Synergist Reviews

I like the fact that it's a multi purpose tool. It allows you to add projects, complete timesheets and raise invoices in one area.

The UX is awful. Navigation, use of features and elements and the overall slowness of the tool are things to name a few. There are too many sub-navigations on sub-navigations making moving around the tool awfully hard.

It is an end to end system from CRM, project and time management / tracking through to billing. Keeps everything in one place.

Scheduling feature doesn't quite suit our work flow and granularity of projects but this hasn't really negatively impacted our overall use of the system

The depth of its functionality was not found in many other PM software when carrying out my research. Plenty of options for setting up projects, retainers, rate cards, roles, departments, etc. Its ease of use for non-financial agency staff, client services and PMs made for much happier teams compared to previously used PM software. There are lots of great options available for analysing project performance - and the variety of reports and data extraction options massively helped with timely management reporting.

The data viewer option for creating bespoke reports took some time to get my head around.

A central point of truth - opportunities becoming projects etc. Good for billing and timesheets. Charge codes by departments/team members in particular we have found useful.

It took a while for us to work out what suited us best, and we had to do quite a bit of work to get the system to do what we needed it to. We did have a lot of support provided. Prep work and having a good understanding of what you want the system to do is important.

Synergist has a lot of very useful features to help support the running of a busy agency and its projects all of the way through their lifecycle. It sits at the heart of our agency, is used daily across the business, and has allowed us to make many data-driven decisions over the past five years. Our core use for Synergist is:
- tracking opportunities,
- building quotes,
- monitoring billing plans,
- resource scheduling,
- time recording,
- invoicing,
- utilisation reporting

Synergist is bigger than this though as it has many other features.

Its vastness is also a challenge - there is so much it can do that we typically feel behind the curve on its use. This isn't too much of Synergist's fault though. The admin-side of agency life is a balancing act between efficiently staying on top of admin versus focusing on clients and their projects.

Once you get used to Synergist it is an extremely versatile and powerful management tool.

There are multiple options in how to use the system and configure it. It is not the simplest software to configure. I would recommend having a very clear vision of how you want the system to work before implemetation.

Synergist is made for marketing agencies and the development team have listened and incorporated alot of features that agencies need which other general workflow/ project management systems might not consider. It provides accurate data and insight, allows very good management and financial control of projects and allows you to manage and agency workflow by integrating into the agency processes well.

the CRM needs some development to help new business categorisation

Great all in one agency management software. Good resource planning to help with efficient planning across the agency. The system enables you to look at client profitability at a job level and client level during and when the job has been completed. Manages with accrued and deferred income, we found that many systems state that they can manage and report on deferred and accrued income but very few systems can. A big plus of synergist is not only the deep dive on implementation but also the ongoing support from the helpdesk.

This is not a plug and play system, implementation is expensive in terms of time. However if implemented correctly you will get this investment back in a short time - which we did.

All round, all in one brilliant project management system! We've used it for years now and it continues to help support our business grow.

The UI, but they are working on that. We're looking forward to the impending upgrade.

It covers all areas of Agency management from onboarding new prospects, planning & build tasks and hours, traffic management, through to revenue recognition.

attaching briefs to jobs isn't as easy as it could be.

I can see at a glance what our billing plans are across the company for the coming months.

It takes a little bit of time to get used to at the start.
There are a lot of filters on the reporting, which can make it tricky to run basic reports.

I like the fact that it is a fully comprehensive operational management solution. It offers a fully integrated approach from quoting and estimating, to resource scheduling, to project and operational management and reporting i.e. all in one place and all consistent.

Because it is such a comprehensive solution with lots of functionality and options, it can be a little complex to get your head around at first. However, with some pre-planning and help from experts like Agency Works, processes can get embedded pretty quickly.

An all in one solution- and now the backbone to our agency! We do not know what we would do without it, or how we ever managed,

Its does take a while to really understand the set up and just what it can do. The management information you can get out of it is robust and extensive. We provably still dont know the half of what we can do....

Insight on job profitability and visibility of productivity by project type too

Time to value requires input from the team but this would be the same with any implementation

The product is great for managing multiple clients and projects. It is simple to use and the training videos/information have been a great asset. We mainly utilise the functionality for quickly pricing new jobs and phases, invoicing and allocating work loads. Integration with the Xero accounting software is also great and saves time.

Some of the error messaging isn't always clear on how the problem can be resolved. It may be useful to hyperlink to a more detailed explanation.

The software is great for running jobs, which is vital to ensure we deliver to budget. The integration initially (10 yrs ago) was difficult, mainly due to us having to ‘know’ our processes, before we could integrate Synergist.

The fact Synergist is database driven; means you can cut the data in so many different ways. Although this can be beneficial it can sometimes be confusing.

Synergist is a robust and tailored workflow management software which we use from budgeting and quoting through to invoicing. Our success as an agency has come through leveraging the reporting tools and insights that Synergist allows us to capture and analyse.

Synergist has expanded to overlap with task management software. It is not a feature we currently use as it doesn’t offer the same level of user experience as more established software in this niche. We don’t find this an issue as it does what we require of it very well.

It has enabled my agency to understand the hours spent on client work, helped manage utilisation and productivity of the agency. It has helped agency profitability. It has helped us manage over servicing and most importantly where our team are being overworked or working too many hours.

Nothing really in the cons - other than some people might find it labour intensive on top of the client work they are doing.