5 Tips for Efficient Agency Resource Management

As your creative agency grows, managing the resources of your projects becomes more complex. You start to notice that your team needs to be more active, and your profits are taking a hit. What was once a smooth process is now a chaotic scramble, and you need help to get things back on track.  If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many agencies need help with resource management as they grow. The good news? The best agency management software can help. This guide will explore agency resource management, including its significance and how to improve it with the right tools.

Orchestra's solution, growing your productized service, helps agency owners like you organize their resources to get back to delivering quality work on time while boosting profitability. The tool streamlines operations to help you easily manage projects, teams, and finances to provide consistent results to your clients.

Importance of Agency Resource Management

1. Boosting Profits Through Resource Management

Effective resource management enables your agency to maximize billable hours and reduce costs. As you gain better control over your resources, your team will understand what needs to be done, who will do it, and when it will be completed. This information minimizes the need for excessive meetings that disrupt productivity. Instead, you can allocate resource time to billable projects and get to work. More billable hours and projects mean more revenue. Your agency will also experience less resource wastage. If you can forecast capacity, you’ll know who’s available and when. So you won’t hire unnecessary and expensive specialists when you have in-house resources.

2. Improving Team Performance and Productivity

Resource management and planning help workload planning. Workload planning helps you better align people’s skill sets against the work available. That leads to increased productivity and better deliverables because people work to their strengths rather than weaknesses. It also creates happier employees simply because people will be working on what they’re good at and what they enjoy. Prioritizing resource management and planning for your agency will also help you focus on fair resource allocation. Better resource allocation prevents burnout, keeping teams healthy and productive.

3. Outlining Flexible Plans for Future Projects

Agency life is competitive and changeable, making it difficult to plan for future projects. You may need to re-shift resources if clients are lost or if you gain new clients. You can stay nimble if you can get your resource planning and management up to speed. That means you’ll respond rather than react to changes in project demands related to resource needs.

4. Ensuring Happy Clients

With people and projects aligned, deadlines (and the quality of deliverables) won’t slip. Consistently delivering high-quality work on time builds client trust. Plus, satisfied clients who trust your agency are more likely to Refer you to their network (which means new business), Renew their contracts (which means repeat business and more predictable revenue), Be open to upselling or expanding (which means more revenue)

5. Enhancing Work-Life Balance

Better resource planning and management leads to better agency work-life balance. The nature of the agency beast means that sometimes agency teams burn the candle at both ends. It’s a highly fast-paced and changeable environment with multiple clients and project types. That can lead to occasionally working lunches, evenings, and weekends. But when that becomes the norm? Houston, we have a problem. You can juggle client needs and protect your team’s time with proper planning and management.

6. Reducing Burnout

This benefit is tied to the point above. Agency burnout is prevalent. Intense workloads with little planning and poor systems and processes can put your team at risk of burnout. It may even cause them to leave your agency. Burnout is one of the leading causes of low employee retention. Staffing shortages are already a significant challenge for agencies. So it makes sense to bolster your resource management and planning processes to protect your team’s well-being and retain existing talent.

7. Fending Off Agency Competition

Research shows agency growth is on the rise. For example, one agency industry report shows that the number of digital agencies in the US grew 54% from 2018 to 2023. A growing market could mean more choices, which could cause potential clients to shop around. Solid agency resource management and planning can help ensure teams have enough capacity to (successfully) jump on RFPs and new business pitches. It will also help agencies pull together realistic team planning, timelines, and budget proposals.

8. Mitigating the Risk of Client Churn

Client churn can be a common issue for agencies. (Nearly 40% of brands already consider switching agencies.) The good news? Even if you offer services similar to your competitors, improving your agency resources and management can set you apart. That’s simply because planning and prioritizing your team’s efforts will create better client experiences. And better client experiences will help you retain business as competition grows.

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Types of Resource Management for Agencies

1. Human Resource Management: Getting the Right People on the Team 

Human resource management focuses on managing the workforce within an organization, ensuring that the right people with the right skills are available to support organizational objectives. In an agency setting, human resource management includes talent acquisition, performance management, training and development, workforce planning, and employee engagement.

