Work management July 23, 2024 16 MIN READ

7 Best Agency Management Software For Growing Teams

With agency management software, you can streamline your workflows, optimize operations, and, ultimately, boost profitability.

The challenge lies in picking the right solution for your needs.

We’ve done the legwork for you and compiled a list of the seven best agency management software, complete with pricing and features.

What is agency management software?

Agency management software, also known as an agency management system, is an all-in-one digital command center. It includes client and project management tools, resource planning, time tracking, reporting, invoicing, and more.

An agency management tool is perfect for professional services firms that work in areas such as marketing, advertising, PR, creative, web design, and social media. 

Whatever field you’re in, agency management software can help you be more efficient and profitable.

Features to consider for your agency management tool

Here are the key features you should consider when looking for an agency management software solution:

  • Project management: Create and track multiple projects and tasks by assigning tasks to team members, setting due dates, and monitoring progress
  • Resource management: Manage your team’s capacity with utilization reports and calendars showing who is overbooked and who can take on more work
  • Time tracking: Enable team members to track their time against projects and tasks, then use this information for billing, invoices, and utilization reporting 
  • Reporting and dashboards: Gain a better understanding of your agency’s financial health and operational efficiency to power data-driven decision-making
  • Billing and invoicing: Simplify and automate billing workflows and track payments and expenses to improve cash flow
  • Sales and CRM: Store new and existing client information in one system to manage client data and support business development
  • Integrations: Bring all your workflows into one platform. Like email, calendar, Microsoft Office, and accounting software

Some of these features might be more important to you than others. But, the overall goal is to streamline operations and drive productivity.

The 7 best agency management tools

Here’s our list of the top seven management tools for agencies:

1. Scoro

Scoro is an all-in-one agency management platform. The software provides complete visibility across projects, finances, and resources, helping you standardize operations, optimize team utilization, and boost profitability. 

The “Dashboard” is the first thing you see when you log in. It’s like the pilot’s cockpit for running your agency. You can track all your KPIs and metrics at a glance from this single view.

It shows you:

  • All current projects, ordered by client, along with key info like due date and status
  • Your own tasks and their due dates so that you can stay on top of your own agenda
  • Critical business KPIs for the last month, including revenue and deals closing, so you can keep an eye on profitability

You can create your own custom “Dashboard” in Scoro with widgets and charts to monitor metrics like pipeline deals, project profitability, monthly revenue, billable utilization, resource availability, and more.

With Scoro, you can manage your entire project lifecycle, from quote to invoice, in one platform. For example, you can easily create professional-looking project estimates directly in Scoro.

Just look at the “Pipeline” overview to track quotes and client acquisition activities. It shows potential clients and projects, their value, and current status.

So you can follow up when needed to help drive growth and scale your agency.

Once a client approves the quote, you can then turn each quote into a project and start planning the project and its timeline using the “Gantt” chart:

When the project is up and running, you can use Scoro to monitor its performance and profitability in real time. 

The “Budget burn” visualization shows how the planned budget compares to the actual costs. This can help you steer the project on track, keeping clients happy and your agency profitable.

Screenshot of a budget burn chart in Scoro

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What you’ll love

Scoro’s reporting templates give you insight into every area of your business. You can access the info you need to run a profitable agency in just two clicks.

The “Revenue report” tracks revenue in real-time based on quotes and projects. Any changes will automatically update the report. 

If you want to analyze how productive your team members are and determine who generates the most income, you can check out the Utilization” report. Toggle between days, weeks, and months to see how much time team members spend on billable vs. non-billable work.

Scoro calculates the percentage of productive hours and highlights the cell in green or red. This shows you if someone is well-utilized. So you can reward your top performers and re-allocate resources when needed.

Another helpful report is the “Pipeline” report.

The report is split into deal stages. This gives you an overview of current business opportunities. You can also filter by team member to see who is most efficient at sales.

These three reports are just a starting point. It’s just as easy to run detailed reports on any other business area, such as productivity, sales, utilization, costs, etc.

