Agency tech stack: 44 solutions to supercharge your teams

Building your agency tech stack isn’t easy. You have to think about the usability and adoption for both your team and your clients. Between personal preferences and processes, it will seem impossible to please everyone. 

With that said, we’re here to make things a little bit easier.

You might be here because you’ve just joined an agency and inherited a lot of tech debt, you’re looking to optimize your existing tech stack, or you might be building one from scratch.

Whatever the case, this article should help you move forward and make informed decisions about what your agency tech stack should really look like.

11 things to consider when building your agency tech stack

Your tech stack isn’t just there to enable teams to do their jobs better and help clients see the results—it’s the backbone of agency operations. 

So whether you’re evaluating your current agency tech stack, or building one from the ground up, here’s what to keep in mind:

1. Business strategy: Your tech stack should support your agency objectives and long-term growth plan. For example, if your plan includes hiring a sales team, you’ll want to consider how the tech you choose now will benefit them later.

2. Client needs: Your agency tech stack should be flexible enough to accommodate client demands. For example, your project management processes might vary depending on the client and the project, and so might your project management software.

3. Ownership: Who’s in charge of your tech stack? Perhaps it’s the CTO, Head of Technology, or even Head of Project Management? It depends on the size of your agency. Regardless, your tech stack needs a gatekeeper that prevents decisions from being made in silos or investing in tech you don’t need.

4. Scalability: When building your agency tech stack, you need to think about scalability from day one. That means it should be able to handle increased workloads and an expanding customer base. Because the right tech stack will support scaling your agency, while the wrong one will hold your business back.

5. User experience: A user-friendly tech stack will lead to faster adoption and increased productivity for your team. Shantal Gonzalez, former Director of Project Management at MRM looks for tools that are “user-friendly” but also fun to use, because “project managers spend most of their day updating these tools. So, I want to enjoy the tool that I’m using.”

6. Collaboration: You want to build an agency tech stack that facilitates collaboration and allows your project teams to work in a way that suits them. Your tech stack shouldn’t operate in siloed workflows, but facilitate collaboration across teams and the whole agency (if needed).

7. Customer support: Evaluate the quality of customer support provided by vendors and their track record of updates and improvements. If you’re on a tight deadline and run into an issue, you’ll want customer support to be quick and accessible.

8. Analytics and reporting: Keeping track of project KPIs and making sure you’re tracking well against the project scope is essential. But analytics is not just for internal use, you’ll want to share reporting dashboards with your clients to demonstrate value and discuss progress.

9. Security and compliance: Security is critical when handling client data, especially if you’re an agency specializing in the financial sector or healthcare. Verify that the technology you use adheres to industry-standard security practices and complies with relevant regulations.

10. Performance and speed: There’s no time for downtime. Your tech stack should be reliable when it comes to performance and speed—it can’t fail you on pitch day or at launch. Worst case scenario? It can cost you new business.

11. Cost and ROI: Consider the cost of each solution and its overall value to your agency. Strike a balance between features, functionality, and affordability. At the end of the day, if your tech stack doesn’t enable teams to work better and deliver value for your clients, it has failed.

3 key components of your agency tech stack

When we say “components” we don’t mean features (we’ll get to these later). Rather, we’re talking about what makes for the actual building blocks of a healthy agency tech stack in the long run.

Here are three components you shouldn’t ignore:

• Real-time customer insights: The agency world is fast-paced, and sometimes, you need to turn on a dime. This means you need actionable data right at your fingertips.
• Putting the end user first: Your tech stack won’t do you any good if no one wants to use the platforms you’ve chosen. Always keep the end-user top of mind when designing your tech stack.
• Flexibility: The technology you choose to make up your tech stack should be flexible enough to accommodate changes in your agency’s processes and workflows. Avoid rigid solutions that hinder adaptability.

Why getting your tech stack right is so important

Ever heard the term “tech stack sprawl”? It’s what happens when you don’t have a tech stack strategy and end up with a bunch of different solutions to solve the same problem.