2. Financial Resource Management: Balancing the Books 

Financial resource management involves managing an organization's financial assets, funds, and budget. This includes budgeting, cost control, financial planning, investment decision-making, and financial reporting in an agency setting. Effective financial resource management ensures the optimal allocation and utilization of financial resources to support the organization's operations and growth.

3. Project Resource Management: Keeping Projects on Track 

Project resource management is specific to managing resources within project execution. It involves identifying the resource requirements for a project, allocating resources to particular tasks, and monitoring resource utilization. Project resource management ensures that the necessary resources, including human resources, equipment, materials, and budget, are available to complete projects successfully.

4. IT Resource Management: Making Technology Work for You 

IT resource management manages an organization's IT infrastructure, systems, software, and personnel. This includes IT asset management, network and server resource allocation, software license management, and IT capacity planning in an agency. Effective IT resource management ensures the efficient and effective use of technology resources to support organizational objectives.

5. Natural Resource Management: Sustainability Comes First 

Natural resource management involves the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources. It includes water resource management, forest management, fisheries management, and land resource management. This type of resource management aims to balance resource utilization with environmental preservation and long-term sustainability.

6. Energy Resource Management: Reducing Consumption and Costs 

Energy resource management involves managing an organization's energy consumption, production, and distribution. It includes energy efficiency measures, adoption of renewable energy, monitoring and optimization, and cost management. Effective energy resource management helps organizations reduce energy waste, lower costs, and minimize environmental impact.

7. Material Resource Management: Keeping Projects Stocked and Moving 

Material resource management focuses on the efficient management of physical materials and inventory. It includes procurement, inventory control, warehouse management, and supply chain optimization. Effective material resource management ensures that suitable materials are available at the right time to support production or operational needs while minimizing waste and costs.

5 Tips for Efficient Agency Resource Management

1. Use Orchestra to Streamline Your Agency's Operations  

Orchestra is an all-in-one growth toolkit that helps you easily launch your productized service and scale. This platform is specifically designed for creative pros, like designers, developers, and copywriters, looking to systemize their operations and improve client delivery. You can create a branded, white-labeled client portal with Orchestra to manage your productized service. The platform also has task management features to help organize workflow and streamline client collaboration. Best of all, Orchestra requires no coding knowledge—just your Stripe account. You can even integrate tools like Slack and webhooks to customize your setup and elevate the client experience. Try Orchestra for free today to get started.

2. Establish Clear Goals and Objectives for Resource Management  

Setting measurable objectives is the first step in effective resource management. This is the first step in any viable business strategy! "Setting clear goals and aligning team efforts with these objectives is crucial. Without measurable targets, it's impossible to gauge success or make necessary adjustments." This process doesn’t have to be complicated: Define success criteria, Establish what "success" looks like for each project, and set measurable targets to gauge performance. Only do this with 2 to 4 objectives; don’t overshoot it.

Communicate goals

Ensure all team members are aware of and committed to the objectives. Repeat yourself if needed; always remind the team of the goals. By setting clear objectives and revisiting them, your agency can maintain focus and drive, ensuring that all team members understand their roles and contributions towards the agency's (and their) success.

3. Let Data Drive Your Decision-Making  

Leveraging data analysis tools is crucial for making informed decisions. By using dashboards and analytics, your agency can gain insights into resource usage and identify areas for improvement. Use dashboards and implement tools that provide real-time data on resource utilization.

Apply Predictive Analytics

Use historical data to anticipate future needs and potential risks. This integrated approach to data helps ensure that every decision, from resource allocation to project prioritization, is backed by clear, actionable metrics. Predictive models can also help you anticipate client needs, identify potential bottlenecks before they become issues, and adjust resource levels to match the expected demand.

4. Evaluate and Adjust Based on That Data  

It is essential to continuously evaluate resource management initiatives to ensure they remain effective, regularly measure performance, and make necessary adjustments based on metrics.

Frequent Reviews

Regular reviews of each initiative should be conducted to assess performance. Flexible adjustments: Be prepared to adjust and reallocate resources as needed. To effectively implement this, you should set regular quarterly performance review intervals, for example. During these sessions, your managers and team leaders should assess whether the current management strategies meet the set objectives based on the data collected. If discrepancies or opportunities for improvement are identified, you should act accordingly. This could involve reallocating resources, refining processes, or revisiting client acquisition strategies to ensure they align with the agency’s capabilities and client expectations.