Core features of Scoro you’ll love

  • 50+ report templates covering productivity, utilization, revenue, cost, profitability, and sales
  • Client portal where you can share project progress and key information with clients to avoid back-and-forth via email
  • Quotes including price estimates, deliverables, and timing to help you drive new business
  • Pipeline view to forecast revenue, measure sales performance, and evaluate pipeline health
  • Automated billing and payment reminders to ensure you get paid on time, every time
  • Multiple ways to track time to make time tracking a breeze

Integrations

Scoro integrates with key tools to make agency project management smoother. Such as:

  • Slack
  • Gmail
  • Calendar apps like  Google Calendar, iCal, Microsoft Exchange, and Calendly
  • GitHub
  • Asana
  • Jira

Pricing

Scoro has four flexible plans:

  • Essential: $19 per user per month
  • Standard:  $29 per user per month
  • Pro: $49 per user per month
  • Ultimate: On request

A two-week free trial is available.

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2. Teamwork

Teamwork combines project management and time tracking with operational tools. Designed for agencies and IT services, it enables you to manage resources and streamline project workflows. 

For example, Teamwork’s “project health” report gives a high-level snapshot of key factors, such as time remaining, budget status, task completion rate, and more.

This centralized view makes it easy to prioritize projects, reallocate resources, and keep initiatives moving smoothly.

To dig deeper into resourcing, the “Utilization” Report shows how your team’s estimated and actual time gets distributed.

This ensures that no one is overworked or underutilized as projects progress. You can also make adjustments quickly based on real data.

You can check the “Budgets” tab to manage budgets for current projects. The progress bar and percent show you whether you are within budget or at risk of going over.

Teams can use these metrics to set better project pricing, make smart hiring decisions, and pivot as needed.

What you’ll love

Teamwork’s reporting features give valuable insights into business performance. Reports include utilization, task completion per user, planned vs. actual, and more.

You can check out the task completion per user report for insights into how your team spends their time. 

It provides a detailed view of each team member’s tasks, categorized by assigned, completed, and overdue. So you can evaluate productivity and ensure no one is overloaded.

You can also run custom reports for more detailed insights. In the Reports section, click “Create custom report.” Then select “Add Column.” 

This lets you gain detailed insights like comparing revenue and project health by client or project owner.

Core features of Teamwork you’ll love

  • Project templates for creative requests, content creation workflows, and more
  • Calendar view to get a monthly overview of projects and tasks
  • Reports to assess business performance
  • Proofing feature to streamline the review process
  • Workload planner to help you distribute tasks according to availability

Integrations

Teamwork has many integrations, including:

  • Slack
  • HubSpot
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Stripe
  • Email apps like Gmail, Outlook, and MailChimp
  • Time tracking applications like Toggl
  • Accounting tools like FreshBooks and QuickBooks
  • Google Calendar (but not iCal or Calendly)

Pricing

Four plans are available, starting with the Free plan for small teams. You’ll need the Grow plan for reports, workload, and capacity management.

  • Free
  • Starter:  $5.99 per user per month
  • Deliver: $9.99 per user per month
  • Grow: $19.99 per user per month

Teamwork offers a free trial.

3. Productive

Productive describes itself as an all-in-one agency management software. It aims to be a scalable platform for agencies of all sizes, giving them insights into operations and profitability.  

For example, Productive makes it easy to map out project stages in Kanban workflow boards.

When it comes to resourcing, the software provides in-depth utilization reporting and forecasting. You can analyze utilization over time and create forecasts based on scheduled client work.

Monitoring utilization ensures teams balance workloads optimally across employees.

For the financial side, Productive ties project budgets to tracked time so profitability is visible in real-time. There’s also consolidated invoicing and revenue recognition functionality.

To get an overview of your agency’s expenditure, just click “Expenses.” This helps you keep tabs on your spending and find ways to drive efficiencies.

Of course, profitability isn’t just about saving on expenses. You also need to drive new business. This is what the “Open Deals” feature is for.

Open “CRM” in the menu and then click “Open deals (Board).” It shows you an overview of leads and prospects. You can check whether they have received a proposal and if negotiation is in process.

What you’ll love

Productive offers useful reports providing insights into business-critical areas. 

You can tap into a variety of templates, including financials, operations, profitability, sales, and more.

