Contract management is a table of documents with dates, not a pipeline. Campaign demands arrive in bulk and want to be entered line by line, not one popup at a time. "Opening a card, opening a popup and writing everything is a bit exhausting. It ends up generating more clicks than normal."
An ad agency's back office, rebuilt around how each process actually works
Jones moved contract management, supplier invoicing and employee onboarding out of a per-seat kanban tool, a set of control spreadsheets and an email-blast tool, into one system built for it. The process tooling now costs 30% of what it did, and three other tools were switched off.
An advertising agency that sells creative work and runs on a back office with many outside parties.
Suppliers invoice against hours. Contracts have end dates. Campaigns generate demands in bulk. Each new hire needs recruiting, people operations, payroll, finance and IT in the right order.
Advertising
2023Spun out as an independent agency; more than 150 professionals at launch
30%Of the previous process-tooling cost, company figure from the interview
3Other tools switched off, stated by the company
~60Supplier invoice requests per monthly upload, on-screen estimate
30%Of the previous process-tooling costThe company's own comparison of what it pays for process tooling today against what it paid before, as stated in the interview. Basis and period not audited.
3Other tools switched offStated by the company in addition to the cost reduction. The tools are not named in the interview, except that one was the email-dispatch tool used for suppliers.
~60Supplier requests per uploadThe interviewee's own estimate while showing the screen. Not counted on record.
3Automated alerts per contractEmails to the contract owner and to legal at 90, 45 and 30 days before a supplier contract ends.
“We saw that [the previous tool] did not meet all our needs. We were stuck turning every one of our processes into a kanban, and not all of them work that way. On top of that, it was a very high cost for a startup; it represented a very large share of our revenue.”
Clara MedeirosProcess manager, Jones
BeforeAfter
- Per-seat kanban holding every back-office processEach process in its own shape: table, pipeline or batch
- A spreadsheet watched to catch contract end datesContract table with emails at 90, 45 and 30 days before end
- A separate tool to email suppliers their monthly amountsOne spreadsheet upload creates every record and sends each email
- Suppliers retyping legal name, bank details and amount every monthEmail already carries the amount and stored bank data; supplier attaches the invoice
- Email chains to get one new hire set upOne onboarding flow that notifies each team at its step
- Manual re-entry of each hire into the HR platformIntegration pushes the record when the trial period starts
The employee management platform remains the system of record for staff and receives each new hire through an integration. Spreadsheets remain the input format finance uses to prepare the monthly supplier amounts. Email remains the channel to suppliers, managers and new hires. Payment itself is still executed by finance on its two monthly payment dates; the system tracks the status and flips it to paid on the payment date.
The bottleneck is not commercial
Jones is an advertising agency focused on online work: brand entertainment, creators and influencers, always-on social, media and content. It was spun out of a holding company in 2023 and, at launch, reported more than 150 professionals. Its accounts include large global brands; John Deere and MAPFRE are named in the interview and confirmed in trade press.
An agency of this kind sells creative and media work, but it runs on a back office that touches many outside parties every month. Suppliers and freelancers invoice against hours used. Client and supplier contracts have end dates that someone has to act on. Campaigns generate demands in bulk. Headcount moves, and each new hire needs recruiting, people operations, payroll, finance and IT to do their part in the right order.
Clara Medeiros, process manager at Jones, describes her mandate as establishing all of those processes. The bottleneck she describes is not commercial. It is that each of these processes has a different shape, and the tooling in place forced all of them into one.
A tool with one shape, applied to an operation with several
The pattern behind all four: a tool with one shape, applied to an operation with several.
“We saw that [the previous tool] did not meet all our needs. We were stuck turning every one of our processes into a kanban, and not all of them work that way. On top of that, it was a very high cost for a startup; it represented a very large share of our revenue.”
Each month the agency emailed every supplier the amount to invoice. Each supplier then opened a form and typed its legal name, its bank details and the same amount back in, even though none of it changed from month to month. "It was quite tedious for them and a lot of work."
Getting one person hired meant several control tables and a chain of emails between people operations, payroll, finance, IT and the business partners responsible for the trial period. The failure mode was a missed step: a cost center allocated wrong, a laptop not ready on day one.
The company describes the previous tooling as a large share of revenue. When the whole company needs to open the tool to submit a request or fill in a form, per-seat pricing punishes exactly the adoption you want.