5. Make the Customer the Absolute Priority  

Creating a smooth client experience is critical for agency success. Focusing on clear communication, efficient processes, and high-quality deliverables will reduce complaints and move faster. Your agency must ensure that clients feel valued in every interaction. Implementing a structured onboarding process helps set the stage for all subsequent communications. You should strive to underpromise and overdeliver. Understand the customers’ needs, adapt services accordingly, and always aim to deliver more value.

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8 Best Agency Resource Management Tools

1. Orchestra: Efficiently Launch Your Productized Service

Orchestra is an all-in-one growth toolkit that helps you launch your productized service seamlessly. Designed for creatives ready to scale, Orchestra offers a branded, white-labeled client portal, task management, and real-time analytics, with no coding needed, just your Stripe account. The software also has integrations like Slack and webhooks to customize your setup and deliver a branded experience.

2. Runn: Resource Planning & Forecasting Software

Runn is a modern resource management application that provides deep insights into all your staff and allows you to plan resources intelligently. Despite being relatively new, Runn has a sleek design and decent opportunities to improve your resource management strategy. You can drill down to every team member's earnings, capacity, and utilization rate and view the percentage of assigned time and how much is billable or non-billable in a daily, weekly, or monthly view.

Pros

• Visual Scheduling: Runn's intuitive drag-and-drop interface simplifies resource scheduling, allowing quick adjustments and easy planning.

• Forecasting Accuracy: Accurate forecasting tools provide insights into project health and resource needs, helping to make informed decisions about future projects.

• Integrated Analytics: In-depth analytics offer a comprehensive view of project performance and resource utilization. This leads to better strategy formulation and resource management.

Cons

• Limited Customization: Some users need more customization options. This can impact the software's adaptability to specific business processes.

• Integration Challenges: Integrating with specific external systems can be complex. This might limit efficiency for users reliant on multiple platforms.

• Learning Curve: New users may experience a steep learning curve, which can delay fully utilizing the software's capabilities.

3. Scoro: All-in-One Work Management Software

Scoro is an all-in-one work management software designed for professional services, offering a wide range of features to manage processes and improve productivity. One key feature that makes Scoro ideal for agencies is its all-in-one platform, which eliminates the need for multiple separate tools. This integration ensures that all aspects of agency operations, from project management and time tracking to financial reporting, are seamlessly connected. The software provides detailed insights into project progress, resource allocation, and economic health—all accessible from a single dashboard in real-time.

Pros

• Tailored for corporate users.

• Comprehensive financial tracking.

• Granular permissions for security.

• Gets easy after the initial hurdle.

• Frequent monthly updates.

Cons

• Steep learning curve initially.

• Higher pricing than many competitors.

• Occasional technical issues and bugs.

• Available only in English.

• Primitive and complex Gantt chart.

4. Float: Resource Management Software

Float bills itself as a resource management software that can be used for capacity planning and resource scheduling, implying more functionality than typical project management resource tools. Key features include:

Minimalistic Design

It features a date range selector that allows you to visualize your team’s workload, resource availability, and capacity for a given period.

Merged Timelines

Float’s timeline merges the actual scheduled time with the logged one. Time-tracking users will love this, as they’ll better understand their efforts about the initial resource forecasts.

Personal Tags

Equally valuable are the personal tags to identify skills at a glance, the “Me” toggle for viewing individual hourly bookings, and the possibility to set a scheduled status to alert your team that I’m working from home (connects with Slack, too).

Simple Analytics

You can keep tabs open on your resource utilization, project budgets, and time off without too many configurations whenever you access a people or project report.

Pros

• Easy time tracking

• User-friendly interface

• Cloud-based accessibility

• Robust features

Cons

• Potential learning curve

• Minor bugs and glitches

• Customer service can be improved, according to some Float reviews

5. Paymo: Resource Scheduling Software for Teams

Paymo is a project management tool that includes task management, native time tracking, invoicing, and robust resource planning and scheduling modules. The tool reunites team capacity, workload, and availability on a visual timeline to help you allocate resources accordingly. Tasks and bookings are in sync, so changes get mapped both ways.

