Wrike Blog
Please enter your email
Server error. We're really sorry. Wait a few minutes and try again.

Blog for Brilliant Teams

Get the latest Wrike news and resources delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.

Choose the category you are interested in:

How to use Wrike thanks to the ease of use of e-mail API
Project Management 3 min read

How to use Wrike thanks to the ease of use of e-mail API

If you are a developer you might wonder whether Wrike is extensible via some type of API. As of now we do not expose SOAP or REST services, but we do have extensibility through e-mail. The example of how you can use it might be useful not only for developers, but for managers as well. Let’s say your web-site allows a user to fill a form and provide some feedback. This feedback is then e-mailed by the website to the representatives of your company. You can easily let these people automatically get the feedback logged into Wrike as a task. Simply extend your code (with one or two lines) and add [email protected] to the CC recipients of such messages. The representatives who get the e-mail can re-assign it to somebody, track its progress and harness the full power of Wrike.

Greater Visibility with New and Improved Dashboards
News 3 min read

Greater Visibility with New and Improved Dashboards

You can now use Dashboards the way you want and work faster than ever before by increasing the number of widgets you want to use on the Dashboards without worrying about whether it impacts performance.

The Total Economic Impact™ of Wrike

The Total Economic Impact™ of Wrike

FORRESTER STUDY

Read the study
The Ultimate Guide to Sprint Retrospectives
Project Management 10 min read

The Ultimate Guide to Sprint Retrospectives

Plan your next sprint retrospective with these tips and best practices. Use this guide to enable your Scrum team to look back and optimize processes.

Try Wrike Free for 14 Days!

Try Wrike Free for 14 Days!

Improve your team's collaboration, enhance work visibility, and so much more.

Please enter your email
Server error. We're really sorry. Wait a few minutes and try again.
Good News from Twitter
News 3 min read

Good News from Twitter

KendraBuchanan @kotof It's nice to see the PMS we use, Wrike, is rated #1.  Thanks for the info.  Now, we need bug tracker.  Any sug would be great! TKS! Kolcoo Tools: Wrike (Project Management Software) converts your e-mails into shared plans on the Web https://bit.ly/REdL KendraBuchanan @JustQuinn we've been using Wrike for over a year now.  I like it; easy to use. Especially like the email function. JustQuinn looking into Wrike PM solution for Union Marketing... anyone have experience? coachnat @mmangen Wrike is paid but has a 30-day free trial. After that it's still really affordable. dotAgencyWeb The dotAgency web team's Things We've Loved This Year, part 1:  #Agile @Zendesk @Wrike @dotMailer coachnat @mmangen re: Wrike I like its simplicity and flexibility. Haven't tried it with groups but lots of rave reviews re: group use andrewcrawshaw Shuffling schedules in MS Project with an eye on migrating them over to Wrike...it really is the most wonderful time of the year diegonei Looking for goodquality Project Management software? #FollowFriday @wrike mike_zman Trying out Wrike for size. So far, so good. saasdir Wrike Offers Free Upgrade with Recurring Tasks Feature for All User Accounts - Earthtimes (press release) https://bit.ly/8sMVN6 crawfishmedia Wrike looks interesting, worth a 30 day investigation. https://www.wrike.com ITSinsider And the lists continue... good one (blogs) here by Wrike's @andrewsthoughts  https://is.gd/5rgpV #e20 #PM #Innovation MargaretMeloni Vote for your favorite project management blog or at least see this great list of blogs: https://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/ #in #fb freshyseth @treske71 There is paid one called Wrike which is best if you're a PC user. wrike Our Customers Rock in Collaboration 2.0 https://bit.ly/67GPr7 shull @wrike interesting take on 'long tail.' I left a comment on the blog. columdonnelly Miscellaneous. What’s the Buzz about Wrike? https://bit.ly/8GOIpC bionicturtle @rickwhittington don't know daylite. We use wrike.com: some excellent advantages (esp. intelligent email to manage projects) joipod I am such a project management nerd.  Just found wrike.com and think I might be falling in love.  KMWeiland Wrike: Project management app with an email interface (useful for adding documents and assigning tasks) - https://www.wrike.com/ millca @joeworkman Have you ever looked at @Wrike? It's more for project management, but has quite a few nice features. https://www.wrike.com Thank you for all your endorsements and good words about Wrike in 2009! We only hope to read more this year! Don't forget to follow @wrike.  

