How KPIs Can Help Your Creative Agency Thrive

As we all know, the continued onset of technology and its ease of use has moved the needle in many creative agencies. Significant efficiencies can now be achieved by having a centralized cloud-based single system to capture those estimates, jobs, timesheets, and invoices that were likely held in disparate systems previously. So, job well done for everyone who has taken that step! However, it doesn’t end there as with everything captured into a single database, we can start to explore some of the intelligence that is contained in the data.

What is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator)? “In every line of business there’s some kind of metric that someone uses to gauge how they’re performing and whether to judge success or failure,” says Jing Suk, an adjunct professor at Rutgers Business School. There should be the vital navigation instruments used by managers and owners to understand whether they are on course or not. The correct set of KPI’s will help shine a light on performance at individual, team and overall business level.

Imagine, as the Owner of a creative agency, being able to look throughout the day at your business performance related to billable hours, or the Traffic Manager being able to look at staff utilization. Having access to such data, presented in an efficient and user-friendly manner, can dramatically assist in the decision making process on every level.

It’s all too easy to become overwhelmed by following too many KPI’s and so being selective about the ones that you consider important to the success of your business is crucial. A good KPI will give you that high-level view of performance. Those KPI’s can also be tied the successful attainment of larger business goals.

At Function Point, we have recently introduced a number of KPIs that can enable creative intelligence. They are customizable and available through the dashboard. There is also a neat summary of “job health” on the job details display. My colleague, Leonardo Maia, recently wrote about 4 Important KPIs to Measure.

At Function Point, we’re always keen to learn how we can improve. If you have thoughts as to the types of KPIs that you’d like to see then please let us know and we’ll consider them for inclusion in future releases.

Chris Wilson

Founder & CEO

Chris started Function Point over 20 years ago in his basement as a way to help professional service agencies run their businesses more efficiently. Since then he’s grown FP into an international success, working with over 600 agencies from around the world and continues to run the company from the head office in Vancouver, Canada.