Not ideal, right?

But when teams make rushed (and siloed) decisions around technology, this is what happens. In the end, you’ll have a lot of tech debt, high costs, and less productive teams.

Ultimately, if you don’t plan your tech stack well, you’ll end up paying for a lot of tech you don’t need that is interfering with your workflows, rather than enabling them.

The must-have categories of a modern agency tech stack

There are some solutions the modern agency can’t do without. To improve agency efficiency, your agency needs to understand, manage, and optimize a lot of agency processes to make sure things run smoothly.

But it’s easy to go tool crazy and get blinded by all the lofty promises from tech companies. What it comes down to is investing in the right technology that will enable your agency to grow.

Here, we list the tech you should consider. Buckle up!

1. Resource management: Manage allocation, scheduling, and reporting

Capacity planning, allocation, scheduling, forecasting, and time tracking are essential parts of operating an agency. But it doesn’t have to be complex.

Your resource management software should help you assign people to projects, shift things around when needed, and plan ahead without making your head spin. After all, if you can’t assign the right people, with the right skills, to the right projects (and accounts), where does it leave you? Resource management and time tracking go hand in hand, so you’ll want to make sure your software can do both.

Look out for features like:

• Capacity planning → Use Resource Guru to get a birds-eye view of team capacity in seconds along with all your other resource management needs, including the rest of the features listed below
• Resource allocation → Find the right people for your projects with Float
• Resource scheduling → Look into Synergist for simple team scheduling
• Resource forecasting → Forecast team capacity with confidence in Forecast
• Resource utilization → Optimize utilization rates with Hub Planner

Compare Resource Guru and Float to understand which one is a better fit for your agency workflows.

2. Project management: Keep track of tasks, teams, and project progress

Project management—alongside resource management—is what paves the way for project success.

Once you and the client have agreed on the project scope (and how to avoid scope creep), it’s time to break down the project into tasks and project milestones to make sure deadlines are met.

Look out for features like:

• Task management → Try Basecamp for straightforward task management
• Workflow management → Streamline all your workflows with Wrike
• Project intake and approvals → Use monday.com to manage project details
• Project plan templates → Create structured project plans in Teamwork
• Project timelines → Never miss a project milestone with Asana

Take a closer look at Asana and monday.com to see which one is a better fit for your agency.

3. Agency management: Understand, evaluate, and drive growth

Managing an agency is no easy feat (no matter the size). There are a lot of plates to spin, from client management and workload planning to project overviews, project teams, profitability, and so much more.

That’s why platforms that try to do end-to-end management have emerged in recent years. The goal? Simplifying operations and boosting the bottom line.

Look out for features like:

• Budgeting → Stay on top of your money with Productive
• Workload management → Cover it all with Screendragon
• Reporting → Dig into profitability with Accelo
• Client management → Collaborate with clients in Hola
• Finance management → Try Scoro’s comprehensive platform

Get to know Scoro and Productive better

4. SEO: Create SEO-led content, conduct technical and UX site audits, execute backlinking campaigns

SEO should be a part of any integrated marketing or advertising campaign, meaning, it should make up an obvious part of your agency tech stack.

While both ranking factors and the way people search have changed (and will keep changing) over the years, your SEO solutions will guide you.

Look out for features like:

• Rank tracking → Keep a close eye on the SERPs with Moz
• Keyword research → Discover all your keyword variations in SEMrush
• Outreach/ link building/link tracking → Stay on top of all your links in Gorkana 
• Technical and UX SEO → Run complete audits using Screaming Frog
• Content optimization → Get more out of your content with Clearscope

Take a closer look at Moz and Semrush to understand exactly how they’ll fit into your tech stack.

5. Website CMS: Build, design, and optimize your online presence

We’re dealing with some serious attention deficit these days, so if your website and all its components (such as landing pages and blogs) don’t measure up—you’ll lose people (and money) fast.

That means you need a CMS (content management system platform) that knows how to handle the pressure of today’s consumers and their content needs. 