Accurately Manage Your Backlog by Email and Table View
Productivity 3 min read

Accurately Manage Your Backlog by Email and Table View

We finished 2010 with unveiling a couple of very helpful new project management features: the add-in for Outlook 2010 and the ability to export filtered task lists to Excel. In this post, we’ll introduce the first updates of 2011 that many of you were suggesting to Wrike’s support team. Whenever you get a valuable project idea that doesn’t have to be realized in a fixed timeframe, you can instantly add it to your project backlog in Wrike without even leaving your inbox. To create a backlogged task via email, add the tag [backlog] in the subject of the message that you send to [email protected]. It's important to have a reliable internet connection in case you need to access Wrike remotely, so be sure to have your instructions on how to check work email from home ready. If you want to create backlogged tasks often, Wrike project management software offers you another handy solution. You can simply adjust your account settings so that any email you send to Wrike without specifying a date turns into a backlogged task. To do so, click on the “Account” link in your project management workspace and go to the Personal profile tab. On that page, you can choose how you want Wrike to process emails with no date tags – either create one-day tasks for today, or add these tasks to the backlog. If you choose to create backlogged tasks by default, you can still add one-day tasks for today by adding the date to the email subject in the following format: MM/DD-MM/DD (or DD/MM-DD/MM if you have this date format set as the default in your account). Another significant addition to Wrike’s scheduling functionality is that backlogged tasks are now reflected in the table view, as well as the list view. The new column in the table view – duration – lets you get a more accurate picture of your plans. By the way, you can easily move the columns by dragging and dropping them to adjust the table view to your preferences. We hope these features will help you build agile plans and manage your tasks productively in 2011!  

Stop Projects from Derailing With Wrike's New Report Templates
News 3 min read

Stop Projects from Derailing With Wrike's New Report Templates

Wrike’s new Report Templates help project managers and team members instantly pinpoint problems so you can resolve them on the spot.

Nailed It! How We Used Wrike to Plan Our First User Conference
Project Management 10 min read

Nailed It! How We Used Wrike to Plan Our First User Conference

On October 1st, 2018, we pulled off our biggest collaborative project ever, our first annual user conference. Here's how we used Wrike to get the job done.

Get weekly updates in your inbox!

Get weekly updates in your inbox!

Secrets to Getting Projects Done in Less Time
Project Management 5 min read

Secrets to Getting Projects Done in Less Time

The secret of efficiency in project management is pretty simple: You don't need to do everything; you need to do everything that's important. But with tight deadlines, lots of people and multiple projects, planning  your time can be very tricky.   Matt has first-hand knowledge of what it means to manage multiple project groups with their own goals, priorities and working habits. He knows precisely how crucial it is to have a clear picture of all projects to allocate resources between them, especially when you plan hundreds of tasks for a really large team.  "At some point, we decided to bring all that to a system, rather than continue trying to work through the Outlook Calendar," comments Matt Bullock. In less than three months of using Wrike, Matt systematized all his team's tasks and projects in one place. After that, he implemented four project management rules that dramatically changed project planning for Base Camp Franchising and allowed the team to do more in less time with better quality. If you feel overloaded with tasks and stressed out by deadlines, Matt's experience can really help you out. These four rules revolutionized project management in Base Camp Franchising. If you face the same challenges of running multiple projects simultaneously, they might be helpful for your business, too. Here's what Matt advises: 1. Coordinate your team's efforts This may seem obvious, but in reality, too often people are overloaded with unstructured information when new tasks spontaneously appear from everywhere - via e-mails, phone, Skype, etc. Employees rarely see the whole picture of the project, so they're not aware of where the team's priorities stand, or their own definition of capacity in business. Consequently, they get out of sync in collaboration. We all have faced situations when, say, it took three days to complete a task, while there were only three people working on it for an hour each. When a worker isn't in the loop with what his peer does, he might have a wrong vision of priorities. People work on things that seem to be the most important for them, but the priorities may be different on the level of an entire project. To avoid misalignment in his team's efforts, Matt implemented Wrike project management software, which made collaboration in Base Camp Franchising absolutely transparent:  "There are two things I like about Wrike. First, it gives me a list of to-dos within each project any time I need it. Secondly, it automatically sends notifications, so that not only me, but all other project contributors are always aware of what they need to accomplish and when." 2. There can't be too many experts We got used to the idea that too many cooks spoil the broth. However, with the impact of technology, this proverb doesn't really match modern collaboration. If your team is able to share information and communicate efficiently, involving experts can help you discover mistakes on earlier stages and avoid losing time  on unpromising projects. "We have an outsourcing coder, and I'm able to pull in other subject matter experts on each particular project. We all work in the same environment in Wrike and thus manage to keep everyone in the loop. We involve more people and produce a better product because of that." (Matt Bullock)  3. Use technologies that save time Try to minimize the time you spend on collecting status updates and spreading the information between all collaborators. Instead, focus on the activities that add real value to the results you deliver to your customers. Matt highlights: "Instead of having long meetings in order to know how is the project going, in Wrike, it's like in Facebook, where you post a status on a task when something is happening, and you always know when something has changed or needs to be changed. That helps a lot!" 4. Be precise; it really helps!  Project management is not only about managing projects, but also about managing opportunities. You should be ready to estimate your resources immediately when a new idea comes up. This way, you don't risk jumping into something that you are unable to accomplish before the deadline. Matt believes that the Gantt chart is the most efficient tool for making this tip work: "We use the Gantt chart, where we can easily see how much time we have and decide whether we are able to add a new feature or not. I can set task dependencies and milestones, so it's easy to plan to see how changes might influence everything."   ___ Applying these methods to its project management practices, Base Camp Franchising improved its time planning and made collaboration more efficient. As a consequence, no change can knock the team off the course – it's now able to react way faster than before.   Matt admits that Wrike has greatly influenced these improvements and supports his business a lot on the way to achievements. We welcome you to join one of our FREE Webinar, where you'll learn how Wrike can make your business more successful, too! 

