Intro
Have you ever counted the number of tools you use daily? As a company grows, it tends to accumulate tools to meet various needs (over 12 tools just for a marketing team!).
However, streamlining your tool usage is crucial for improving profitability, smoothing out operations, and giving your teams time to focus on what really matters: clients and project management.
But how can you achieve this? Follow the guide in 3 key steps.
David Aït-Ali, Co-Founder of Rébellion
The most challenging part when searching for a tool like this is finding one that is truly all-in-one, designed to handle everything from start to finish. We had a hard time finding that. We reviewed many competitors, and none of them truly addressed the problem in its entirety.
The proliferation of tools
Why it’s dangerous
For some, more tools mean more features, more flexibility, and theoretically, more efficiency. But in reality, it’s often the opposite that occurs. The proliferation of tools leads to information silos and redundancies that complicate daily management. On average, an employee loses 1 hour per day searching for relevant data across different applications, according to a study by Qatalog and the Ellis Idea Lab at Cornell University.
The result? Teams spend valuable time juggling between these tools, which hampers productivity and increases the risk of errors. Additionally, 44% of employees believe their colleagues duplicate work, further exacerbating the situation.
For operational staff and project managers, it means managing a project without being able to anticipate the designer’s vacation. You discover too late that the final visual isn’t ready, jeopardizing the entire client campaign and delaying outgoing invoicing.
For production management, it’s the inability to synchronize the efforts of the sales team and production teams. You might have salespeople selling more projects than your team can handle, or conversely, unanticipated downtimes. Who suffers? Your profitability.
For financial management, it’s the inability to track project progress in real time to know when to invoice. Without this information, it’s challenging to maintain a steady and healthy cash flow, keeping the ship afloat to the USA (and beyond!).
Streamlining for better management
The benefits
A unified work environment offers significant benefits:
Improved visibility: A clear overview of projects, allocated resources, and incurred costs.
Increased responsiveness: Ability to quickly adapt to unforeseen issues.
Fewer errors: Reduced information silos and redundancies.
Significant time savings: Streamlining your tools can result in an average 30% reduction in back-office time.
The Hula-Hoop agency case study
Hula-Hoop, a brand strategy agency with over 15 years of experience and 70 employees spread across several countries, faced challenges in organization and cross-functional integration. Before Furious, the agency used different tools for management, planning, and client relations, which limited visibility on time spent on projects.
Since adopting Furious 4 years ago, Hula-Hoop has centralized its operations on a single platform. This unification has effectively connected the agency’s various structures, making it easier to identify and track the time each employee spends on a project. This has not only improved coordination between teams in Montreal and Nantes but also supported the agency’s overall growth.
Challenges before Furious:
Fragmented project management. Lack of cross-functional integration across roles and countries. Multiple tools and lack of coherence. Limited visibility on time spent and projects.
Solutions provided by Furious:
Centralization of project management data (on a single platform). Simplification and time savings through automation of administrative processes. Regular monitoring of KPIs in real time to track economic and social data. Improved coordination between teams.
Thanks to Furious, I have dashboards that are absolutely amazing, providing real-time and continuous data. I’ve set up a board to track all economic and social data, as well as year-over-year comparisons, which updates live and I check daily.
This centralization of tools has also been beneficial for Progress Partners, another growing service company.
The Progress Partners case study
Progress Partners, led by Pascal VanBerten, experienced significant growth, requiring better management and a solid prospecting pipeline. Before Furious, the company used two separate systems, leading to gaps in planning and billing.
Challenges before Furious:
Use of two separate systems.
Gaps in billing, with up to 30% of invoices unpaid.
Uncontrolled growth due to a lack of data centralization.
Solutions provided by Furious:
Centralization of tools: One platform for planning and billing.
Automation of reminders: Reduction of unpaid invoices from 30% to 9%.
Time savings and increased efficiency: 20 to 30% time savings in daily management, allowing growth without the need for additional hires.
Harmonizing without disrupting: the 3 steps
1. Identify under-utilized tools
Start with a comprehensive audit of the tools currently in use:
Analyze the tools: List all the tools being used.
Identify redundancies: Spot those that are redundant or underutilized and those that do not communicate with each other.
Dialogue with teams: Discuss with your teams to understand their habits, needs, and repetitive tasks that could be automated.
Requirements document: Draft a summary document of the findings and core needs aimed at improving profitability.
2. Streamline processes
Review your current tools: Can any of them meet all the features you’re looking for? If the answer is yes, great! If not, choose a single platform that centralizes project management data, time tracking, and billing. An all-in-one business tool.
3. Use your tool park to its full potential
Use tools that offer automation features for repetitive tasks. Next, fully integrate your new tool into your daily processes. Ensure that all teams are trained to leverage its full potential. This will help reduce errors, improve efficiency, and free up time for higher-value tasks.
- Above: the aggregation of financial, time spent, billing and progress data for a customer project on the Furious tool.
Ensuring a smooth transition
Switching from multiple tools to a single one can seem daunting. However, service companies that have adopted this approach report a significant improvement in their profitability.
By centralizing their management tools, they have been able to:
Reduce time spent on administrative tasks (an average decrease of 10%).
Improve the accuracy of financial reports.
Optimize resource use.
This transition simplifies processes, eliminates redundancies, and increases efficiency. By unifying tools, companies create a smoother and more responsive work environment, capable of quickly adapting to unforeseen issues and changing market needs.
The case of SMASH consulting firm
SMASH Group, a rapidly growing consulting firm, chose Furious to centralize and optimize its management. Before Furious, the company used Excel files to manage working hours and administrative tasks, which limited visibility and efficiency.
We were monitoring from Excel files, which didn’t really reflect the reality of things and were very static. With the arrival of Furious, we moved to a much more dynamic environment with real-time monitoring. And of course, data security.
To learn more about SMASH’s experience with Furious, check out their full testimonial to find out how they transitioned from Excel to Furious.
Furious: your ally in optimized management
At Furious, we understand the challenges service companies face. 78% of managers and executives who come to us express the need to unify their tool stack due to a lack of visibility.
Our clients struggle daily to ensure their teams follow processes and to obtain accurate indicators for effective management. They waste a lot of time with multiple, disconnected tools, complicating project management and resource planning.
Our all-in-one solution allows you to track project progress in real time, manage resources effectively, and centralize all your management data.
With all workflows in one place, Furious replaces an average of 7 tools, saves 30% of back-office time, and cuts 20% of management time.
Want to learn more about our solution?
Contact our experts and get a free trial today.
David Aït-Ali, Co-Founder of Rébellion
I believe that thanks to Furious, we save and gain about 10% of the agency’s overall time. It might seem small, but as the agency grows, 10% is significant. It’s a real advantage. We’ve automated many things with Furious and now have the ability to access regular, excellent indicators.