Now, your client already has a website, but perhaps it’s limited in its capabilities, and the campaign you pitched requires a microsite and other web-based assets. 

This is when you’ll need a CMS that’s up for the task. 

Look out for features like:

• Template libraries → Browse Squarespace 
• Dynamic landing pages → Look into Ghost 
• Custom search experiences → Give Webflow a go 
• A/B testing → Set up all your tests using Optimizely 
• Analytics and performance → Try HubSpot and build custom dashboards
• Client access (where needed) → Enhance your search functionality with a WordPress plugin
• Developer platform → Build custom solutions with Wix

6. Communication, collaboration, and meetings: Stay connected and align 

With the rise of remote work even in the advertising world, communication platforms have become increasingly important. Put simply, it’s where work happens. 

Whether it’s about asynchronous collaboration or real-time meetings to discuss client feedback, communication platforms are a huge part of agency workflows on a day-to-day basis.

Look out for features like:

• Messaging → Try out Microsoft Teams
• Voice and video calls → Jump on a Google Meet
• Audio recordings and voice notes → Use Slack
• Emojis and reactions → Give Yammer a go
• Search and history → Look into Confluence

7. Client relationships: Attract, manage, and retain clients

An essential part of your agency tech stack, client relationship solutions will help you understand the sales cycle, onboard customers more effectively, and build better client relationships in the long run.

These platforms should paint a good picture of the customer journey and customer health while helping you understand potential gaps in the client-agency relationship. 

Look out for features like:

• Client onboarding → Give Rocketlane a go
• Customer health scores → Build stronger relationships with Clay
• Account and user management → Try Totango
• Client insights → Connect with your clients in a whole new way with Salesforce
• Client portal → Create a white-labeled client portal with Moxo
• Documentation → Store all your documents in Vitally
• List building → Use Pipedrive for all your list and segmentation needs 
• Meeting scheduling → Book meetings with ease in Zoho
• Automation → Automate everything in Close
• Dashboards and reporting → Get custom reports with Copper

8. Hiring and recruitment: Find, attract, and nurture the best talent

Every agency needs a recruitment platform to manage potential talent, both full-time and freelance. Hiring means juggling a lot of things at once, so you’ll want a solution that simplifies all that… juggling. 

From talent tracking to hiring and onboarding, you want a solution you can trust—especially if your agency is ramping up for growth. 

Look out for features like:

• Find freelancers → Try Working Not Working to hire the best creative talent
• Career page builder → Build a branded career site in no time with Talenteria
• Applicant tracking and sourcing → Try Teamtailor for automated triggers
• Candidate management → Stay on top of it all in Workable
• Analytics → Visualize progress with Lever

9. HR and talent: Invest in and retain your employees

So you’ve managed to attract and hire the best talent out there? Now the fun stuff begins: trying to keep them around. 

You’ll want to make sure employees have a clear understanding of career paths and possibilities, access to learning and training opportunities, and last but not least, simply a great personal relationship with your agency. 

Look out for features like:

• On/off-boarding → Look at Personio’s extensive offering
• Automated workflows → Check out PeopleHR
• Performance and development → Dive into Sense
• Analytics and reporting → Look into the people analytics feature in HiBob
• Referral program → Get higher retention rates with Breezy HR

10. Marketing – Implement, track, and optimize your marketing campaigns

Whether you’re a digital marketing agency or a full-service agency, your marketing technology will make up a significant portion of your agency tech stack.

Now, marketing is a broad category that includes many different subcategories, everything from SEO to paid advertising.

Here, we’re talking about full-suite marketing solutions, so if you’re looking for advice on e.g. lead generation or email marketing solutions, keep scrolling to find the good stuff.