The Four Disciplines That Propel Companies Forward
Leadership 7 min read

The Four Disciplines That Propel Companies Forward

The Wrike Way is a tried and true methodology built from the insights we’ve discovered partnering with thousands of industry leading companies. Here’s a breakdown of the four disciplines of the Wrike Way along with best practices your team can start implementing today:

Take Control of Your Project Plan Calendar
Project Management 3 min read

Take Control of Your Project Plan Calendar

There are many different ways to set up a project planning calendar template, and it's important for every leader to find an approach that works for their team's needs. Here are a few key considerations to bear in mind as you establish the schedule for managing a project.

Wrike Customer Win: Mindvalley Award for Healthiest Employees
Collaboration 5 min read

Wrike Customer Win: Mindvalley Award for Healthiest Employees

As you shape your 2020 strategy to build a healthier work environment, make sure to consider the unique needs of your teams: What can you do to help engage employees to collaborate better and develop happier lives? In this article, we highlight Mindvalley’s successes and the importance of health beyond the desk.

7 Free Templates for Your Next Project
Project Management 5 min read

7 Free Templates for Your Next Project

When you’re starting work on a project, a blank canvas can be terrifying. With these free templates in Wrike, start your next project off on the right foot.

How to Optimize Your Onboarding Process With Wrike's Onboarding Template
Productivity 5 min read

How to Optimize Your Onboarding Process With Wrike's Onboarding Template

A solid onboarding process can help you save both time and money. Find out how to optimize your employee onboarding process with Wrike’s onboarding template.

Quote Comments and Task Descriptions with a Click!
News 3 min read

Quote Comments and Task Descriptions with a Click!

When we talk to people in person, it’s easy to clarify the details and explain your point instantly. Remote collaboration is a manageable challenge with real-time comments and updates in Wrike, but what if your team is separated by time zones? For example, while a worker from Europe is sleeping, his American colleagues might come up with long work discussions. How can you stay in context with your comments in such situations? If this is the case, you might often need to quote a particular fragment of a comment or the task description to make sure everyone understands what your response refers to. With today’s update, you can do this in just a click!When we talk to people in person, it’s easy to clarify the details and explain your point instantly. Remote collaboration is a manageable challenge with real-time comments and updates in Wrike, but what if your team is separated by time zones? For example, while a worker from Europe is sleeping, his American colleagues might come up with long work discussions. How can you stay in context with your comments in such situations? If this is the case, you might often need to quote a particular fragment of a comment or the task description to make sure everyone understands what your response refers to. With today’s update, you can do this in just a click! You simply select the necessary part of your teammate’s comment and click on the quote icon appearing to the left. The fragment is automatically pasted into a new comment along with the time stamp and the author’s name. If you already started typing a comment, the quote will be added to the end of it.  The same easy way of quoting works for task descriptions, so you can quickly ask questions about a particular task detail. We hope this cool update will make your work in Wrike even more comfortable and easy!

