5 Ways Agencies Use LeanScout to Increase Productivity

By using LeanScout as their virtual back office, consultancy firms increase their productivity and reduce costs. A recent HBR-review stated that office workers on average spend 40 percent of their work-day on non-core tasks, taking away time they could spend on their most value-added tasks that fit their skill level.

So what do they do? Below follows the top 5 tasks we receive from consultancies.

1) Photo-to-slide

Most consultancies do creative work in meetings, using whiteboard. Some sketch a slide on a napkin in a restaurant. The fear of any consultant at such a meeting is being given the task of digitizing the drawing to slides. Not to mention the high value to a different use of their time, especially if the team is under a strict deadline.

It is therefore not surprising that a top pick for consultants is the photo-to-slide product. From a very simple sketch our specialists can create beautiful and comprehensible slides quickly, even overnight. The example below shows a real slide which drawn on a napkin and then digitalized into a PowerPoint slide.

2) PowerPoint Enhancement

There is a big difference between presenting good information in a subpar presentation compared to a beautiful and comprehensible presentation, especially if it’s an important presentation. Consultancies inevitably work a lot with PowerPoint, and some prefer to make the first draft themselves, even though their main skill isn’t PowerPoint presentations.

The orders we receive are usually a first draft, like the one below. The content is great, but needs freshing up, or simply to comply with the company template. Our users report that taking a presentation “from 80% – 100%” take us just a few hours, but might take them much longer.

3) Reports

LeanScout can increase lucidity and readability of a report making it more valuable to the readers. Too often consultancies deliver too dull reports, send it to LeanScout and make it more uplifting.

We find that our clients are almost always surprised how fast our Word specialists can make beautiful reports using their company’s color schemes.

4) Format Conversions

Let’s face it: conversions are boring, and sometimes very hard. We regularly get requests from consultants who want us to help convert data or graphics from one format to another. A common problem is that data is saved in a non-editable form, such as pdf, and the only way to get the presentation editable is by redoing it. Another common thread is when a consultant is having a pitch, and need the presentation in 4:3 format, or Keynote, to comply with the technical capabilities where the presentation is being held.

5) Infographics

Lastly, a rapidly growing request at LeanScout is infographics. More and more companies are relying on data to present their ideas. But the talent required to make great infographics is often far apart. As a result we see more and more consultancies sending us data, and asking us to create persuasive infographics they can use in their presentation or graphics.

We transform boring datasets and information into eye-catching and meaningful graphical representations that your customers or employees can understand quickly.