Streamlining Internal Marketing Requests: Exploring Effective Solutions

Managing internal support requests within a growing organization can be a complex task, especially when coordinating across multiple teams and stakeholders. For small to medium-sized marketing teams supporting a large organization, establishing an efficient request intake system is vital to ensure timely responses and avoid bottlenecks. This article delves into common challenges faced in setting up such systems and explores best practices and tools to optimize the process.

The Challenge of Managing Internal Support Requests

In organizations with expansive employee bases—often exceeding 500 staff—marketing teams frequently receive a diverse array of requests, including template designs, advertisements, branding assets, brochures, and more. Without a structured system, these requests can become disorganized, leading to communication gaps, delays, and frustration among colleagues.

Our team, for instance, has predominantly relied on a combination of tools like Asana and HubSpot to manage workflows. However, the process of collecting, routing, and tracking requests has encountered obstacles, highlighting the need for a more streamlined solution.

Initial Approach: Microsoft Forms with Automation

Recently, we attempted to create an internal request system by utilizing Microsoft Forms. This tool allows employees to submit requests easily, and we set up Microsoft Automate (formerly Flow) to automatically route these requests to the appropriate team member via email. The benefits of this setup included:

• Centralized request collection
• Automated email notifications
• Customizable form fields

While this system initially worked well, we discovered notable limitations:

• Automation Breaks with Form Updates: Any changes to the form require immediate updates to the automation workflows, and neglecting this causes email routing failures.
• Limited Tracking & Visibility: Automated emails do not always reliably inform us of submission issues, leading to missed requests.
• Sustainability Challenges: Manually babysitting and maintaining automations is not scalable as the number of requests grows and as requests evolve.

Recognizing the Need for Better Solutions

The inconsistencies and maintenance overhead have prompted us to seek improvements. We’re exploring ways to enhance our current setup or consider alternative tools within our existing ecosystem:

• Enhanced Automation: Adding notification systems to alert us when automations fail.
• Improved Form Management: Using more robust form tools that integrate seamlessly with automation platforms.
• Leveraging Existing Platforms: Evaluating whether tools like Asana or HubSpot can serve as primary request portals with minimal manual intervention.

Evaluating Alternative Tools

One consideration is