Wrike and GitHub: Collaborative Coding Gets Much Easier with Wrike’s API
News 5 min read

Wrike and GitHub: Collaborative Coding Gets Much Easier with Wrike’s API

Update 12/16/2014: We are happy to announce the release of our API v.3 with better functionality and feature support for developers. Unfortunately, this update means the integration with GitHub is no longer supported. You can still use Zapier to connect Wrike with GitHub. If you have any questions, please contact our Support team. Many software teams use services such as Github for collaborative coding. These services are a great help when it comes to sharing code repositories, collaborating on them together, and syncing developers’ efforts. However, project managers of teams using Github often don’t have special tools for keeping projects on track and reporting the progress. LiveNinja solved this problem with a single ninja throwing star: they combined Github’s social coding environment with Wrike’s strong project management features. With the help of Wrike’s API, they now automatically transfer every task they create in Github to Wrike, allowing them to organize their work in a more productive way. Let’s take a look at their smart solution! Two Tools, One Up-to-Date Picture LiveNinja builds and maintains a platform that allows users to find experts in any field - everything from cooking to law to graphic design. Despite daily stand-up meetings, maintaining transparency with a growing team soon became a real pain. Team members couldn’t quickly review up-to-date plans and couldn’t always keep track of current priorities in ever-growing Github task lists. Besides, there was no smooth way to sort overdue tasks or tasks completed during a certain time period. “At some point we realized that instead of a clear project picture, we just had a daunting list of never-ending issues,” says Emilio Cueto, Chief Technology Officer at LiveNinja. To get their work more organized, the team started using Wrike as it had all the features they needed. And in order to avoid the redundancy of logging tasks in both tools, they used the Wrike API to unite both tools. Now whenever someone creates a new task, adds a comment or completes the task at Github, the changes are automatically reflected in Wrike. How LiveNinja Benefits from the Integration Here’s how LiveNinja’s project management changed for the better after integrating Wrike and Github: 1. Easy prioritization of bugs and urgent issues Prior to integration, every new bug that was added to the already sizable list of bugs (each one needing to be fixed right away!) got labeled “Urgent,” “Priority,” or “Critical.” The list of all these urgent bugs had grown too big to handle in a standard list format within Github. After integration, LiveNinja now tags all issues according to their importance in Wrike (e.g. with standard labels P0, P1, and P2), and then prioritizes each list. This way, they have a clear understanding of which bug to tackle next. 2. Instant access to an up-to-date roadmap Wrike’s interactive timeline is irreplaceable for planning new features and important milestones. While the team’s manager creates dependencies between related tasks and quickly adjusts current plans, Wrike ensures the team is automatically notified about all  changes. 3. Comprehensive insight into the team’s progress Custom reports are a great time saver for Emilio Cueto. They enable him to sort any data he needs for evaluating the team’s progress in mere seconds using filters such as: completion date, particular team member, or tag (e.g. browser version, particular feature, etc.). Suddenly, LiveNinja could look at their task list and Gantt charts and quickly find answers to questions such as: “Will this next release be on-time?” or “When is it feasible to start planning that new feature we have been talking about?”   In a nutshell, the integration allowed developers and project managers to enjoy the best of both worlds: the code collaboration platform of Github and the project management tools of Wrike. Get the Code If the integration code sounds interesting to you, you can get the files here. LiveNinja is open to any improvements to the code suggested by other Wrike users. And if you decide to use it, don’t forget to send a thank-you tweet or a Facebook message mentioning #LiveNinjaDotCom. Thanks, LiveNinja, for sharing your code with the Wrike community and helping to make life better for other Github and Wrike users!

How an NFL Team Practices Efficiency & Collaboration Both on & off the Field
Collaboration 7 min read

How an NFL Team Practices Efficiency & Collaboration Both on & off the Field

In the NFL, execution is everything. We recently caught up with a major team to hear how they are optimizing collaboration both on and off the field.