Look out for features like:

• Audience management → Mailchimp all-in-one marketing platform
• Campaign management → Try the HubSpot Marketing Hub and tie campaigns back to revenue
• Customer journey builder → Build and orchestrate customer journeys in Moengage
• Automated workflows → Schedule both tasks and communication with Constant Contact
• Integration marketplace → Salesforce Marketing Cloud Suite

Get to know Hubspot better

11. Paid media – Manage PPC, paid search, and native ads

It’s easy to pour a lot of money into paid media campaigns. But without the right platforms to help you accurately target, analyze, and measure results—all that money will be lost.

If your clients have a paid media budget, they’ll want to know exactly where and how it’s spent, along with the ROI it’s generating. Meaning, you don’t want to compromise on the solutions to help you deliver the best results possible.

Look out for features like:

• Powerful targeting and segmentation → Checkout Amazon Ad Server (previously Sizmek)
• Ad campaign management → Try Aquisio to manage all your paid campaigns
• Paid social → Improve your messaging with Skai
• Paid search/SEM → Try Serpstat for all your PPC and paid search needs
• PPC (pay per click) → Take control of your campaigns with award-winning Optmyzr 
• Bid management → Manage your bids in Adalysis
• Display ads → Deliver effective display ads with Eskimi
• Native ads → Supercharge your native ads with Outbrain
• Media planning and buying → Bionic focuses specifically on agencies
• Competitive analysis → Try Spyfu to get competitor insights
• Analytics and reporting → Get an overview of results with Supermetrics

12. Content creation – Ideate, write, and edit content

Content has never been more competitive than it is today. There’s more noise than ever, and standing out isn’t easy. Between Google’s algorithm updates, AI development, and competition, it’s not easy to cut through the clutter.

And as always, content people are asked to produce more content with less budget. Leaving content marketers everywhere questioning their career choices.

But luckily, the options for content production are also plentiful.

Look out for features like:

• Ideation → Make all your plans in Planable
• Proofing → Use Grammarly to get rid of typos 
• Format → Choose between project types in Anyword
• Writing assistance → Try Copy.ai to speed up production 
• Feedback → Collaborate with Ceros
• Analytics → Understand content performance with Parse.ly

Discover more content marketing platforms

13. Social media marketing – Grow, engage, and convert your audience

We’ve come a long way since social media was invented in 1997. And today, it looks nothing like it did back then. In terms of marketing, it’s established itself as a pillar piece of every great marketing campaign, hashtag or no hashtag.

Whether we’re talking about influencer marketing, reels, or X (still struggling with this one), if you get it right—your brand and product/service can reach millions of people within minutes.

All in all, pretty powerful stuff.

That’s why you want to choose your social media platforms wisely.

Look out for features like:

• Social media listening → Uncover trends with SproutSocial
• Social media scheduling → Try Buffer’s simple scheduling solution
• Social media engagement → Manage engagement with Hootsuite
• Social media commerce → Turn followers into customers with Later
• Analytics and reporting → Get actionable insights with Brandwatch

Take a closer look at Sprout Social and Buffer

14. Email marketing – Capture, nurture, and convert

Remember way back when, when some people claimed email was dead? Funny how today, the inbox is one of the most sought-after pieces of real estate for brands and businesses both big and small. Why? Because you can control the message and you’re not at the mercy of algorithms (just ads).

So no wonder email marketing platforms remain a key part of the agency tech stack. 

Look out for features like:

• Segmentation → Build your lists in ActiveCampaign
• Templates → Build beautiful emails with ConvertKit
• Signup forms → Create all the forms you need with Campaign Monitor
• Automated workflows→ Build custom workflows in Mailerlite
• Deliverability management → Make sure your emails reach the right inboxes with Mailgun 
• A/B testing → Test your messaging with Mailerjet

15. Lead generation – Capture, nurture, and convert

Whether you’re running an Instagram campaign, TikTok competition, or launching a new benchmark report, lead generation tools are there to capture and nurture your audience. 

Look out for features like:

• Content creation → Create purpose-built lead gen content in Outgrow
• Lead capture → Capture website visitors with Albacross
• Pop-ups → Build engaging pop-ups with Wisepops 
• Surveys → Turn survey responders into qualified leads with Ortto
• Forms → Create any type of form with Jotform

16. Creative and design – Ideate, draft, and ship beautiful designs

Arguably, you can’t even run an agency if you don’t have any design solutions. After all, doesn’t every campaign rely on creatives to deliver a message?

