The Challenge

Before working with Zenatta, One Firefly relied on manual effort for many CRM actions and used a disparate IT stack that required constant data transfer and manual reporting. They needed stronger automation in Zoho CRM, a modern project management replacement for Workfront, and better visibility into profitability through connected reporting.

“Prior to working with Zenatta, our organization was relying on manual efforts to complete many of the actions that are now automated within the CRM. Zenatta has helped us utilize more capabilities within the CRM through implementation of custom functions and has expanded our understanding of how to use Zoho Flow to create our own automations that are not possible within the basic Workflow Rule capabilities of the CRM. Prior to Zenatta we were also working in a disparate IT stack that required our team to manually transfer information, seek out information, and gather data manually which severely impacted our ability to reliably scale the business. We were using Workfront for Project Management (now Zoho Projects), Exchange servers for email and calendar (now Google Workspace integrated with Zoho), and Basecamp for client communications (now running through the CRM through the Gmail integration). We have plans to incorporate more elements of the Zoho One platforms as well.” – Cameron Howitt, Internal Product Manager, One Firefly

Why It Mattered

As a fully remote agency, One Firefly needed reliable automation and clean handoffs between sales, delivery, and reporting. Therefore, reducing manual CRM work and consolidating project delivery in Zoho Projects was essential. Additionally, leadership needed clearer insight into profitability by connecting revenue data with time logged on projects.

The Zenatta Solution

Zenatta helped One Firefly replace key tools in their stack with Zoho One apps and improve automation across CRM, Projects, Flow, Sign, Forms, and Analytics. The work focused on two core initiatives: migrating from Workfront to Zoho Projects and launching a referral program with an automated approval and signing process.

• Zoho Projects migration: Migrated project templates from Workfront into Zoho Projects. Additionally, Zenatta improved delivery consistency by standardizing templates and task list structures.
• CRM → Projects automation: Automated project and task list creation when a Deal is marked as Closed Won. Custom fields on products determined which task lists should be generated when products were sold.
• Zoho Analytics profitability visibility: Linked Zoho Projects with Zoho CRM data in Zoho Analytics. Additionally, Zenatta trained One Firefly’s team to manage Analytics and add third-party data sources so leadership could compare revenue (based on line items) with hours logged in Projects.
• Referral program build with Forms, Flow, and Sign: Built an integrated referral partner pipeline: Potential referral partners apply through a Zoho Form, the form pushes records into the CRM, Zoho Sign generates agreements and sends them to partners, and a custom module tracks document status and updates the partner record. Once signed, the partner automatically moves forward in the pipeline and can be tagged to leads or deals.
• CRM cleanup and workflow enhancements: Implemented CRM workflow and function updates to reduce manual effort, including improvements around primary contact stamping and related workflow maintenance.

“Our migration from Workfront to Zoho One (Projects) alone is saving our business over 15K per year. Not to mention the added benefit of using Zoho Analytics to perform in-depth analysis on our data that was previously done through spreadsheets and manual computation.” – Cameron Howitt, Internal Product Manager, One Firefly

Results

With key processes automated and Workfront replaced by Zoho Projects, One Firefly reduced manual effort and gained stronger reporting. As a result, the team improved consistency in delivery and increased confidence in scaling their operations.

• Replaced Workfront with Zoho Projects and standardized delivery templates.
• Automated project creation and task list generation from Closed Won deals.
• Improved profitability visibility by connecting Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects data in Zoho Analytics.

“The team at Zenatta continues to be an invaluable resource to me and our team to help us understand the possibilities and path to integrate more platforms and remove the many of the manual effort steps that have affected our processes for years. Zenatta not only provides great service through the consulting time we utilize with the team but also through the Club Zenatta, the CRM Zen Show, the resource library on the website and through the YouTube channel. Zenatta has quickly overtaken Zoho’s own support mechanism as our go-to for Zoho support and consultation.”

– Cameron Howitt, Internal Product Manager, One Firefly