We evaluated a number of software products, but found that Flowfinity was the most customizable. Overall I would say Flowfinity has allowed us to reduce our administrative workload and increase productivity by 25%.
Growing Talent Development Studio Boosts Productivity 25% with Flowfinity
Region: Americas
Company Size: SMB
Sector: Entertainment
Function: CRM, Timesheets, Approvals, Payment and Expense Tracking
The Challenge
As a busy talent development studio and music school, Studio Cloud 30 Entertainment has a lot of information to keep track of. Client requests, scheduling, payments, and concert planning are just a few tasks that the studio manages on a daily basis. The company was using paper forms, spreadsheets and emails to manage daily operations, but as the business grew, they found that this approach was not scalable.
"A lot of the manual processes that were being used quickly became unmanageable," said Sarah Rosen, Director of Operations and Client Services, Studio Cloud 30. We had day-to-day information stored in spreadsheets, which made it difficult for staff to share or keep track of information."
"Looking for information like client attendance or payment records was inefficient," said Marlene Flandez, Office Administrator. "Getting the instructors to submit their invoices on time was also a challenge, given the amount of time and effort required to recount their activities and hours.
"Each instructor also had their own way of tracking cancellations and make-up lessons, and when those made-up lessons were fulfilled," said Rosen. "How the information was tracked between instructors was inconsistent, and often not shared in a timely manner."
Studio Cloud 30 looked for a software solution that would better position the company for growth while increasing productivity in the office. "We wanted a solution that would help us keep better track of day-to-day operations and improve the efficiency of administrative tasks," said Rosen. "Flowfinity was the only solution we found that we could customize easily and frequently on our own to reflect our evolving business processes. This has become invaluable to us, as it allows us to innovate and provide better service to our clients."
Studio Cloud 30 selected Flowfinity's no-code software for its flexibility, and ability to provide seamless access to company information on smartphones, tablets, or desktop computers. All business applications including mobile apps and dashboards were built quickly in-house without any programming.
"We evaluated a number of software products, but found that Flowfinity was the most customizable."
The Solution
Studio Cloud 30 has used Flowfinity to successfully manage their client database and keep an accurate, searchable record of daily activities and payments. Flowfinity provided a fully customizable software solution for streamlining workflows, approvals, and access to business information.
After partnering with Flowfinity 7 years ago, the organization has experienced rapid growth, opening its 3rd studio last year and expanding operational workload by 30%. The ability to build business applications fast has also helped Studio Cloud 30 accommodate and expand online lesson offerings, which has become increasingly more popular among clients.
"We evaluated a number of software products, but found that Flowfinity was the most customizable," said Rosen. "Overall I would say Flowfinity has allowed us to reduce our administrative workload and increase productivity by 25%."
Client Database/CRM
Flowfinity has enabled Studio Cloud 30 to implement a client database that can be updated and accessed from smartphones, tablets, or a web portal. Contact information, enrolment information, and client history are now all organized and up-to-date.
"Flowfinity allows us to keep searchable, sortable records of client information in the cloud," said Flandez. "We were able to customize our CRM system to store the information that's important to us such as enrolment dates and rates. Having our information organized makes it easier to train people as well."
The ability to quickly access client information allows Studio Cloud 30 to provide better customer service. "Now if a client asks when their package will expire or the date they first started we can find that information within seconds," said Flandez.
The use of mobile sign-up forms has also reduced paperwork and data entry.
"When a new client comes in, they can fill in their information directly on an iPad. We no longer have to spend time re-typing their signup sheet information into our database. It also helps us maintain more complete records because we use mandatory fields in the iPad form," said Rosen.
Payments
Using Flowfinity software, Studio Cloud 30 created a payment tracking system that reflects their unique requirements such as pricing models and accepted payment methods.
Payments can be entered from the web or a mobile device and exported for integration with accounting software.
"Having an easy-to-use system that tracks all payments received makes bookkeeping much more efficient," said Rosen. "It's so convenient to be able to record payments on our smartphones or tablets, which allows us to spend more time with clients face-to-face rather than behind our desks."
"Overall I would say Flowfinity has allowed us to reduce our administrative workload and increase productivity by 25%."
Timesheets
Studio Cloud 30 offers clients flexible pricing structures with a variety of service rates. Rate information is now stored in the client database and accessed from a Flowfinity timesheet app, which instructors use to keep track of billable hours. This simplifies invoicing the studio at the end of each month by the instructors, as they access their timesheet records directly within Flowfinity or export them to a CSV file.
"Flowfinity is our source of truth as all data within the database is up-to-date and reliable," said Rosen.
"Flowfinity timesheets help the instructors stay on track with their invoicing, which is a great benefit to accounting," said Rosen. "Because they can quickly fill out the information after every lesson, this task gets completed with much less effort."
"Before, I would typically wait until the end of the month to create an invoice for the studio, and it would take quite a bit of time to add up my billable hours and rates. Now, for every client appointment, I can simply pull out my iPhone and within a few seconds enter that information in an electronic timesheet," said Karolyn Volbek, Creative Director, Studio Cloud 30. "Flowfinity's mobile access capabilities also allow us to improve customer service while we're away from the studio," said Rosen. "If a client requests an invoice, we can quickly open up the Flowfinity mobile app, and with one click of a button, the invoice is sent immediately."
Scheduling Approvals
Flowfinity has extensive workflow and approval functionality, which Studio Cloud 30 has leveraged to manage cancellations and make-up appointments. When a client cancels a lesson, the information is logged in Flowfinity, which triggers an automatic email notification to the instructor.
The instructor then approves or rejects a make-up appointment within the system. If the make-up appointment is approved, an email notification is automatically sent to the client, greatly simplifying the workflow. "Instead of handling cancellations and reschedule requests by email, we can keep track of it all in Flowfinity, and the software emails the instructor automatically," said Rosen. “Having access to this information has helped us stay more organized and provide more effective customer service."
Expense Tracking
Flowfinity is also used for mobile expense tracking, which allows information about expenses to be entered on the go. A photo or scan of the expense receipt can be uploaded directly into the mobile expense form for a complete record that simplifies accounting.
KPI Monitoring
Studio Cloud 30 also leverages dashboards for data visualization to better manage operations and drive instructor performance. The dashboards display timesheets and invoices data in real-time, showing a month over month comparison which can be easily filtered down further to each instructor. This helps management diligently monitor instructor hours and workload, proactively identifying and providing support when necessary.
Results
With Flowfinity software, Studio Cloud 30 has achieved the following results:
- 25% higher productivity in the office
- Better customer service
- Reduced data entry
- Easier and more accurate expense tracking
- Streamlined approvals
- Scalable company growth