But just like marketing, design is a very broad discipline that includes everything from graphic design and illustration to UX design and prototyping platforms.

Look out for features like:

• Design templates → Set up the basics in Canva
• Graphic design → Use Figma for all your graphics needs 
• Illustration design → Use good old Adobe Illustrator
• Prototyping and wireframing → Use Invision for all your UX needs
• Feedback and collaboration → Try Markup for effective feedback

Find more design tech options for agencies

17. Video, animations, and 3D – Create, edit, and deliver motion graphics

In the world of advertising and marketing, video wins. After all, there’s a reason TikTok took off. Whether you use videos for social ads, they’re part of an onboarding flow, or on a landing page—conversion rates will likely be higher than if you only use static images.

With conversion rates at stake, you’ll want to equip your creative team with the best video solutions out there. 

Look out for features like:

• Editing → Adobe Premiere Pro for all your editing needs
• Motion graphics → Use Adobe After Effects to create striking images
• 3D animation → Try Cinema4D to bring ideas to life
• Image resizing/compressing → Use Veed to compress images without losing quality
• Subtitles/closed captions → Get flawless captions with Verbit
• Transcripts → Get speedy transcripts with Descript

18. Sales – Centralize, analyze, and optimize the sales process

Not every agency is going to be big enough to have a sales department, or even a sales team for that matter. But once you’re ready to truly accelerate your GTM (go-to-market) activities, a sales platform will make your life a lot easier.

From lead enrichment and funnels to campaign scheduling and pipelines, your sales enablement platforms should support your agency’s growth efforts.

 

Look out for features like:

• Outreach → Like the name suggests, try Outreach for all your outbound efforts
• Prospecting → Give SalesLoft a go for your prospecting needs
• Lead generation → Look into Leadfeeder to help you attract more leads
• Data enrichment → Know exactly who you’re dealing with in 6sense
• Pipeline management → Hit your revenue goals with Lusha
• Deal insights → Win more deals with Gong
• Rep coaching → Step up your game with Lavender 
• Conversation intelligence → Get feedback from Poised
• Reporting → Get full visibility with Clari

Take a closer look at Groove (acquired by Clari) and Outreach

19. Data and analytics – Centralize, share, and evaluate campaign data

Campaign overview dashboard in Geckoboard.

Typically, data lives on a lot of different platforms, across different teams. That’s why you want one place to centralize your most important project and campaign performance metrics for any given project, so both teams and clients can easily access what they need.

Whether you want to build custom client dashboards or get a good view of business intelligence data, there’s a solution waiting for you.

Look out for features like:

• Data visualization → Build beautiful campaign-specific dashboards in Geckoboard
• Business performance → Keep an eye on key business metrics in Tableau
• Project performance → Track overall campaign performance in Kantata 
• Dashboards → Customize your data views in Looker Studio
• Reporting → Get a birds-eye view of all your numbers in AgencyAnalytics
• Web traffic → Understand your visitors with Google Analytics 4
• Heat mapping → Understand visitor behavior with Hotjar

Get to know Looker Studio and AgencyAnalytics better

20. Public relations (PR) and communications – Build lists, draft press releases, and increase reach

Public relations has a tendency to come across as… old school. But, just like many other marketing tactics, it’s just shape-shifted

Sure, the trusty press release still exists (and it’s very relevant), but the way we go about building networks—not to mention the channels we use—has changed significantly in the last few years. 

But with the right platforms in your agency tech stack, you can still get your brand in front of the right audience.

