The gist

Clear Digital is a full-service digital agency that wanted to reduce its manual processes and adopt an automated system that supported its resourcing and forecasting strategies. Through Parallax’s insights they were able to create operational efficiency and as a result increase their utilization, project margin, and revenue.

The challenge

Prior to adopting Parallax, the Clear Digital team manually tracked its project, resourcing, and forecasting data, such as project hours and margins, via Excel spreadsheets and Google documents. “We had no idea what our team members’ bandwidth was, so we kept assigning all these projects, and everyone was burnt out,” said RiaMae M., Operations Manager, Clear Digital. “As our agency grew, we knew we needed greater visibility, so we sought a more advanced tool, and Parallax was a game-changer.”

The solution

The Clear Digital team tried other tools that weren’t user-friendly, didn’t provide the insights they needed, and didn’t offer an effective onboarding process. Then, they turned to Parallax, which now serves as the organization’s comprehensive solution, integrating resource management, capacity planning, and project financials into a single tool. “We built our operations cadence around Parallax and use it regularly to track utilization, understand project financials, and drive our project planning meetings,” said RiaMae. “It’s an essential part of our days.” 

Project managers track team capacity and project financials, ensuring their team members are entering their hours on time, and proactively assessing and acting on any variance between the forecasted project hours and financials to actuals, which has helped the team maintain and increase margins. Project managers have the ability to report up to leadership on important project metrics and hiring needs, and can drill down across departments as well, ensuring everyone is assigned to projects properly and set up to hit their utilization goals. 

The team was also thankful for Parallax’s customer service and onboarding process, making the adoption process seamless. “The onboarding process was a big thing for us,” said RiaMae. “We’re constantly talking to the Parallax team and have a great relationship with them—knowing we’re heard and supported puts us at ease, and we appreciate our input being taken into consideration.”

The outcome

Parallax offers visibility into historical, current, and prospective utilization, revenue, and project risk. This enhanced insight empowers the Clear Digital team to make more informed decisions, elevating their organizational knowledge and decision-making capabilities.

Whether they need to address scope creep, a decrease in project profitability, or an over-capacity employee, Parallax gives the team the insights needed to have productive conversations that result in forward-looking, strategic solutions. It’s also helped them cut down on hours spent each month in resource planning, financial reporting, and forecasting.

Since adopting Parallax, Clear Digital has achieved: 

• 17% average utilization increase 
• 37% average bill rate increase 
• 143% average revenue increase 
• 3.35% average project margin increase

What’s next for Clear Digital?

Parallax has allowed Clear Digital to invest in developing its own products and tools and has unlocked opportunities for future growth. “Parallax provides us with the confidence we need as we look to hire the right people and explore new partnerships that will help scale our business,” said RiaMae.