Earlier this year, IHAF published its In-House Agency Report Card—a study capturing performance feedback from over 200 clients actively engaged with in-house agencies, with comparative data from some of the leading external agencies in the country. The results showed that clients rate internal agencies as more effective at project/workflow management than their external counterparts.

Overall quality of project/workflow management.

Over the past few years, I’ve seen a big shift with in-house agencies focusing more and more on project and workflow management. Maybe it's the economy—with everyone being asked to do more with less. The volume and diversity of work in-house agencies are doing today and the need to manage that work without incremental headcount demands automated workflow. That’s why so many in-house teams are investing in sophisticated agency management systems. External agencies use workflow systems too, but with dwindling profit margins there’s limited money for them to invest in technology. Yet clients working with both types of agencies are calling for increased efficiency.

What do you think? Let us know by weighing in below or contacting IHAF directly, ihaforum.org.