Do we over-gloom the doom?

When you produce and market accountancy software for creative businesses (like we do) its very tempting to lap up the news from the markets and the business pundits about the state of our industry.

Agencies of all complexions are always aware of the pressure to be more competitive, and avoid getting drawn into a race to the lowest price.

Last night’s excellent Kingston Smith W1 annual financial performance survey of the creative services sector once again picked out indicators of stress in the market, falling margins and rising overheads. These and more were headlined in the media today. However, there was also a lot to be optimistic about, notwithstanding the opportunities that London 2012 is going to offer us as well as the significance of social media as a positive force.

What is interesting from the comments that Esther Carder made was the quote picked up in PR Week:-

'To enable recovery, PR consultancies need to react proactively to the ever-increasing pressure from clients for more work at lower fees. This needs to be coupled with improved control of costs.'

-which is exactly where we enter the discussion as a means to help creative businesses achieve the right balance.

It’s easy to see how a product like Paprika could be regarded as a distress purchase, (albeit one that requires a great deal of careful consideration and consultation). But that misses the point- surely when there are market forces outside your control you need to look at your processes and management culture as much as finding a good tool to make a difficult job easier.

It’s no good saying when you see the shark’s jaws for the first time “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”, specially while you're in the midst of the ocean!

Please share your views at editorial@paprika-software.com

Job costing software for creative and marketing agencies