Inefficiency is thief of time in creative industry says new survey
Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2006
The creative industry is squandering a day a week on non-billable time according to a new report commissioned by Agency Software Worldwide (ASW), the developers of the integrated job costing, client management and accounting system, Paprika.
The independent survey of more than 100 Design, PR and Advertising agencies discovered that the industry is being hindered by poor management practices and inefficient use of agency time.
More than three quarters of agencies questioned said upwards of 20% of their staff's working week was devoted to non-client activity, with admin accounting for a staggering 60% of non billable time! Training, Pitching and Meetings were found to take up most of the remainder.
Agency Software Worldwide's, international marketing director Luisa Pollini-Kommu (pictured) said: "What we have found is that effectively the industry is just 80% efficient… in these days when margins are under pressure and clients ever-more demanding that is really not good enough. Too much time is devoted to non-revenue earning activity, and this time could be easily reduced, by having job management software that is easy to understand and use. The entire creative sector is experiencing rapid and constant change that threatens to leave behind those organisations not willing to or able to adapt. Working practices need modernising and optimising to maintain competitiveness and improve business performance."
Other key findings were that 40% of those surveyed said they either hated filing in time sheets or didn't do them at all, yet the vast majority of agencies said that they measured business performance firstly by the job profitability of each individual job and then by the profitability of the business. But without knowing how much time is spent on each job, it is impossible to determine if its profit or loss making.
Clients are increasingly demanding more bang for their buck, while the marketing budget is being spread increasingly thinly across a broadening range of disciplines.
However, Jim Surguy, senior partner, Results International (Consultant to the marcomms sector) comments:" If as the survey says 20% of all staff time is unrelated to client work, without wishing to be mischevious, then the implication is that agencies are carrying too many staff. If the work is thereto be done it will be done, indeed the common complaint is over-servicing and late working. On the basis putting in job management software might make people more efficient and as a result increase the billable time, and so provide a traansparency which will allow agencies to address this issue. The failure to fill in time sheets is a point well made. It is the Achilles heel of too many firms.
The full survey results coincide with the launch of Agency Software Worldwide's new agency management software, Paprika, on November 8th in central London. For further information visit: www.paprika-software.com.
See this article at Creative Match.