How HMA shifted focus from running the agency to servicing clients

The problem

Facilitating managed growth

When Nicola decided to grow the business, it wasn’t purely for the sake of growth itself, but to offer an ever-improving service to clients and a wider, deeper set of digital specialities. 

“In our early days, when we had under 10 people, we developed our own system. It had certain issues, however. We knew it didn’t do what we needed it do and it was dependent on one person to make it work." 

“Plus, it wasn’t scalable. We needed a system that would take care of the business agency fundamentals and allow us to grow when we chose to."

“At HMA we have always had a total focus on producing results for clients. We work hard to clarify the exact purpose of each job, and seek out the benchmarks, the impact and the effectiveness on the client’s business. It’s a key part of our culture."

“We have a very loyal client base. More than one client is still with us from our very beginnings. We feel sure that our constant drive for quality and results has been fundamental to this.”

“Effectiveness also relies on specialised knowledge. You can’t be a generalist and expect to make the biggest impact in everything you dabble in. In our case we committed to digital early on. We’ve been a digital agency for as long as there have been digital agencies!”

“For us, this is what growth is for.”

The solution

Finding a new focus

When HMA decided to invest in a new system, they looked at three offerings, and chose Synergist. 

“One big reason for implementing Synergist was to avoid wasting so much time running the mechanics of the agency when we want to focus purely on clients."

"When planning our growth we went for ‘lean growth’. ‘Lean’ doesn’t mean ‘thin.’  It means order and making everything work optimally. No waste. No inefficiencies. If an agency has inefficiencies, it’s the client that finishes up paying for them. You need process to make it work.”

Synergist has played a significant role in helping the agency drive through efficiency.

The return

More time for clients, less time wasted

“We are now able to dedicate more time to servicing our clients rather than manually analysing information, or trying to find it.”

“Everything is stored centrally so if one person is unavailable, another can pull information off the system for a client at any time.”

“We’re also able to accurately give information as to studio availability to instantly manage expectations of when work will be delivered.”

“Having such a system makes sure you don’t miss anything. It helps us to maintain all aspects of quality.”

“From a Client Services perspective, Synergist is the first thing we open in the morning and the last thing we close when we go home.  It contains relevant details for each client and job, which makes it easier to coordinate projects and work between us and the studio."

“We use most features on Synergist, including CRM, jobs/phases, estimating/quotes, billing plans, invoicing and purchase orders.” 

“Synergist has streamlined our information storage, how we report on what has happened and also how we plan for the future”

"If I was asked to name just one invaluable tool, it would be Synergist’s Data Viewer.” 

“Synergist provides a central repository of information which facilitates project management, enables us to access information more readily and provides us with the financial information we need to make business decisions on projects and with regards to the development of the organisation.”

“It also gives everyone in the team easy access to every aspect of jobs, time, even marketing notes. Everything’s just there.”

“With digital, there is a great deal of data to manage. You have to have a systematic approach to managing it.”