What’s worth noticing is the innovative scheduling feature. Tentative bookings (“ghost bookings”) are automatically set based on the previous task date ranges. What’s left is to specify the number of work hours to convert it into a real one - simple as that. Don’t worry if tasks don’t have a start and end date; you can still drop unplanned functions into a user’s schedule.

Pros

• Automated time-tracking features.

• Turn timesheet data into an invoice.

• User-friendly and intuitive.

• Responsive customer support.

• Affordable for small businesses.

Cons

• Limited mobile app functionality.

• Occasional performance issues.

• Integration options are limited.

• Minor bugs are occasionally present.

• Limited customization features.

6. Screendragon: Comprehensive Work Management Software

Screendragon is a comprehensive work management software designed to simplify project management for marketing and agency teams. Its workload and resource management capabilities automate scheduling and resource allocation. This feature provides real-time updates and capacity planning heatmaps, allowing agencies to optimize resource utilization effectively.

Pros

• Streamlined communication and project oversight: The software has replaced over 70% of project-based emails and file transfers, providing clear audit trails of file deliveries, revision comments, and final approvals and enabling easy transition between projects without requiring lengthy handovers or tracking old email correspondence.

• Comprehensive work management tool: Screendragon serves as a comprehensive work management tool for project, resource, budget, and workflow management, offering numerous features and versatility

• Customizable platform: Screendragon offers a flexible, scalable, centralized project management solution that can be customized to suit unique business processes and language, providing operational visibility across clients and project details.

Cons

• Lack of audio support: Some users have noted that Screendragon does not offer audio support with an Irish accent

• Limited storage for final versions: Screendragon's design does not accommodate the storage of final versions of projects, which can be a drawback for some users.

• Limited document management capabilities: Despite its strengths in project management, Screendragon needs to improve document management and retrieval. The search function operates through an open-text field, and files are organized according to a behind-the-scenes directory structure.

7. 10,000 ft: People Scheduling by Smartsheet

“At the heart of 10,000 ft is a people schedule. Here, you can see who’s overbooked, available, or on vacation.” At least that’s what the vendor promises, besides various standard but well-crafted resource management features. Recently acquired by Smartsheet, 10,000 ft comes with an intelligent resource matching feature, drag and drop functionality, and the ability to create comprehensive reports out of time tracking. It goes a long way to assist project managers in matching the right people to specific tasks without them losing a detailed overview of everyone’s bookings.

Pros

• Endlessly customizable and quite powerful

• Supports automations, input from web forms, proofing, and approvals

• Robust resource management options for Business plan users

Cons

• Lacks real-time time tracking and invoicing tools

• Pages don't update in real-time or autosave as frequently as we'd like

8. Resource Guru: Resource Management Tools for High-Growth Teams

Resource Guru is an early player in the project and resource management tools space, now doubling down on fundamental resource management features for high-growth teams. Key features include:

User-friendly Interface 

In the past year, the platform’s design has evolved into a sortable table layout where clients, projects, bookings, resource availabilities, and days off are skimmable at a calendar view level.

Resource Clash Management

This is Resource Guru’s primary differentiator. You can automatically prevent overbooking those with diagonal bars over a red background by putting them on a waiting list that you can deal with later.

Physical Resources Tracking

Another unique feature is physical resources for meeting rooms and equipment, although they cost extra.

Pros

• Easy Scheduling: Simplified planning allows users to allocate resources and adjust schedules quickly, reducing the time spent on project setup.

• Visibility: Enhanced transparency helps teams see who is working on what and when facilitating better project coordination.

• Reporting Tools: Comprehensive reporting features provide valuable insights into resource usage and project progress, aiding in informed decision-making.

Cons

• Limited Customization: The tool offers fewer customization options than some competitors, potentially limiting its adaptability to unique project needs.

• Essential Task Management: While strong in resource scheduling, it lacks advanced task management features that some other project management tools offer.

• No In-built Communication: The absence of an integrated communication platform requires teams to use external tools for team discussions and updates.

Try Orchestra for Free to Grow Your Productized Service Today

Orchestra is an all-in-one toolkit for agencies and freelancers to launch productized services. It offers a white-labeled client portal to make onboarding and working with clients easier. You can create custom workflows to organize tasks, deliverables, and client communications. Integrations with Slack and Zapier allow you to automate processes further and customize your setup. With Orchestra, you can boost your service and create a branded experience for your clients.

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