Look out for features like:

• Media database → Find the right contacts with Vuelio
• List building → Put together comprehensive lists with Roxhill
• Media monitoring and alerts → Keep track of all brand mentions with Prowly
• Content creation → Draft press releases and more with Hypotenuse
• Outreach → Reach the right people with Meltwater
• Distribution → Get your message out there with Newswire 
• Media analysis reports → Keep your finger on the pulse with Carma
• Social listening → Keep an eye on client mentions and brand sentiment tracking with Brand24

21. Influencer marketing – Find, manage, and build relationships with influencers

Not that long ago, influencer marketing wasn’t even a thing. In 2023, the influencer industry is expected to reach $21.1B. Not to mention that it’s a huge revenue driver for brands, big and small.

So whether you’re engaging with more niche micro-influencers, or the big names (say, Bachelor alum), you want solutions that’ll keep you sane.

Look out for features like:

• Discovery → Find the right influencers for your brand with Upfluence
• Campaign management → Manage all influencers for projects in one place with Tagger
• Influencer Relationship Management → Keep your influencers happy with creator.co
• Influencer lists → Build targeted lists with Heepsy
• Payments → Pay your influencers with ease with CreatorIQ
• Reporting → Measure performance with Storyclash

22. Accounting – Manage expenses, payments, and finance

Arguably the least exciting category, but one of the most important pieces of your agency tech stack. After all, if you don’t manage your money well, your agency won’t stand a chance.

The good news is that today there are plenty of accounting solutions that set out to make all things finance as simple and streamlined as possible.

Look out for features like:

• Billing → Use Quickbooks for all your invoicing needs
• Payroll → Pay global and distributed  teams with Remote
• Budgeting → Manage your cashflow with Agicap
• Quoting → Create a better quoting experience with PandaDocs
• Estimating → Create estimates with Freshbooks

23. Brainstorming – Ideate, brainstorm, and visualize solutions

All the good stuff happens when teams come together to brainstorm. User journeys, internal processes, storyboarding, you name it—brainstorming is for everyone.

To get the most out of your brainstorming sessions you’ll want the best tool in your agency tech stack.

Look out for features like:

• Templates → Brainstorm in any format with Miro
• Mind mapping → See the big picture with Lucidspark
• Process mapping → Map out processes and workflows with Lucidchart
• Whiteboarding → Generate ideas in FigJam
• Diagramming → Create all the diagrams you need with Creately

24. AI – Complete mundane tasks faster and increase productivity 

In case it’s gone unnoticed, we live in the era of AI. Creatives and marketers everywhere are looking to AI to give their day-to-day a boost when it comes to speeding up processes, completing tasks, or adding an extra wow factor to their artwork. 

Maybe, just like Huge, you’re ready to completely rely on AI, or maybe you’re just curious about the possibilities, there’s an AI for that. 

AI tech to explore:

• Deliver social videos at scale with Lumen5 
• Get inspired by Looka and create logos and brand guidelines
• Generate personalized emails with Smartwriter
• Manage online comments with CommentGuard (powered by Meta’s API)
• Take a load off with Jasper when it comes to writing

Learn more about the benefits of ChatGPT in project management

19 other solutions to consider for your agency tech stack

Thought we were done? Not so fast. While we’ve covered some of the key pieces of your agency tech stack above, there’s plenty more to dig into. 

Here, we’re providing a quick overview of some additional categories for you to consider. But remember, it’s not about having as many platforms as possible, it’s about those solutions serving you well.

1. Other marketing/digital marketing solutions

We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to marketing platforms. If you’ve thought of it—it exists. From competitor analysis to audits, they’re all out there. Just make sure it serves the right purpose in your agency tech stack. Don’t risk tech stack sprawl just to impress a client. 

2. Documentation

Agencies are full of documentation. You’re looking at a big stack of (digital) paperwork between clients, teams, and projects. Keep all your project documentation in one centralized place. So whether we’re talking knowledge management or technical documentation, you’ll want to make it easy to write, update, and organize it all.

3. Processes

Every agency benefits from process optimization. You might be looking to improve speed, and accuracy, or reduce costs. But it’s not an easy task to take on. Luckily, there are process mapping apps available along with process automation solutions, so your Ops department doesn’t have to go at it alone.