Item by item, what did each job before and what does it now
| What did this before | What does it today |
|---|---|
| Per-seat kanban tool holding every back-office process | One system with each process in its own shape: table, pipeline or batch |
| Spreadsheet watched by a person to catch contract end dates | Contract table with automated emails to the owner and to legal at 90, 45 and 30 days before end |
| Manual card creation for campaign demands and supplier batches | Line-by-line entry and spreadsheet upload that creates all records and their automations at once |
| Separate email-dispatch tool for monthly supplier amounts | Upload of the month's spreadsheet creates one record per supplier and sends each email automatically |
| Supplier form asking for legal name, bank details and amount every month | Email already carries the amount and stored bank data; supplier only attaches the invoice and confirms |
| Manual reminder to suppliers who had not sent their invoice | Automatic reminder email when a record is still pending at a set date before the deadline |
| Email chains between recruiting, people operations, payroll, finance and IT for each hire | One onboarding flow that notifies each team at its step and collects what it returns |
| Manual re-entry of each new hire into the HR platform | Integration pushes the record when the person enters the trial period |
| Login and password relayed by hand from IT to people operations to the new hire | IT enters the credentials once; they go straight to the new hire's email |
| Manager reminded by a person to evaluate the trial period | Automated evaluation request to the manager at 35 days and again at around 80 days |
What was not replaced. The employee management platform remains the system of record for staff and receives each new hire through an integration. Spreadsheets remain the input format finance uses to prepare the monthly supplier amounts. Email remains the channel to suppliers, managers and new hires. Payment itself is still executed by finance on its two monthly payment dates; the system tracks the status and flips it to paid on the payment date.
Monthly supplier invoicing, end to end
- 1Finance consolidates amountsPerson
The month's amount per supplier, with any deductions, in a spreadsheet.
- 2Spreadsheet is uploadedAutomated
One record per supplier is created, with amount, legal name and stored bank data already attached.
- 3Suppliers are emailedAutomated
Each supplier receives the amount to invoice, its bank data on file and a link to a form.
- 4Supplier attaches the invoiceExternal
Confirms or corrects the bank data.
- 5Reminder if still pendingAutomated
If the record is still pending at the reminder date (in the interviewee's example, the 15th for a deadline on the 20th), a reminder email goes out.
- 6Finance reviews the invoicePerson, then External
If something is inconsistent, the record goes back to the supplier for correction.
- 7Invoice is bookedPerson
Finance books the invoice and moves the record to awaiting payment.
- 8Record turns to paidAutomated
On the payment date.
The hard links are the ones that leave the building. Step 4 of invoicing depends on the supplier acting on an email, and step 5 exists because some will not. Steps 5, 6 and 9 of onboarding depend on the new hire and the manager answering; the default approval when a manager stays silent is a deliberate design decision to keep the flow moving, and the company says it is not the outcome they want but the one that happens.
Employee onboarding, end to end. 1. Recruiting fills in the initial data (Person). 2. People operations is notified of who is arriving and when, and starts preparing the admission medical exam and payroll inclusion (Automated, then Person). 3. Finance is asked to confirm the cost center (Automated, then Person). 4. IT receives a ticket with the person's role, which determines the machine to prepare; when IT creates the login, the credentials go straight to the new hire's email (Automated, then Person, then Automated). 5. The new hire fills in a form with personal data, including the name they want to be called by; every later email uses that name (External). 6. People operations schedules the medical exam; the new hire uploads the certificate through a link (Person, then External). 7. The record waits for the start date, then moves to trial period on its own (Automated). 8. The record is pushed to the employee management platform (Automated). 9. At 35 days the manager receives an evaluation request; if the manager does not answer, the person is considered on track and approved automatically; if the manager fails the person, people operations is alerted to decide between an action plan and termination (Automated, then Person). 10. At around 80 days the manager receives the final evaluation request; on approval the flow closes and the person is confirmed (Automated, then Person).
Every figure, with the basis beside it
| Indicator | Result | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of process tooling | 30% of the previous cost | Company statement in the interview: "our cost today is 30% of our previous cost". Basis, period and what is counted in each side are not audited. |
| Other tools switched off | 3 | Company statement in the interview, in addition to the cost reduction. Tools not named, except the email-dispatch tool for suppliers. |
| Supplier requests created per upload | Around 60 | Interviewee's estimate while showing the screen. Not counted on record. |
| Supplier records pending at the moment shown | 1 | Screen shown in the interview; a single snapshot, not a rate. |
| Contract expiry alerts | Emails at 90, 45 and 30 days before end | Description of the automation in the interview. |
| Trial-period evaluation requests | At 35 days and at around 80 days | Description of the automation; the interviewee corrects herself from 85 to 80 days. |
| Payment runs | 2 payment dates per month | Description in the interview. |
30% is a cost ratio, not a savings figure on total software spend. The interviewee says the current cost is 30% of the previous cost, which is a 70% reduction on the tooling being compared. She then says that on top of that, three other tools were switched off. The savings from those three tools are not quantified and are not included in the 70%.
Around 60 is per cycle, not per month of the year. It is the size of one upload of supplier requests as shown on screen. The company did not state how many cycles or how many suppliers it has in total.
Contract batch upload was still planned at the time of the interview. The contract table and its alerts were running; loading the full historical contract base in batch was described as something the legal team was going to do. The case does not claim the full contract base was loaded.
