Automating your Production Workflows
With hybrid work-anywhere practices becoming the norm, transitioning your data and processes to the cloud is no longer just a cost-saving, efficiency-improving proposition but a necessity to maintain healthy operations. It is also an opportunity for the adoption of new technologies, innovation and best practices to simplify your life. A key component of cloud strategy is workflow automation. Any type of production or post process involving TV/digital shows, broadcast news, live sports, advertising or rentals can greatly benefit from automation for the following reasons:
- 50% or more of the process in a high-volume production shop typically comprises of repetitive tasks.
- Production is a highly complex, time-sensitive, dynamic and interdependent process with multiple moving parts. Manual processes are time-consuming and carry a high risk of human error.
- Teams are typically handling a high volume of projects concurrently. One disruption can create a domino effect in the entire ecosystem and the time spent on course correction can be significant.
When evaluating automation tools, the following considerations will help you formulate your automation strategy and implement a solution that works for you:
- Streamlining and standardizing the workflows
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” By Bill Gates
If your existing workflows have evolved over the years, take a fresh look at operations that can be simplified and automated. For multiple teams with different types of projects, identify the common elements, data sets and nomenclature and make common processes consistent.
- Look for software that is designed for production and post-production teams in mind and which can automate interdependencies related to projects, resources, schedules, tasks, and costs. With general-purpose tools, you need to build your workflows and manually link dependent processes from scratch using multi-purpose but basic building blocks with limited functionality.
- Having the ability to create and use templates for projects, tasks, resources and views can save significant time.
- A good automation system must have powerful notification capabilities with customizable rules and triggers for updates, reminders and alerts in multiple formats (SMS, eMail, Chat, Desktop alert)
- A software that can easily connect to 3rd party systems used in production, e.g., NRCS (for News), CRM and ERP (for business), HR Systems, Invoicing systems.
- A role-based user dashboard providing a quick, real-time view of project status, pending tasks, action items, conflicts and other metrics relevant to the user.
- In the past, setting up workflow automation with such complex and dynamic functionality required advanced IT expertise and dedicated IT staff. Today, the expectation is that anyone should be able to do the job without advanced knowledge or training. Look for an application that has a simple user interface and well-designed menus and which is easy to set up and use.
- Finally, an incremental or phased approach to automation is better than all-at-once. It is less disruptive and you get easier buy-in from the stakeholders. A good tool with a modular design can help you develop a phased approach to automation.
At Teamium, we are exclusively focused on the automation of production and post-production processes. We understand that every customer has a unique production environment and needs. That is why we have a Business Assessment phase at the onset of our engagement to understand your end-to-end process. Next, we work with you to simplify and streamline your process using Teamium’s built-in automation tools. Finally, we work with you to configure the system and set up the modules and workflows relevant to you. To see a product demo, click here