Screenshot of the reports library in Productive

For example, “Profitability by client” uses invoice data to measure which clients are driving the most revenue. So you can prioritize your most valuable relationships.

Core features that Productive you’ll love

  • Multiple project and task visualization options, such as table, list, Gantt, board, calendar, and timeline
  • Summary of estimated and tracked time to drive efficiency
  • Financial reports to optimize revenue and budget expenditure 
  • Customer relationship management tool to store contact information of clients and potential customers
  • Manage invoices with the billing software integration
  • Time off feature to monitor availability
  • Docs for creating notes and briefs

Integrations

Productive integrates with tools such as:

  • Slack
  • Gmail, Google Calendar, and Microsoft Outlook
  • GitHub
  • Jira
  • HubSpot
  • Accounting tools like FreshBooks, Sage, and Xero
  • HR software like SAP and Personio

Pricing

There are four pricing plans available:

  • Essential: $9 per user per month
  • Professional:  $24 per user per month
  • Ultimate: On request
  • Enterprise: On request

Productive offers a 14-day free trial.

4. Float

With Float, you can forecast capacity, manage projects, and monitor productivity. It’s suitable for teams of up to 1,000 people. Float offers many planning and scheduling functions to keep teams on track and balance their workloads.

For example, the “Schedule” view provides managers with an overarching timeline dashboard displaying team members, their availability, and their current tasks across the organization’s entire project portfolio.

This centralized visibility makes it easy to strategically plan resourcing based on bandwidth and capabilities, matching people to the right assignments. 

As work is completed, handy pre-filled timesheets simplify logging hours for employees. With a simple click, staff can capture the effort spent with no need for manual data entry.

Useful reporting, like the “People” report, compares those initial schedule estimates against actual logged hours, revealing efficiency opportunities over time.

Screenshot of the People report in Float

What you’ll love

In the “Project” report view, you can see a helpful overview of upcoming projects. It includes information such as capacity, scheduled hours (billable vs. non-billable), and overtime for each team member.

Core features of Float you’ll love

  • Capacity management to plan time off and public holidays
  • Resource scheduling to assign tasks to team members based on capacity
  • Project planning divided into phases and milestones
  • Mobile app for iOS and Android
  • Time tracking using an in-app timer and manual logging

Integrations

Float offers some integrations, including:

  • Slack
  • Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook
  • Jira
  • Other project management tools, like Trello and Asana

However, integrations with key business platforms for accounting, HR, marketing, and other tools are not available.

Pricing

Float has three plans:

  • Starter: $6 per user per month
  • Pro: $10 per user per month
  • Enterprise: On request

There is a 30-day free trial.

5. Runn

Runn is a resource management tool that offers project management and task allocation, capacity forecasts, and financial reporting. The planning and forecasting functionalities improve efficiency and drive profitability.

Runn provides reporting and analytics to help you optimize personnel planning and improve efficiency.

For example, the “People Utilization Report” shows heatmaps flagging resourcing gaps and surpluses across business units. So you can balance team members’ workloads and ensure projects have enough resources.

Screenshot of the utilization report in Runn

The “Project Overview” report enables real-time budget tracking so you can see if initiatives are on target financially and meeting milestones on time—and adjust plans early when needed.

Runn also offers forecasting so you can make smarter future decisions. By forecasting your team’s capacity, you can predict future hiring needs based on projected work—so you can scale up confidently.

With data visibility into utilization, project health, and pipeline planning, Runn helps teams optimize their talent, finances, and growth.

What you’ll love

Runn offers a bunch of reporting options that provide insight into business performance and help you keep your agency on track.

Under “Reports,” you’ll notice premade reporting templates to help you manage people and projects.

You can check out the “People Explorer” report for detailed insights into team members’ performance. 

It shows you the revenue and costs per team member. This way, you can reward your high-performers and support those who need assistance.

Screenshot of the people explorer report in Runn

Core features of Runn you’ll love

  • Timesheet tracking with daily and weekly entry options
  • Capacity management to balance your teams’ workloads
  • Project forecasting to plan ahead and measure revenue, profit, and costs
  • Resource allocation based on availability, skills, and job role
  • Retainer and flat-rate projects to better categorize and analyze your client work
  • Timesheet reports to measure output and achieve optimal workloads

Integrations

Runn offers two types of integrations:

  • HR software like Workday, Personio, and Sage HR
  • Time tracking apps like Harvest and Clockify

Slack, email, and calendar are not currently available.

