Project Management Software for Marketing Agencies in São Paulo

Two kinds of client, one small account team

Agency hours rarely burn evenly. A client preparing a launch eats the studio’s week in one burst; a client with a three-step approval chain eats it in small pieces spread over a month of revisions. Both are billable, and both are easy to under-record when the same few designers, writers and account managers switch between them all day.

What usually goes wrong is visibility. The launch client’s work is loud and gets logged. The approval client’s work happens in ten-minute fixes between other jobs, and by the end of the month nobody can say how many hours that retainer really took.

ShipSprint puts each client on its own board with per-column WIP limits, so the account lead can see the launch board reaching capacity before saying yes to another request, while the slower account keeps its own pace on a board of its own. On Team and up, time is logged next to each task in about five seconds, so both kinds of work end up in the numbers.

Knowing what each retainer really costs

When a designer forgets to log a day, the reminder goes to the designer, not the account director. There are no screenshots, no keystroke logs and no activity tracking, which makes it easier to ask creative people to log time at all.

On Business, the owner command center shows every client and team in one view, and scorecards based on delivered work and logged hours, adjusted for approved leave, are visible to the person they describe. The Monday digest gives the agency lead the week’s picture without anyone assembling a status deck. When a retainer keeps running over, it shows up month after month, which gives you something concrete to bring to the renewal conversation.

A designer stuck waiting for logo files or approval taps “I’m blocked” on the my-day screen, and the account manager is pulled in with the context, instead of finding out at the end of the day.

Carnival, Holy Week and the end-of-year rush

For an agency, the calendar shapes both the workload and the team. Carnival in February or March, Holy Week, and the Christmas to New Year period are when people take time off, and they can also be when clients want campaigns out. Capacity planning on Team and up counts approved leave and public holidays, so you can see before accepting a brief whether the studio actually has the hours. Carnival and Holy Week dates move each year, so check them when you plan a client’s campaign calendar.

What a São Paulo agency should check first

Who you’re buying from. The product comes from Quantuva Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a company in Hyderabad, India. There is no office or local entity in Brazil, and help is by email and in-app chat.

Time zones. IST is 8 hours 30 minutes ahead of São Paulo year-round. By your lunchtime the Indian day is over, so send questions early or with everything attached; replies usually come the same working day, Indian time.

Billing. Each seat is billed in Indian rupees through Razorpay, and your bank converts it to reais. Your accountant can tell you how taxes on services imported from abroad, and IOF on the charge, apply to the agency.

Data protection. Client contact lists and campaign data are personal data under Brazil’s LGPD. Read the sub-processor list and the security overview, and check them against the law and your client agreements before that data goes into the workspace.