Marketing agency resource management software

Resource management software and project management software are often confused, but they serve different purposes. While most project management tools focus on managing tasks, resource management is centered around the people actually doing the tasks.

Used right, a resource management tool makes it easy to assess people’s workloads and availability in real-time, and allocate work effectively across projects and teams.

This is particularly beneficial in a marketing agency, where client campaigns often have many moving parts and workloads can suddenly shift when a big new project comes in.

Without specialist software, there is a risk that overlapping projects will put excessive strain on your team, leading to project delays.

Resource management tools make project planning and scheduling much more efficient. The end result is the right people working on the right projects at the right time.

By implementing resource management software at your marketing agency you can:

• Create realistic project timelines that are based on real-time team availability
• Quickly find the team members and resources you need for upcoming projects
• Identify skill gaps and missing resources before they become bottlenecks
• Avoid scheduling clashes, overallocation, and team burnout
• Account for vacations, sick leave, and absences when planning marketing projects
• Analzye capacity, utilization rates, and billable hours for better project forecasting

The alternative to marketing agency resource management software is often a spreadsheet. But managing resources with a spreadsheet can be slow and inaccurate, as information doesn’t update dynamically. That means it's much harder to reassess and reschedule resources if people change their working hours or roles, gain new skills, or if the project scope shifts.

If you don't have the latest information on your team's abilities and availability, you're likely to run into issues. Project timelines may slip and you'll lose clients in the long run.

Both internal and client-facing teams can benefit from implementing a resource management solution. The bigger and busier the team, the more impact it can have.

At a marketing agency, a resource management tool can be used to manage the workloads of team members across Creative, Media, Strategy, and Operations teams, among others. The right software will make it easier to manage the time of any of the following roles:

• Brand Strategists
• Content Marketers
• Copywriters
• Creative Directors
• CRM Marketers
• Data/Insights Analysts
• Digital Marketers
• Email Marketers
• Graphic Designers
• Market Researchers
• Media Planners/Buyers
• Project Managers
• SEO Strategists
• Social Media Marketers
• Software Developers
• UX/UI Designers
• Web Developers

At a lot of marketing agencies, it’s the Resource Manager, Traffic Manager, or Project Managers that manage incoming requests from the Account Management team, so they are often the primary users.

However, Team Leads, Managers, and Directors will also appreciate how a resource management tool helps keep projects running smoothly and gives accountability by tracking utilization rates and billable hours.

As with most software, there are numerous solutions out there to choose between. The right choice for you will depend on the features offered and how they match up to the way you manage workloads and teams at your agency. After that, you may have a preference based on the cost, user experience, and support offered.

Here are a few of the top features you should look for when choosing a resource management solution:

• Resource scheduling – Can you assign work to team members and other resources easily? Is it clear who’s working on what on any given day, week, or month? Can you view all assigned work in a schedule and move or delete assignments as required?
• Resource management – Can you see all available people and resources in one place? Can you keep track of important information, like skills, locations, departments, and time zones?
• Capacity planning – Can you see how much work is assigned to each person? Is it clear who is overloaded with work and who is under-utilized? Can you easily plan ahead based on future capacity?
• Clash management – Is there a system in place to prevent double-bookings or excessive overtime? Is it easy to see when scheduling clashes happen and can you resolve them on the fly?
• Reporting and forecasting – Is it possible to analyze how many hours are assigned to each person, team, client, or project over different periods of time? Can you report on billable and non-billable hours, utilization rates, and time off?
• Leave management – Can vacation, sick leave, and other absences be managed alongside working hours? Is it easy to see when someone is out of the office or unavailable?
• Integrations – Can you connect to other systems you use in your workplace? Can you synchronize external calendars with project schedules so everything important is in one place?

Features aren’t everything though. A good resource management tool will be easy to use and affordable too. When choosing software, the elements below may also weigh into your decision:

• Cost – How much does the tool cost per month or year? Will it cost more as your team grows? Are there options to upgrade and add extra features and how much do they cost?
• Usability – Is the tool easy to use or will it take a long time to get your team up and running? Can everyone use it to complete their daily tasks with minimum fuss? Is the interface clear or confusing?
• Customer support – Is help available if needed? Is there a Help Center or documentation to answer common questions?

You should evaluate marketing agency resource management software based on all the above factors.

You may find that none of the tools do everything perfectly, or perhaps there is more than one that meets your needs. In that case, you should create a shortlist and try them out for yourself.

Tools like Resource Guru offer a free trial, which gives you the chance to see how it works for your team.