Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Professional services teams face never-ending deadlines and overlapping client demands. And your decisions as an operations manager shape whether your colleagues thrive—or burn out—in those circumstances. As ops consultant Harv Nagra states on a recent episode of “The Handbook:” Most of us didn’t start our careers as operations directors. But now, we’re the decision makers. And while we’re trying to do our best, we might now have our own blinders on.

If you’re wondering why your team seems busy but profit margins are flat (or even down) you might be stuck in the “productivity trap.” This happens when companies chase work volume instead of value. And it’s one of the most common challenges in professional services firms. We spoke with 20+ business leaders about how to redefine productivity and fix the issues holding your firm back. Let’s dive in.

Building off a founder’s network and relying on inbound sales can help your agency grow at the start. But it’s not a sustainable long-term approach. We talked to Friday Solved founder Ryan Hall about his approach to scaling sales. With over 23 years of agency experience, including two successful exits, Ryan knows how to sell. Here are his insights and tips to improve each of your funnel stages for the long run.

We get it. Spreadsheets are free. Project management tools are cheap. But here’s the truth: They don’t give you a significant, measurable ROI—not like Professional Services Automation (PSA) software can. Think: But how do you know if a PSA is the right investment for your business? You can look at it like a flowchart: Think you’re ready? Keep reading to understand the basics and how to choose the right PSA tool for your team.

Professional Services Automation (PSA) software is a big investment. And naturally, you want maximum value from day one. But there’s one sure-fire way to sabotage your ROI: Deploying your new software without structured implementation or onboarding support. We spoke to Scoro’s service delivery experts to uncover the most common pitfalls teams encounter when implementing PSA software, along with practical advice on how to avoid them.

Our August update brings powerful improvements to the core experience of Scoro. Explore the new quote estimation matrix for managing deliverables with multiple roles and doers. Gain more visibility into the time budget by roles at the task level. And that’s just the start – we’ve packed in many other improvements to bring more efficiency and ease to everyone’s day!

Small agency problems only compound as you grow—going from minor inconveniences to massive headaches. Sure, your revenue goes up as you scale. But without addressing the inefficiencies that lie at your agency’s foundation, it won’t be sustainable. You’ll have issues with profitability, productivity, and further growth. To discuss solutions, we spoke with agency operations expert Manish Kapur, who brings over 25 years of experience to the table.

Without visibility into likely revenue, you’re flying blind. That means missed targets, wasted resources, and gut-based decisions that erode profit over time. But when you know how to forecast sales from your pipeline, you can make data-driven, confident decisions that support your bottom line. Here’s how.

When choosing tech, too many professional services firms fall into the same traps. They chase shiny new tools without clear goals, implement expensive platforms they barely use, or make decisions based on gut feelings. These approaches don’t get rid of business chaos—they just create more of it. Digital Transformers founder Ryan Pearcy sat down with us to discuss the biggest challenges he sees with tech stacks and how to address them. Here’s what you need to know.

This month, we’re introducing three interconnected updates to simplify billable time tracking in Scoro and lay a strong foundation for even better reporting in the future. A new internal project type that helps clearly separate client and internal work. Billable time is now standardized at the task level. And a refreshed project modify view that makes project creation faster and more intuitive.