More Chaos Than Clarity
Every agency talks about improving efficiency, but too many think that means adding another tool, or another layer of process instead of trying to find the source of the problem.
I recently spoke with one agency who had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve operationally. They’d invested in a robust agency management platform that could handle time tracking, task management, project visibility, finance automation and HR. But instead of investing time in the setup process and using it properly, they’ve repeatedly added more tools and built workarounds to problems that don’t exist.
The studio manager controlled the studio workflow manually in spreadsheets (because that was what he’d always done), then transferred that information manually into Trello boards for client servicing to have visibility and provide feedback. From there, it was moved into Monday.com so the creative team could see the tasks assigned to them. Finance didn’t use any of the platform’s automated report functions, so they exported CSVs and analysed everything manually. The agency leader had a real-time dashboard without any accurate data in and had to rely on department leads to send over data, which took weeks to produce. They also used an external HR tool for leave tracking, even though their agency management platform could already do it. They’d added each of them for a reason, but almost all the reasons were because it was the way that individuals had worked in the past or that they didn’t have the knowledge to setup the systems, or any kind of operational strategy in the first place.
Despite already having a single solution that could handle everything, they were using four different platforms and doing most of the work by hand. For that 30+ person agency, that meant spending over $2,200 each month on software that either overlapped weren’t used effectively or were barely used. That’s almost $27,000 a year just to create complexity. And what’s worse is that this isn’t the first agency I’ve spoken to recently with a very similar sounding issue.
That’s the issue with a disjointed process and thinking that adding multiple tools will solve problems. Instead of driving clarity, it creates noise and eats into everyone’s time. And instead of building confidence, it leads to frustration and never solves the problem it was supposed to solve. The real problem isn’t the tools. It’s the lack of operational thinking behind them.
The Illusion of Automation
Agencies have always been great at buying the huge range of tools on offer to them, thinking that if you just buy the right platform, everything will slot into place. They’re also chronic over thinkers, so what often happens is that tools get dropped in on top of broken ways of working and you end up with fractured automation layered over chaos.
A project gets added to a platform, but no one agrees what the brief is. A timeline gets generated, but the resourcing is already wrong. A timesheet gets filled out, but no one knows what it’s being used for, or what insights they want from the analysis. So, you end up with a stack of disconnected data points and not the smooth-running machine you’d hoped for.
Tools should support a process. They should make the right way of working easier to follow. But if the process doesn’t exist, or if the people haven’t bought into it, no amount of automation will help.
People First, Then Process, Then Platform
The best operational frameworks start with people, not tools. How does the team work best? What do they need to be effective? Where do things fall over? What would make their day easier? What are they trying to achieve? What is the business trying to achieve?
Only once that’s clear can you start building the process. That’s the sequence of actions, decisions and handovers that turn a brief into an output, a lead into a client, or an idea into a deliverable. And only once that’s mapped out should you start layering in platforms.
That’s when your tools become accelerators, not blockers. That’s when you start seeing the return on the investment. If it’s not making your life easier, it’s not being done right.
Everything Connected, Nothing Repeated
Agencies with strong operational strategies have systems where data flows fluently from one place to another. The information the new business team inputs can be seen by project managers when the work is won, timesheet data informs forecasting, not just payroll, resource plans talk to your budget, and your budgets talk to your commercial targets. This kind of integration doesn’t require enterprise software, it needs joined-up thinking and a willingness to strip things back to basics.
It also means you don’t need to ask your team to input the same thing in five different places, just because that's how people worked at previous agencies. When processes are integrated properly, the effort is made once, and ultimately value is created for the client.
From Tools to Intelligence
At the same time, data isn’t valuable unless it’s used. And most agencies have more data than they know what to do with, they just often haven't setup systems to allow for instant access to it. And sometimes, even when they do, their platform dashboards light up with numbers, but no one’s quite sure what they mean, or they can't agree on how to use it.
Take something like utilisation. On paper, it’s a simple metric, how much of someone’s time is spent on chargeable work, but it’s interpreted differently across the agency. Finance sees it as a measure of revenue potential. The Managing Director may see it as a gauge of overall productivity. HR might worry that high utilisation signals overwork and looming burnout. Delivery teams may be more concerned about whether utilisation levels are consistent with their delivery timelines.
These different interpretations can lead to confusion or even tension when reviewing performance. The same number can trigger very different actions depending on who’s looking at it.
That’s why operational clarity is so important. It’s not just about gathering data, it’s about creating a shared understanding of what that data means, how it’s measured, and what to do with it. When there’s alignment on interpretation, the agency can act with confidence. When there’s not, decisions become fragmented, and opportunities are missed.
Having an operational strategy turns those numbers into decisions, it identifies the clients that are dragging down your margins, the stages of your process that are eating up time, and the projects that are running off-track before they become a problem. Ultimately, it allows leaders to be proactive, not reactive. And it gives your team the confidence that they’re not just busy, they’re working in a way that’s moving the agency forward.
Bringing Order to the Chaos
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. But there is a right order to do things.
Map your workflows: understand how the work gets done
Audit your tools: what’s working, what’s duplicated, what’s gathering dust
Simplify: fewer tools with better integration
Train and embed: make process and platform part of your culture, not an add-on
Accountability: Who's in charge of the systems?
This is where operational thinking shows its value. Not just in the platforms you use, but in how you use them, how those platforms support your people and how those people are freed up to do their best work, not spending their time wrestling with admin.
The dream is not an agency that never needs management. But it is possible to build one that almost manages itself, one where decisions are intelligence-led, work flows smoothly, and tools work for you, not against you. Once your team are fully embedded into the process, they can become autonomous, making decisions earlier, confident in the outcome.
Does this sound familiar? If your agency is constantly chasing it's tail and wondering why growth has stalled, click below to book a call and find out how AOC can help you discovery clarity.