New Year's Resolutions from Thought Leaders (Work Management Roundup)
Productivity 3 min read

New Year's Resolutions from Thought Leaders (Work Management Roundup)

Welcome back to the weekly Work Management Roundup, where we collect different links to articles that should help you do your work more efficiently and inspire you to new levels of excellence. Since this is our first for the new year, we'd like to take a look at the various new year's resolutions of thought leaders across the world. Read on! Sheryl Sandberg: Write the Joyful Moments (Time): Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says her new year's resolution is one that has already been helping her cope with losing her husband this past year — namely, to write down three joyful moments each day. Richard Branson: List Your Goals! (Virgin): Richard Branson shares a tip for anyone wanting to stick to their resolutions: write it down, and keep a list. He enumerates 10 steps to creating a list that you can stick to. Cal Newport: Cultivate a Deep Work Habit (Study Hacks): Cal Newport lives his resolution every day of his life. His resolution (and the topic for his latest book) is: commit time during your day for deep work. This is distraction-free time that allows you to work on cognitively demanding tasks. Not the shallow busywork of ticking off to-do items, but rather, the type of creative problem solving that builds real value. Gary Vaynerchuk: Improve How You Work (Gary Vaynerchuk): Gary Vee suggests you commit to these four new year's resolutions to  further your career (at the very least, they'll make you a much more pleasant coworker), namely: become a deep practitioner in something, audit your 7PM to 2AM, practice self-awareness, and eliminate complaining. Forget About Setting Goals, Focus on Systems (James Clear): Productivity author James Clear says you shouldn't commit to a goal; rather, commit to a system or a process that allows you to track results. Read why this works better than simply listing goals. David Allen: Practice Better Email (David Allen): And from the headquarters of GTD (Getting Things Done), comes this resolution which should be a staple for any organization: get better at email communications. Read the link for 5 tips on maximizing your emails, especially for globally dispersed teams. Friedrich Nietzsche: Say Yes! (Brain Pickings): Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche shares a glorious new year's resolution from his journal entry of 1882: be a yea-sayer and a beautifier of life. More Work Management Reads Think About This: 12 Apps You'll See at the Office More in 2016 (Inc) A Fresh Look at the Number, Effectiveness, and Cost of Meetings in the US (Lucid Meetings) 5 Reasons Why A Social Media Content Calendar Is Important For Your Business (Hootsuite) 8 Habits of People Who Always Have Great Ideas (Fast Company) Go Try This: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming Your Best Self: Build your Daily Routine by Optimizing Your Mind, Body and Spirit (Buffer) How to Finally Start Working Out (Even If You Hate It) (Lifehacker) 10 Habits to Adopt Now to Be Better at Your Job in 2016 (Fast Company) Browse The Work Management Roundup on Flipboard If you use Flipboard on your mobile device, then you can check out these links via The Work Management Roundup magazine. View my Flipboard Magazine.

A Guide to Matrix Organizational Structures
Project Management 5 min read

A Guide to Matrix Organizational Structures

Learn everything you need to know about implementing a matrix organizational structure and how it can improve efficiency and overall project outcomes.

Why do companies choose Software as a Service?
Collaboration 7 min read

Why do companies choose Software as a Service?

