Carter Grotta is the founder and creative director of JUICE Creative Group. We are a boutique brand and digital agency based out of Connecticut. In our five years of operation, we have worked with clients of all sizes to build brands that convert, elevate their online presence, and, in some cases, develop enterprise-level software solutions.Maintaining efficiency in a multifaceted agency (especially with an uptick in remote work) is dependent on each team member communicating their needs and understanding their priorities in a clear, structured way. For projects to run smoothly, client-facing managers, writers, marketers, product development team, creative team, writers, and others must all be on the same page. We also need to meet our deadlines. Many of these depend on the contributions of multiple team members. It allowed us to manage projects and tasks, time tracking, billing, project intake, reporting, and so on. It could do everything. It had one fatal flaw. My team hated it. Each menu item, time tracking option, task list, and every other option were buried many clicks deep. It was difficult to update any information. It was difficult to update any information. Some team members complained about the software, while others didn’t use it at ALL. This completely negated the purpose of paying for it. The software’s capabilities were great, but I knew I had to find a better solution.
We decided that we needed a more user friendly solution and tried many different project management softwares. All of them fell short of our requirements in some way. While some programs were great at task management, others didn’t allow for enough collaboration within the team. Others were collaborative but frustratingly complicated, confusing, or didn’t allow for enough customization in the project structure.Eventually, we cobbled together a solution that combined two or three tools we liked but depended on a series of web-hooks and app integrations to get nearer to the result we were looking for. Even this solution was limited and could be misused. ActiveCollab was a surprise to us. We examined the claims on their website, as was tradition, but this time, to our astonishment, the software seemed to tick the box of each and every one of our requirements:High-level project and client organization – check
Time tracking made easy – check
Simple and easy to use page – BIG check
We were skeptical about ActiveCollab’s claims, so we entered our trial period with low expectations. Surprise, and delight, we were wrong. The ActiveCollab’s UX is simple, elegant, and non-distracting. We found tasks easily, tracked time with one click, received feedback and approval quickly, and kept track of client billing and invoices. A happy team and satisfied customers.
We would have been happy to move from our previous solution if the feature set was all we needed. But, the cherry on top was when we started testing and creating a workflow for our team. The support team was responsive, helpful, and receptive to our requests. ActiveCollab responds almost immediately via their online chat feature, which is a marked improvement over other software companies. They also provide helpful tips and insight on any questions that we have sent them. Our feature requests were immediately sent to their development team for review. ActiveCollab has been a great tool for project management. Our ability
