synergists-new-capacity-insights-help-agencies-better-plan-their-resources

Synergist’s New Capacity Insights Help Agencies Better Plan Their Resources

Synergist has recently added a new feature to their agency management software: capacity insights.

Late-night, last-minute pitch amends with pizza and beer are part of the agency fun, right? But for every Friday that you and your teams go home with shoulders up against your ears, there are quieter times. Times when specific skill sets aren’t required, so that particular team can polish their craft or do some R&D.

But what do these peaks and troughs do for your bottom line? You’re still paying salaries during less-manic times. If you’re not charging for the hours, how does it impact your profits?

Ultimately, if you want your agency to be more profitable then calmer, more balanced working patterns are key. Teams are consistently fully utilised. Less panic-and-pizza, more profitability.

Here’s how Synergist’s capacity insights can help you manage fluctuations in utilisation for a calmer, less chaotic workplace:

Forecast capacity over the next 3-6 months

If your pipeline is lean, it can be tempting to take any work that comes your way. But be wary about what you accept. If that work makes busy people busier and leaves those twiddling their thumbs with nothing new to do, then you’re inviting a capacity issue and a big headache.

An issue that’s going to greatly impact the utilisation, and therefore recoverability, of some team members.

Synergist shows you how much time has been estimated on live jobs, how much has been booked on chargeable and non-chargeable work or holidays, and how much is still available.

You can view this data by team, skill, or individual. This means you can see where you have hours to sell and where you might have resourcing issues. You can also quickly spot any increased demand for specific skills, which can inform your training, recruitment, and freelancer-hiring decisions.

See the impact of winning new work

Can you see what’s in your pipeline? Do you know how likely the work is to land and when? And if it does, what will this mean for your capacity?

A clear idea of what’s coming in — or conversely, lost work — can help you plan better. Getting to grips with the true picture of your pipeline helps you take the right actions to level out peaks and troughs, both in terms of workload and finances.

With Synergist, you can track your opportunities and see exactly how winning opportunities would affect your resources. You can even see the impact of all opportunities or just view the most probable ones, so you can proactively plan resources.

A pipeline that’s fit to burst isn’t good for you or your clients, tempting as it may seem. Knowing what’s coming in and when helps you to green-light projects only when they’re manageable, creating a steady flow of work for your teams. Be honest with your clients, too. They want your full focus on their projects, not to be part of a panicky set of unfeasible deadlines.

In search of the ideal scenario…

In a perfect world, all your team members will be working on chargeable work all the time. To move as close to this scenario as possible, you need a clear view of your schedule. What’s booked against each department and individual, what’s highly likely to land, and when.

From there, you can see any gaps and your new business team, Account Managers and Client Services can look at the best ways to fill these.

Managing peaks and troughs using capacity planning software can really help you keep your agency’s profits stable and your workloads manageable. Keeping the pizza and beer for purely social occasions…

Visit Synergist’s website to learn more about how Synergist can help you power your agency’s performance and profitability.