The growth of popularity of Enterprise 2.0 on-demand software is remarkable. This growth is not gradual.  The pace of on-demand software adoption grows each month and equals 150 % year-over-year, according to Saugatuck Technology research. On-demand software, or software delivered to the customer via the Internet as a service, turned out to be a revolutionary concept in the late 1990’s. Back then, it seemed unbelievable to replace the traditional on-premise software, which you have to buy and install on your computer, with a service. The situation has now changed as businesses and the software vendors serving them are serious about on-demand software delivery.In 2005, IDC announced in its report that on-demand software will represent more than 3.8% of all spending, or $10.7 billion by 2009. In 2006, on-demand software was announced to be the future of software development by many of the authoritative media, such as Forbes, the New York Times, EWeek, and BusinessWeek. Today, business magazines announce that on-demand software customers are becoming more comfortable with the model and that, according to recent research, nearly 36% of large and small companies are considering bringing software-as-a-service technologies into their organizations. About 80 percent of those considering it say they plan to adopt it within the next 12 months. Additionally, 90% of enterprises that are using on-demand software have already stated that they plan to expand their use. Today, we have a great number of examples of software delivered as a service. The applications range from project management to CRM services. Factors influencing the enterprise Why is software delivered as a service adopted by more and more companies all over the world? There are certain external and internal factors which influence the software development and the development of other industries. Here are 2 major external factors: Fast-paced development of the telecommunication industry transforms and expands the former boundaries of software development. Telecommunications are affordable and available from almost any computer. Information workers enjoy high-speed connections to the Internet at home and at work. Almost 300 million people worldwide are now accessing the Internet, using fast broadband connections and fueling the growth of social networking and business software applications. Penetration of broadband services is seen as a key for developing businesses all over the world. Fast Internet enables companies to use software applications for storing, editing and exchanging information online and accessing it anytime they need it.   Outsourcing development opened new opportunities for businesses. Business strategists started to pay more and more attention to outsourcing of non-core operations since the 1980s. In the early 2000s, IT outsourcing became a very important cost-cutting measure for thousands of companies. Today, it is increasingly viewed as a strategic planning and outcomes optimizing tool. A recent survey of American and European executives conducted by Accenture shows that 25% of respondents report first-day improvements in business processes with an outsourcing model. The benefits of outsourcing are incontestable: instead of building their own infrastructure and supporting it, companies outsource it to a third party and focus on the core of their businesses. They save on money, time and effort. As a form of outsourcing, on-demand software penetrates deeper into the way businesses are built nowadays. Major benefits for the enterprise There are also very significant reasons why many business owners and CEOs choose to adopt a new online service, rather than use on-premise software. These are the internal factors. Let’s have a look at on-demand tools from a CEO’s point of view, and we’ll see the advantages for the business growth immediately. As opposed to on-premise software, software as a service has 4 basic advantages; 1.  It is cost-effective for small and large companies. On-demand software offers lower prices and lower total cost of ownership (up to 50% and more for project management software implementation, for example). Business owners get a faster return on investment. Companies "pay as they go," so hosted solutions often carry little or no upfront cost. The savings can be really huge. For example, in 2005, the town of Stratford estimated that upgrading and merging its two in-house Microsoft Exchange 5.5 environments — one placed at town hall (250 users) and the other at the police station (100 users) — as well as the underlying 10-year-old server, would run $180,000 to $250,000. Instead, the town authorities decided to sign a contract with InfoStreet, an on-demand service provider, to host the Exchange e-mail servers. The representatives of the town authorities do not disclose the exact terms of the contract, but they do say that they paid 20 times less than they would have paid for Microsoft to replace their Exchange environment. 2.  Software as a service implies a short-term commitment, which results in dramatic financial risk reduction for businesses. By acquiring traditional software, companies pay significant amounts of money (over $100,000 for CRM solutions) and still face the high risk that the software may not fulfill the business requirements. In this case, there is no refund option.  Instead, a SaaS product manager can start implementing software as a service by purchasing 3 or 4 accounts. The users will test the application’s features and determine whether the software complies with the corporate needs. Then the organization can gradually involve more users and acquire more accounts. Otherwise, the company can make a decision to move to another software provider that offers better service conditions. A good example would be Superior Industries, a company producing conveying equipment. They had turned to an on-demand solution when their top management realized that they could save up to 90% of their expenditures on CRM software. Later the executives of the company reviewed the return on investment they were receiving from their CRM service, provided by Salesforce.com, and decided to reevaluate their approach. Their switch to SugarCRM resulted in even greater savings, up to $70 000. 3.  SaaS reduces the burden on IT staff. Moving to software as a service contract template means reducing the IT headcount, cutting the cost of hiring and training IT support and reducing IT operating costs. Internal IT personnel don't have to purchase and support the server infrastructure necessary to install and maintain the software in-house. The onus of maintaining a labor-intensive patch and upgrade process is taken by the software providers. With traditional licensed software, companies typically have to wait months for the next release of an application, which internal IT staff will then have to test and deploy. Very often, these installations are time-consuming and do not run smoothly.  On the contrary, using software as a service means that a company will receive all the software patches automatically and usually much more promptly. Moreover, by using the SaaS product management, enterprises ensure that subsidiaries in all locations are using the correct application software version. 4.  On-demand software usage usually means instant deployment. Traditional application implementation cycles inside companies can take years, consume massive resources and yield unsatisfactory results. With on-demand software, a company can start using the service the moment the provider activates the company’s accounts, which usually happens minutes after the payment is made. So taking into consideration all these advantages, it’s not surprising that more and more companies choose to adopt on-demand software and that analysts believe that this model of software delivery is the future of the software industry. McKinsey Quarterly named software as a service a disruptive force and called for traditional software vendors to focus on integrating on-demand software into their product lines. More and more, companies introduce their on-demand alternatives to traditional on-premise software. One of the best examples would be the project management field, where next-generation, Web-based applications have already displaced MS Project from its leading position, as they offer greater opportunities for easy and productive collaboration. Today, the IT landscape is changing, opening new competitive advantages for early adopting customers. What we observe is, while some companies are struggling with the pain and cost of installation, others are wisely spending their time and money on their core business and become market leaders by leveraging all the benefits of the new technologies.  