4. Scheduling and calendar management

From sales to account management, everyone needs to stay on top of their calendars and book meetings with ease (especially with clients). We’re all managing multiple calendars, that’s why you’ll want to use a calendar or scheduling tool that integrates with, for example, Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook. 

5. Development and programming

Use version control systems, code editors, and testing and debugging platforms to make sure you ship the best code for your projects. But that’s not it. Productivity apps like Collie are surfacing to help product and engineering teams make more sense of meeting outcomes.

6. Time-tracking

Every agency and project team needs a way to break down the amount of time spent on tasks and accounts. Time-tracking solutions will help you capture hours against projects, tasks, and locations based on agency and client needs.

7. Timesheets

Timesheets are one way to carry out time tracking. Nobody wants to do their timesheets, but they definitely won’t do them if they come in the form of a spreadsheet. So invest in a tool that makes timesheet completion and submission easy.

8. Productivity 

Who doesn’t want to understand their personal productivity better and give it a little boost? Well, the market is full of options. From a cleaner inbox to managing your desktop apps, you’ll find a solution that will help you tackle your productivity challenges.

9. Operations

Operations are about creating efficiencies. Which means it covers a lot of ground in terms of available solutions. At the end of the day, the Ops team is responsible for keeping business running smoothly in an organized way. 

10. Traffic management

You might use your resource scheduling tool for traffic management, or you might do it in another tool and have them run alongside each other. Either way, staying on top of traffic is essential to running a successful agency.

11. Virtual/remote

It’s not just the tech world that’s gone remote. Agencies, big and small, are experimenting with this “new” way of working. But that means they’ll run into a whole new set of challenges when it comes to managing teams, projects, and asynchronous collaboration and communication. The good news is that most solutions today are SaaS (software-as-a-service) and can be implemented anywhere at any time.

12. Procurement

Not every agency is going to be big enough to have a procurement department, let alone a procurement tool. But if you are setting up a dedicated purchasing team, this might be the time to look into it. (Especially if you’re dealing with lengthy and complex processes.)

13. Insurance 

At agencies, there are plenty of things to insure. From office space and equipment to employee and travel insurance, you want to make sure your insurance provider makes it easy to manage it all in one place.

14. Account management

You might do all your account management in your CRM or perhaps even in your project management platform. Or perhaps you’re looking for a full suite á la Freshworks? Whatever setup you prefer, make sure information can flow seamlessly between apps.

15. Enterprise/ERM

If you’ve got Enterprise clients on your hand, they might come with some very specific tech stack criteria. For example, security and compliance assessments will be on another level. But you can get through all those processes so much faster with solutions like Drata.

16. Open source

If you’re a software agency, you’re likely looking for solutions that add better flexibility when it comes to both integration and delivery. Engineers and project managers are lucky to have plenty of choices when it comes to open source software, and you can find them all here. 

17. White label 

White labeling is a feature offered by a lot of tech companies. It allows you to apply your agency’s branding or your client’s visual identity to solutions like project and reporting dashboards, adding that extra layer of personalization clients love.

18. B2B

If you’re an agency catering to the B2B sector, you’re in for a treat. There’s an abundance of platforms targeting B2B companies (specifically software), so your only problem here will be choice. 

19. All-in-one 

Let’s be real. All-in-one solutions are the dream. It just makes life easier. Their downfall is often that they do some features really well, while others don’t quite measure up. So if you’re evaluating all-in-one solutions for your agency, make sure you’re prepared to do some compromising (alternatively, compensating with some additional, purpose-built solutions). 

Building an efficient agency tech stack

Building a sustainable tech stack is crucial for long-term success and efficiency in any organization, not just agencies. But with client relationships on the line, the last thing you want is a tech stack that’s not doing you any favors. 

The lesson? Take your tech stack strategy seriously, always get input from relevant teams, and evaluate solutions in the context of not just project success, but also team happiness, and client satisfaction. 

That’s how you build an agency tech stack that will truly help you have an impact on your bottom line.