work in unison to ensure our solution is always evolving. Within our client services, we have set up product innovation “pillar” teams that focus on the opportunities to innovate in each of our key product module areas.
8. Are there any upcoming features or developments in Screendragon that agencies should look forward to?
If you would like to learn more about upcoming features or product development, then the best approach is to set up a call with me at [email protected]. We have lots of exciting plans for 2024 and beyond including utilizing AI in resource management for talent optimisation.
We are also developing workflow integrations with generative AI tools to aid the overall work delivery process!
9. In the creative and strategic area of digital marketing, how does Screendragon envision the collaboration between AI and human experts to achieve exceptional campaign results?
I love this question! Discussions regarding AI can sometimes feel like a hammer looking for a nail. AI will be an effective enabler and will reduce heavy lifting for some resources. However, it will need coordination and management like other processes. I think this is why we are seeing the growth of “prompt engineers” and other new roles in the business.
Additionally, automated content needs to be connected to other activities including review and approval by experts. Fortunately, humans still have a key role to play here.
10. How does being a DAN member contribute to your platform’s success?
We have been proud to partner with DAN for several years as a featured vendor on the platform. As an agency management specialist, we are always looking for ways to share Screendragon’s story with the agency community. Owing to this, DAN has introduced us to many new contacts at global media companies and ambitious independent agencies.
If you are a member of the DAN community then we would love to continue this journey by showing you our award-winning agency management solution!
