About the company
- WC+A
- Industry: Creative & Design
- Employees: 50
- Location: Los Angeles
Before and After Scoro
Before Scoro, WC+A was using a range of systems to run its daily operations:
- Google Suite for project management
- T-sheets for time tracking
- Spreadsheets for reporting
- Quickbooks for accounting
This meant that project management, time tracking, and billing lived in different systems, which created considerable friction.
In 2022, WC+A decided to transition to Scoro to optimize their processes. In a nutshell, this is what they were able to achieve:
| Before | After | |
| Time Tracking | People weren’t tracking time consistently as they didn’t like the system. A single person controlled the time data, which created delays in profitability reporting and analysis. | Time-tracking is easier, so people log time consistently. Time is automatically tracked from Google calendar, saving time and manual effort. |
| Quoting | Without complete time reports, quoting was a bit of a guessing game. There was a constant risk of under-quoting and losing money, or over-quoting and not being competitive. | Easy access to previous quotes and the actual cost of delivering tasks. Can create a solid RFP with appropriate rates, protecting margins. |
| Invoicing | Invoicing relied on a lot of manual data manipulation. This increased the risk of human error. | By integrating with QuickBooks, invoicing has become easier and more accurate. |
Data & Visibility
Before: Inconsistent and incomplete time-tracking
Employees were reluctant to track time at WC+A. They struggled to understand the value of time tracking and were frustrated with T-sheets. The billing manager had to chase people to update time sheets. This resulted in late invoicing, under-invoicing leading to revenue loss, time wasted, and an unhappy team.
After: More accurate time-tracking with automations
With Scoro, time tracking has become easier. WC+A have set up an integration with Google calendar to sync events. For example, a meeting with 30 people will be automatically time tracked for everyone.
The design team is especially happy with Scoro’s interface and its ease of use. With key processes in one system, employees can now understand how tracked time impacts revenue and important decisions like the scope of the project, invoicing, and future quotes.
The ease of time-tracking for any creative agency relies on the system it’s implemented with; Scoro provides endless filtering and view options for users to track time – on their schedule, in their preferred method. With better data, WC+A has achieved better visibility on project profitability, and in real-time.
Pricing & Estimation Challenges
Before: Estimating based on guesswork
Putting together quote proposals was challenging. There was a lot of guesswork involved in deciding how much to quote. This created the risk of either under-quoting and later over-servicing, or losing opportunities due to uncompetitively high quotes.
After: Improved quoting accuracy
Now, WC+A can easily see what has been previously quoted in Scoro and how much it actually cost to deliver each piece of work. They can pull this historical data together to estimate expected costs with greater accuracy. This level of insight helps ensure an appropriate service level and healthy margins.
With increased competition, Scoro helps WC+A stay agile. We can lean on historical data which allows us to pivot to meet clients’ needs. We can be responsive to clients like never before, whether it be retainer or project-based.
Invoicing
Before: A manual and error-prone invoicing process
Previously, the billing manager manually created quotes and invoices in QuickBooks after meeting with account managers. This process was prone to errors, as their finance team had to enter data manually, and lacked a deeper understanding without being involved in the project management.
After: Greater data integrity
Invoices are now prepared from existing quotes in Scoro by account managers and then sent directly to Quickbooks. This automated billing process has saved time and reduced human error. The team can set up triggers and events to help keep track of invoices and be proactive with overdue payment.
Onboarding Experience
WC+A opted for guided onboarding to help customize Scoro to their needs. It made onboarding the team much smoother as the implementation was strategically planned and the team were well supported throughout every step of the process.
We needed a partner who could brainstorm with us on, ‘how do you think we should do this?’ It’s a lot of strategic problem solving. We also needed someone we could work together with, to come up with the best solution. And I feel like we have that in Scoro.
From the first stages of working with Scoro, WC+A experienced how responsive, reliable and thorough the onboarding and support teams are. Speaking of their Scoro onboarding specialist, Cheryl Venable, VP of Operations explains:
Not only does she have exhaustive knowledge of the tool, she also made sure it was customizable and best set up for us and the way we work. She has impeccable follow through. We know that if it’s on her plate, she will get back to us. That makes us not only continue to use the tool in a more efficient and productive way moving forward, but it also helps us feel heard and listened to.
Change Management
WC+A created a 12-person implementation team, which included participants from every department. Each week this team had calls with a dedicated onboarding specialist at Scoro. This ensured steady progress, and provided consistency in how Scoro was set up and used.
The change process was separated into phases, each focusing on a different area:
1. Time tracking
2. Quoting
3. Invoicing
4. Connecting Scoro with Quickbooks
After a few months, WC+A identified “power users” within their implementation team. These people helped to provide additional support to the wider team and collaborate internally.
WC+A made sure to address internally any confusion about implementation, anything users didn’t like, and roadblocks. This openness helped gain the team’s buy-in and raise concerns early on, before becoming a problem. When the team needed help from Scoro, they found the help desk was quick to respond and dependable.
The ability to customize visibility across user types helped WC+A with the transition. Being able to control different access levels gave their managers peace of mind.