Pricing

Runn offers three plans, including a free option. You’ll need at least the Pro version to access all features.

  • Free
  • Pro: $8 per user per month
  • Enterprise: On request

The tool offers a 14-day free trial.

6. Paymo

Paymo offers small- to medium-sized businesses project management, time tracking, and invoicing. It’s available in your web browser and on Android and iOS.

The “Dashboard” in the home tab displays the most important KPIs for your business, including the number of projects, clients, billable vs. non-billable, and unpaid balance.

For an overview of what everyone is working on, navigate to “Team’s Tasks.” This gives you an overview of all activities so you can keep teams and their projects on track.

In the “Accounting” tab, you can create invoices and estimates.

What you’ll love

You can create time reports to measure your team’s productivity and identify areas for improvement.

Open “Time Reports” and click “Add report.” Then select a time frame and hit “Save report.”

This shows you an overview of everything a team member has been working on. So you can evaluate their productivity and adjust their workload if needed.

Core features of Paymo you’ll love

  • Client overview to keep track of all your client data in a CRM-style dashboard
  • Invoice and estimates to create financial documents without toggling between tools
  • Time reports and timesheets to track team member efficiency
  • Team scheduling to ensure optimal workload balancing
  • Project management, including task creation and allocation

Integrations

Paymo’s integrations include:

  • Slack
  • Google Calendar 
  • QuickBooks and Xero for accounting
  • Integrators that connect with other tools, like Pabbly for integration with Google Apps, Dropbox, Microsoft Teams, and Shopify

Pricing

Paymo offers several pricing options. For timesheets and project profitability reports, you’ll need at least the Small Office package.

  • Free
  • Starter:  $5.90 per user per month
  • Small Office: $10.90 per user per month
  • Business: $16.90 per user per month

7. Accelo

Accelo is a work management platform. Designed for professional services companies, Accelo aims to be an all-in-one system. It uses business automation software to help digital and creative agencies save time. 

You can keep track of projects, tasks, sales, and invoices all in one place.

In the “Projects” tab, you’ll see an overview of everything your team is currently working on. It includes valuable information like project start date, earned value, and budget.

Within a project, you can view milestones and tasks. This handy overview helps you keep projects on track.

Accelo provides valuable insight into a project’s financial health. The “Insights” tab shows you financial KPIs like budget, value, and profit. So you can see how profitable a project is and prioritize accordingly.

You can keep track of new clients in the sales view. This helps you grow and scale your business.

You can’t create invoices with Accelo. However, you can connect it to your accounting software and keep track of your invoices. So you can check if an invoice is overdue.

What you’ll love

Accelo has a ton of helpful reports to help with client management, accounting, project management, and sales.

For example, the “Profitability Dashboard” provides a comprehensive overview of revenue vs. costs. So you can monitor your agency’s financial performance.

Core features of Accelo you’ll love

  • Project management, including project and task creation and tracking
  • Tickets for technical support
  • Quote tracking to keep track of potential new clients and projects
  • Overview of invoices
  • Reports to gain insight into agency performance

Integrations

Accelo supports a number of integrations, including:

  • Microsoft 365
  • Google Workspace
  • Accounting tools like QuickBooks
  • HubSpot
  • Salesforce

Pricing

Accelo offers four pricing options starting at $50. 

  • Professional: $50 per user per month
  • Business: $70 per user per month
  • Advanced: $90 per user per month
  • Elite: Upon Request

A 7-day trial is available.

Find the right management tool for your agency

There’s a ton of agency management solutions out there. 

But if you’re looking to bring all your projects, clients, billing, pipeline activities, and more into a single platform, we’re confident Scoro is the best choice. 

With Scoro, you can manage, monitor, and optimize every aspect of your agency’s operations. This data-driven approach helped feat. Agency to drive €550,000 more revenue.

Want to give Scoro a shot? Sign up for a free trial—no credit card is required.

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