Challenges of Project Management at a Digital Agency
Published: 07/05/2022
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This article is for project managers of digital agencies and consultancies, focusing on the issues the job poses amidst its rapid transition into digitalisation. The challenges of project management today are very different from what they were as recently as five years ago. To stay ahead, you need to progress and adapt.
The ongoing digitalisation of the business world is continually generating an increase in demand for digital projects. Whether it’s the creation of a new website, a sophisticated marketing campaign, an expansion of the content library, or virtually anything else, the recognition of the value digital agencies provide is ever-growing. At first glance, it may seem that the agencies are experiencing their golden age—every business wants more clients, more exciting projects to work on, and more revenue to keep the company afloat. However, the rapid growth in demand actually presents a new set of challenges.
In fact, the sudden surge in interest and the onboarding of more clients often throws agencies into chaos. Many choose to address this by scaling their teams and hiring more specialists to carry out the tasks. However, only a small handful recognise that the correct area to address is project management. The fast-paced digitalisation of the world renders practices that were effective a few years ago inadequate for today’s challenges - and that’s our topic for today.
It is essential to differentiate between traditional project management and digital project management; the two are not the same. Although both roles are nearly identical in their functions and the required soft skills, the knowledge and abilities expected from a digital project manager extend far beyond those of a traditional skillset.
The following outlines the requirements for a top-tier digital project management:
The role of a project manager has always been multi-dimensional. However, they are now expected to be a jack-of-all-trades. They must possess a practical understanding of what each member of the digital team does in order to lead them effectively.
The digitalisation of project management relies heavily on the tools you utilise. Since we have been in the era of technological breakthroughs for some time, it no longer simply involves transferring physical processes into the digital realm – for example, calculating project budgets in Excel spreadsheets rather than on paper. The goal of today’s world is to identify and adopt the tools that suit your unique needs and are capable of scaling with you.
The concept of project management software is not new, and many agencies have long since adopted it. However, there is a significant gap between the systems that emerged in the past and the modern platforms. That said, it does not mean the older software is unsuitable for today’s projects; depending on the developer’s approach, it could be well adapted to current requirements and even superior to newer solutions due to its market experience. Nevertheless, outdated project management software often contributes to the challenges of digital project management.
The flaw of older solutions often lies in their inability to handle the workload that modern digital agencies are shouldering. Thus, one of the key indicators of whether your software is outdated is its capacity to scale alongside you. Generally speaking, if it allows only a limited number of projects or becomes slow after reaching a certain capacity, you need new solutions, as the current one hinders your growth and is, at the very least, inconvenient.
Client billing, invoice creation, and expense claims are three processes that many agencies fear and loathe. While they are absolutely vital for business, they also require a significant amount of time to execute and are prone to errors, resulting in a multitude of consequences, including the loss of clients and damage to the agency’s reputation. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be this way – the market for tools offering automation of these processes is booming.
In fact, some solutions easily incorporate all three. For example, Timesheet Portal allows you to automate invoice generation and distribution based on timesheets, expenses, and pay rate differentiations. It also sends them to the relevant clients, and you can even automate a reminder when the invoice clearance deadline is approaching. In terms of expenses, our software is equipped to calculate mileage, upload and store receipts, change currency, and much more. In other words, not only do we enable automation of all the key processes, but we also allow the user to integrate them within the workflows.
Most traditional project management processes are not designed for the modern landscape. While in theory they still work, they are often outdated and consequently consume a lot of time—something that is akin to a gold price for project managers. Inefficient manual processes have numerous negative impacts on the agency, from struggling to meet or outright missing deadlines to becoming unable to scale due to barely managing the existing work volumes.
A manual approval process may suffice for agencies with a smaller number of projects, where the approvers have the time to manage it manually through email threads. However, as companies scale, they are urged to adopt a customised and dedicated approval workflow to cope with the increasing workload in a timely fashion.
Lack of it often results in sending items to the wrong stakeholder at the wrong time, thereby causing confusion and potential delays. Automating a workflow would eliminate that issue, as the approval material would move back and forth between its stages at the click of the approver, rather than having the project manager as an intermediary. It also simplifies the process of giving and receiving feedback, as it’s attached to the document in question instead of an email that can be easily overlooked. These complications arise even with fewer projects—can you imagine the chaos such inefficiency would cause when juggling multiple projects at once?
Since we’ve mentioned feedback, let’s discuss the overall collaboration across different departments. As digital agencies comprise specialists focusing on various areas, the project manager’s role is to coordinate their efforts towards a shared goal. This would be nearly impossible if they were all isolated and lacked visibility into one another’s work and progress, not to mention the value of sharing insights that the other party would otherwise be unable to access. In other words, collaboration is essential.
The problem often observed with getting the departments to work together is that communication is scattered. Whether they are sending relevant documentation to one another via different channels or through the project manager, this is not only inefficient but also strips the rest of the team of the opportunity to access the files and possibly provide their input. The solution is simple: adopting a centralised collaboration platform. It should enable file sharing, commentary, and tracking of changes, as well as be accessible to multiple users simultaneously. Cloud platforms are best equipped for this role, as they are web-based and enable team collaborations in real time.
While being a digital agency traditionally means supplying your clients with services in the digital space, such as website creation and marketing, that is not the only interpretation of ‘digital’. You could and should approach it from the perspective of being innovative and tech-savvy as part of your business identity. Digitising your internal processes, rather than merely providing digital services, is bound to deliver significant benefits, especially if you combine them. You will work more quickly and efficiently, allowing you to scale at rapid speeds.
If, after reading this article, you’re eager to adopt various solutions to tackle each of your challenges, hold your horses. While there is software available for virtually any need you may have, using multiple programmes that require manual data transfers is counterproductive to the outcome you’re aiming for. This approach would ultimately mean reverting to manual processes instead of automating them, and you would have spent a significant amount of money in the process.
First of all, many SaaS solutions typically address multiple areas of interest rather than having a single focus. It’s always wise to contact the vendor with a question or a demo request to determine if you could kill two birds with one stone. Secondly, different solutions can also be interconnected for automatic data transfers and workflows through integration. While most providers offer a list of available options, some are willing to create a custom link between the solutions for you. That said, avoid trying to purchase as many digital solutions as possible. Instead, aim for a fewer number that work together—this will provide you with more features than a collection of stand-alone software can offer.
While scaling and business growth are the goals of most digital agencies, not all are prepared to embrace success. A lack of process optimisation during growth can backfire, as increased workloads may lead to missed deadlines and a decline in project quality. Ultimately, the agency risks not only losing its newly acquired clients but also damaging its reputation, potentially hindering further growth.
Although many business owners respond to this by increasing their workforce, the key area responsible for smooth adjustment and gradual growth is project management. The focus should be on optimising internal processes through automation. This includes aspects such as collaboration, client billing, approval processes, and a holistic view of project progression. After all, no matter how large your team is—if their efforts cannot be aligned towards the same goal, you will fail.
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