Marketing is the most important industry in which time is money. While agencies have faced dramatic changes in their billing, from more complexity to tracking contractors to shifting staff capacity, many owners, project managers, and senior leaders have failed adapt to these issues, never mind taken steps towards capitalizing.
HubSpot’s recent survey found that leaders’ inability get on top of their time is causing big-time problems.
Here are some of these challenges that the surveyhighlighted.
Lack of time for administrative activities is the second biggest pain point for project managers, owners, and leaders.
Only a third of respondents said that agencies that are run on retainers only, while over three-quarters use freelancers. However, half of those who don’t keep track of staff utilization are alarming.
Despite the fact that 80 percent of respondents use project management tools and platforms, half of respondents said a better approach was required.
Technology can now automate all aspects of agency business functions, from finance to operations, sales and projectmanagement. It can help you make better decisions and get faster results by providing real-time insight. A professional servicesautomation (PSA) approach may be the best way for leaders to unite everyone, empower and empower key staff and propel the agency forward.
Here are some key ways PSAs can help create the agency of the future.
Transparencyto develop agency-wide efficiencies
You’re probably familiar with the questions “Who owns X?” as an agency leader. “What’s the status for Y?” Without transparency, it’s difficult to see what’s going on immediately or fully manage projects. This can lead to missed deadlines and staffing problems. It would be nice if statuses could be easily accessed and kept up-to-date.
PSA platforms automatically do it, giving you complete visibility and greater control. They also facilitate human resource planning, which allows agencies to be more agile and better managechange. They even provide heat maps that show at-a glance availability, skillmatching capabilities, and role details.
Real-timeanalytics for better decision-making
PSA tools help leaders prepare for the future by analysing the past. They also provide real-time analytics, an indispensableresource, with key performance indicators-that organizations can configure-providingat-a-glance understanding of critical data. This includes metrics related to sales, customer, project, and utilization.
The end result shows a complete picture, from sales to delivery, quote and cash. They can monitor and grow profit margins, understand the agency’s financial situation, and plan accordingly. Agency heads can identify best practices and share them with clients.
PSA platforms allow for better decision-making and leaders can make them faster. This allows them to seize new opportunities.
Greater control equals greater profitability
PSA platforms allow agency leaders to keep track of time and expenses right from the beginning. Pre-filled timesheets, stopwatch tracking and approval via any device are just a few of the features available. Charts can be created that show everything from payables and receivables to profit and loss. This is accompanied with automated billing and real time reporting. This increases financial control and reduces costs.
Agencies often have different tools for tracking time, customer relationship management (CRM), project management, billing, and other tasks. A PSA platform can be used to control all of them, greatly simplifying their operations. A combination of financial systems, CRM and PSA can provide a six percent increase in project margins for professional services organizations.
Is Agency Automation the Future of Work?
