The first generation of software had its instructions written in the late 1940s. Today, software has become something more powerful than ever imagined and is now used for various reasons across most industries around the world. Even though most organizations have implemented some sort of software for their recurrent tasks, there are still some who are not aware of the tools that are out there to simplify their work.
Challenges in sponsorship management
As simple as sponsorships may seem for some, managing a ton of requests and evaluating projects over time can be a real struggle for sponsorship managers. Sponsorship activities can be difficult to put in order due to some organizations having way too many requests to consider within a short time frame. It is time consuming to find a deal that fits the company’s mission exactly. This generally results in companies lacking an overview that would include all requests and sort them by grading them against chosen criteria. A confusing overview and unevaluated requests may cause difficulties choosing the right partners and projects to support. Collaborating effectively with colleagues, organizing their workflow and assessing the overall performance of each project is also key to succeed in sponsorship but it may become a real challenge for unorganized sponsorship managers. As a consequence, a company’s performance is usually affected by this chaos. Thankfully, the era of digitalization has changed how people overcome these challenges and software has ensured companies work with better rates of efficiency.
The TOP 5 cloud-based features that simplify sponsorships
Automatic filtering. Sponsorship professionals often receive requests that are not worth their time because they are not completed or don’t match their requirements. Automatic filtering, makes sure only the requests that successfully meet the chosen criteria filters are accepted whilst the rest get rejected. This is a great feature for those that receive a ton of requests with only have few that match what they actually require.
Automatic routing. This is mainly used by big organizations, however, often it is relevant for SMEs too; automatic routing allows projects to be assigned to different managers based on chosen criteria. By having this, a company can make sure that the right people are responsible for their tasks. Depending on how the company is organized internally, only the chosen managers will be able to access the full amount of information for their assigned project and its requests.
Budget tracking. With this feature budgets can be created with categories and departments in order to keep track on what the expenditure and revenue is. This allows managers to allocate the money spent on different projects and forecast the proposed expenditure and actual spendings. Budget tracking is perfect for those who plan and put together their projects and cash flows. A feature like this puts it all together in a single software meaning that managers have all the relevant data available in an easily accessible way.
Task management. Assign and send tasks to colleagues from different departments. This allows managers to see who is the responsible person for each task and ensures a precise follow up over multiple activities. The task management feature simplifies the work for companies significantly as it makes it easier to manage and save time on organizational activities.
Automatic scoring. This is a very unique feature software has to offer throughout the entire life cycle of a project. Similarly like filtering and routing it is fully automated according to the chosen criteria. At every stage of the project, this feature scores all the requests received and compares them against each other. The scoring feature saves hours of work of measuring the fit for each project and provides managers a clear overview of all their matching projects so that they can select the best match.
How has Decathlon managed sponsorships?
To manage their sport sponsorship activities, the Belgian branch of Decathlon, the sports equipment retailer operating in more than 34 countries uses Optimy, a software that includes all of the features mentioned above. Decathlon used to struggle when handling the flow and filtering of requests and routing their projects to the best fit seller and store. By using the Optimy software, they now have all data gathered in a single platform that automatically filters requests by Decathlon’s chosen criteria. Projects submitted are directly routed in categories and locations. The Optimy software handles most of the time consuming work for them. The software even sends systematic and personalized emails at every step of the project to managers. Decathlon’s projects are today directly assessed and users of the software can easily generate customized and up-to-date reports depending on the number of requests per store, category, country, etc. by using Optimy.
These are just some of the best performing features offered by customer-oriented software companies like Optimy. It is crucial for sponsors and partners to recognize how significant the use of cloud-based tools are when used to simplify their activities. In times where, sponsorships are experiencing a major growth in importance and overtaking the spendings associated with marketing and advertising, companies must try to enhance their digital strategies and use the benefits that software companies have to offer.
Christophe Deliens
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