Wrike Is a Red Herring Global Finalist
News 3 min read

Wrike Is a Red Herring Global Finalist

Being chosen as a finalist for this global award among 600 eligible, promising companies is quite an achievement for Wrike. The Red Herring editorial team is in the second phase of the judging process. The panel of judges will examine each application once again and will perform a due diligence review.  Evaluations are made on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, innovation, management, global strategy and ecosystem integration.  Phase three will be an on-site company presentation at the Red Herring Global event in San Diego on January 14-16, 2009. “Past Red Herring award winners include Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Netscape, Salesforce.com, and YouTube. Being a Red Herring 100 Global finalist is a great praise, and we are looking forward to an exciting 2009," said Andrew Filev, the CEO of Wrike.

How to Find the Details You Need for a Buyer Persona that Converts
Marketing 5 min read

How to Find the Details You Need for a Buyer Persona that Converts

If the marketing field has a golden rule, it’s this: know your customers. And not just in a vague, “females, 18-29 years old” way. You need to know what kind of job your customers have, what their goals are, the daily challenges they’re facing, what they find funny and frustrating — all the details necessary to connect to them on a human level. Only then can you offer an effective solution that will attract their attention and convert them into happy customers. Getting to that level of detail and familiarity can be trickier than it sounds, however. Painstaking market research is time-consuming and difficult to maintain on an ongoing basis, especially with so many emerging channels and trends influencing buyers in new ways. Here are our tips for building an accurate and effective customer profile that’s unique to your best prospects — and keeping it accurate as your market and customer base continue to evolve and you continue to embrace conversion rate marketing. As it turns out, the best resources are right at your fingertips — members of your own team! 1. Talk to sales. Find out the central problem most buyers are looking to solve using your solution, the one question they ask time and time again, and the most common misconception about your product. For instance, if you find that many customers are unaware that your software has a certain feature, maybe add a brief video showcasing that feature to your website's home page, or write a blog post highlighting its functionality and use cases. 2. Consult with customer support. They can offer a treasure trove of insight into your customers’ perspectives and ongoing problems. What common issues are your customers struggling with? How can you make it easier for them to adopt your solution? What resources can you provide to improve their experience with your product and recommend it to others? 3. Keep an eye on online communities. Browse LinkedIn groups, Quora, Reddit, and popular review sites to see what conversations your product is inspiring. How are people discovering your product? Are they using it in conjunction with another tool that you could partner with, or in unexpected or innovative ways you could highlight on your blog? Use these conversations to inform a deeper understanding of who your customers are and shine a spotlight on members of your community. 4. Monitor your analytics. Which pages of your website have the most views? Which blog posts have the highest number of comments or social shares? What kinds of search queries or keywords most often lead people to your site? The more specifics you know about what your customers are looking for and the kind of content that catches their eye, the easier it is to optimize your campaigns. 5. Go straight to the source. Spend an hour or two each week picking up the phone and talking to a few current customers, or sending a handful of personalized emails. Establish and maintain genuine relationships with people who actually use your product, listen carefully to their experiences and insights, and then keep them top of mind when developing your marketing materials. Applying the Power of Marketing Ops to Your Business Once you’ve nailed the buyer persona and attracted a potential customer’s attention, how do you create a marketing strategy that will convert them into paying customers and continue to grow your business? Download our free eBook, 5 Steps to Transforming Marketing Operations for Maximum Growth, for tips on delivering an exceptional customer experience, selecting the right tools to support your marketing efforts, and the key metrics you should use to fuel your success.