Expanding a digital agency is an exciting endeavor, but onboarding more clients introduces project workflow headaches if you don‘t have the right systems in place. From resource planning challenges to poor visibility into billable tasks, a failure to adapt operations for growth will undermine your hard-won success.
Fortunately, purpose-built agency project management software can transform how your teams collaborate to deliver amazing client work – at scale. The top solutions provide end-to-end visibility into all your projects in one centralized platform that connects tasks, schedules, timesheets, and communication. Rather than struggling with scattered spreadsheets, documents and overflowing inboxes, your agency gains control of its most valuable asset: time.
This definitive guide will explore the key advantages of agency project management tools, then profile the 10 leading options on the market today compared across crucial capabilities. With cloud computing removing previous barriers around price and IT complexity, now is the time to level up agency productivity. Let‘s dive in to find the perfect fit for your needs as you continue scaling new heights.
Why Agency PM Software is Essential as You Grow
First, what are the core problems that project management tools address for marketing and creative agencies?
Client management at scale becomes chaotic. As an agency founder, keeping five major clients happy is a major challenge, but as accounts grow into the dozens, tracking all those relationships, needs and feedback via email/spreadsheets is impossible.
Project visibility deteriorates. Similarly, running 20 complex website development projects with unclear schedules means deliverables slip, budgets bloat, and clients get unhappy without anyone realizing it.
Resource allocation suffers. With project records scattered across machines and brains, assigning tasks smartly to avoid bottlenecks and burnout is guesswork. Hoarding work is easy when oversight is minimal.
Critical data vanishes. Creative assets, copy decks and key emails get lost on local drives. Even with shared cloud storage, searchability when launching campaigns is poor. Details live in heads.
Billing leakage erupts. Without centralized timesheets tied to specific clients and projects, billable hours fail to get tracked fully. Monthly invoicing requires tedious admin work rather than automation. Your well-earned profits suffer unseen leaks.
The root issue is lack of visibility and control stemming from fragmented systems and siloed data. Email inboxes, messaging platforms, file folders, spreadsheets – as teams scale, managing workflows via disparate points plunges you into chaos.
By centralizing all client data, creative assets, tasks, schedules and timesheets into a single collaboration hub with robust automation, agency project management apps restore order from madness. Let‘s examine the key benefits:
Why PM Software is The Game Changer You Need
1. Centralized dashboard to view all projects – At a glance, easily track real-time progress across tasks, budgets, and schedules for all client engagements.
2. Structured onboarding & offboarding – Smoothly transition new clients into the agency ecosystem while safeguarding assets from past accounts.
3. Role-based access control – Selective visibility for clients, external partners, remote teams and employees based on need to know.
4. Universal content repository – A centralized vault for creative assets that eliminates duplicated files scattered across siloed drives through robust search tools.
5. Automated timesheets and billing – Hassle-free time tracking tightly integrated with resourcing plans and invoicing workflows. No more leakage.
6. Project templates – Reusable templates for common project types (e.g. website launch, product campaign) let you spin up new engagements in minutes complete will all standard scaffolding and task flows already built out. Brand consistency and efficiency increases dramatically.
7. Portfolio showcases – Easily present the success of previous client engagements during the sales process.
8. Client satisfaction infrastructure – Shared milestone tracking, transparent task status visibility, and streamlined feedback requests help demonstrate ongoing value.
9. Unified calendaring – Integrated calendars provide a single pane of glass for all client meetings, internal work schedules, and external partner alignments.
With these collective capabilities, agency project management platforms reduce operational chaos, optimize workflows, delight clients, and boost profit margins.
Now let‘s explore the top software options available in 2023 to benefit your agency…
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