Choosing professional services automation (PSA) software is like shopping for a car. You want a model that fits your needs and budget, but you don't want to sacrifice features. It wouldn't make sense for a family of six to buy a two-seater sports car, right? The same goes for PSA software. You must understand your organization’s needs and evaluate the features and functionalities of each product to make the right selection. Here are our tips for choosing the best PSA software for your business.

Let’s be honest: professional service agreements (PSAs) can be difficult to read, and they’re even harder to write. But if you work in the creative industry or the knowledge economy, you’ll probably work with a business or individual providing professional services. There are around 910,000 professional services firms in the United States alone, employing some 9.5 million professionals.

Ask any managed service provider (MSP) about their biggest challenge, and they will likely tell you that it’s maintaining efficient workflow and streamlined project management processes. Balancing customer requests and managing multiple projects can quickly become overwhelming, especially without the right tools in place. That’s where professional services automation (PSA) software comes into play.

Successful project management and service delivery require efficient coordination of resources and processes. But let's be real here: Coordinating a complex web of tasks across different teams and departments can be overwhelming. Between staffing, budgeting, resource utilization, and billing, you can spend more time on administrative tasks than actually serving your customers. This can seriously hurt your bottom line and damage your reputation. But don't worry.

Accurate, streamlined billing processes are absolutely essential for professional service providers. It’s how your business generates revenue, tracks payments, and maintains cash flow. But too often, businesses rely on manual processes that are time-consuming, prone to errors, and difficult to keep up with, risking unbilled hours, frustrated clients, and decreased profit margins.

The whirlwind of to-dos, deadlines, and don’t-forgets of project management can challenge even the most experienced project manager. That's why having the right project management tools in your arsenal is crucial for staying organized and on top of tasks. Project management trackers help you keep tabs on all the moving parts of a project, like assigning tasks, monitoring progress and deadlines, and tracking expenses.

Ever wondered why some projects seem to glide effortlessly to success, while others seem to hit every bump in the road? The answer might lie in the power of benchmarking. As the legendary management consultant Peter Drucker once said: “What a business needs most for its decisions — especially its strategic ones — is data about what goes on outside it. Only outside a business are there results, opportunities, and threats.”

Modern project management is more than a series of boxes to check — it’s about leveraging data and analytics to make smarter decisions, track progress, and improve performance. Project management analytics and metrics create a powerful, data-driven toolkit for project managers to accurately track progress, evaluate performance, and guide decision-making.

Like parents monitoring their kids’ whereabouts to keep them out of trouble, project managers monitor performance metrics to make sure their projects stay on track. With the wealth of data available today, however, trying to keep up with all of it can sometimes feel like drinking from a firehose. If you want your data to yield beneficial insights, it’s important to hone in on the KPIs and operational metrics that impact project and agency performance the most.

Simon Severino, a business strategy coach, has a 90-day plan for when she coaches teams on project management: “What we do in 90 days is — month one, we free up 10 to 14 hours of their time by better organizing, better processes.” This is the power of project management for ad agencies. Done right (and using the right tools), your agency can streamline processes to deliver high quality deliverables in less time. But what do the “right tools” look like?

Has your agency grown in the past few years, despite the numerous disruptions we’ve been through? If so, you’re not alone. Marketing as an industry is still growing fast. There are 54% more agencies today than five years ago, and the average staff size has grown at the same time. If you’ve enjoyed some of this growth, then it’s possible you’ve outgrown your current agency pricing model.

A qualified project manager with the proper skill set, experience, and attitude is critical for successful project management. Project managers oversee the entire project lifecycle, from planning and scheduling to execution and delivery, ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the agreed-upon quality standards. They are also responsible for risk management, stakeholder management, and resource allocation.

General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said: “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” So, when it comes to project management, who’s responsible for this all-important mission? Today, there are two primary project management roles with the responsibility of overseeing projects and guiding project teams to the promised land: project managers and project coordinators.

Nishar’s quote perfectly sums up the diverse challenges of managing product development. Product managers must be able to think strategically, plan out tasks, and coordinate the execution of product initiatives. But let’s face it: Juggling user research, product planning, prototyping, and customer feedback can be overwhelming. That’s why having the right product management tools in your arsenal is essential.

Managing change, creating common vision, and reaching desired outcomes are the three most vital priorities for anyone responsible for leading teams. In many agencies, this includes project managers, product managers, or both. While the names and day-to-day tasks of project managers and product managers may be similar, it’s worth understanding the significant differences between the roles. At a basic level, it’s as simple as it sounds.

When late payments are the rule and not the exception, the stability of your agency is at risk. Find out how to maintain cash flow with our five tips for getting clients to pay on time, every time. A recent Chaser study finds that 87% of businesses report that their invoices get paid after the due date. If you don’t have a system for ensuring clients pay you on time, you’re limiting your growth and sacrificing almost half your revenue.