What this case does not measure
Worth naming, because it is usually what gets inflated.
The 30% figure is the company's own statement. No invoice, contract or spend report was reviewed, and the interview does not say whether the comparison covers only the kanban tool or all the tools that were switched off.
The company describes less noise, fewer emails and fewer forgotten steps. It does not quantify hours saved per process or any change in back-office headcount.
The only volume figure is an on-screen estimate of about 60 supplier requests in one upload. Total number of suppliers, contracts or hires per year is not stated.
The interview was recorded on an August 6th; the year is not stated in the recording. The company's public size figure (more than 150 professionals) is from its 2023 launch and has not been updated in the sources reviewed.
Clara Medeiros identifies herself in the interview as process manager and says she has held the role for a little over three years. A public profile with that name and a matching title exists, but her role at the company was not confirmed in press coverage.
The 30% and three-tools figures do not appear on any Jestor page found at the time of writing, so there is no earlier published number to reconcile against.
The company left a tool it describes as good at kanban and poorly suited to tables and bulk entry. That is a statement about fit for this agency's processes, not about the tool's quality.
Supplier invoicing is mostly run out of spreadsheets, and suppliers feel it
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising agency establishments with employees, United States | 15,512 establishments, 200,465 jobs (2023) | US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 54181 |
| Companies managing freelancer contracts and invoicing with internal tools such as manual spreadsheets | 49% of employers surveyed | Remote, The State of Freelance Work 2025 (1,900 employers, 3,300 freelancers) |
| Freelancers whose invoices are paid late at least sometimes | 85% | Remote, The State of Freelance Work 2025 |
| Freelancer invoices paid at least one day late | 29% of all invoices | Bonsai, platform data from 100,000+ freelancers, January 2026 |
| SaaS licenses that go unused | 36% | Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index, January 2026 |
| SaaS spend controlled by business units rather than IT | 81% | Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index, January 2026 |
| Knowledge workers' day spent on coordination, status and searching for information | 58% | Asana, Anatomy of Work Global Index 2023 (9,615 workers, six countries) |
Roughly half of employers surveyed manage freelancer contracts and invoicing with manual internal tools, and most freelancers report being paid late at least sometimes. Jones's own supplier flow was a spreadsheet plus an email tool plus a form the supplier retyped every month. The rebuilt flow keeps the spreadsheet as an input and removes the retyping and the manual reminders.
More than a third of SaaS licenses go unused and four out of five dollars are now spent by business units, not IT. A back office that needs the whole company to open a tool, but only a few people to work in it, is the case where seat-based pricing and low utilization meet. Jones's 30% figure is one company's version of that.
More than half of a knowledge worker's day goes to work about work. The email chains between people operations, payroll, finance and IT that Jones describes are exactly that category, and the case's clearest gain is their removal, which is also why it is not quantified.
The figure that circulates most about freelancer payment, that 71% of freelancers have been paid late, comes from a 2015 Freelancers Union survey about whether respondents had ever had trouble getting paid in their career. It is old and is often quoted as a current rate. The Remote and Bonsai figures above are more recent and measure narrower things; they are used here for that reason.
The system is built to order and stays our responsibility
Jones did not want to become a software team. Its process manager's job was to define how contracts, suppliers, campaigns and hiring should run, not to maintain the tool that runs them. The question that matters in year two is who changes the flow when legal wants a fourth alert, or when finance adds a third payment date. A bespoke system nobody can touch turns back into a spreadsheet in three years.
One builder owns each request from start to finish, with one always in progress.
A new flow, a new automation or a new report enters through the same channel, without becoming a new project.
If what was built is not right, it is rebuilt. Unlimited revisions within the subscription.
Seats are never the billing unit, which matters when the whole company submits requests and forms, suppliers answer through links, and only legal, finance, people operations and IT work inside the flows.
People learn to use their app the way they learn any app, by opening it. Building, configuring and maintaining stays on our side.
Full export at any time, by CSV and API. SOC 2 compliant, no exit fee. You can pause in one click and the systems keep running.
Methodology and sources
The 30% cost ratio, the three tools switched off, the description of each process before and after, the approximately 60 requests per upload, the alert and evaluation timings and the migration experience all come from a recorded interview with Clara Medeiros, process manager at Jones. None of these figures was audited.
The company's line of work, its 2023 spin-out from a holding company, its size at launch (more than 150 professionals) and its named accounts come from trade press coverage between June 2023 and April 2025 and from the company's own published material. The size figure is dated to 2023.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 54181). Remote, The State of Freelance Work 2025. Bonsai, late payment analysis, January 2026. Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index, January 2026. Asana, Anatomy of Work Global Index 2023. All accessed September 2026.
No monetary value of the savings, because the company did not state one and converting a share into an amount would require a base it did not give. No hours saved, no headcount figure, no total supplier or contract count, because none was stated. No claim about the full contract base being loaded, because at the time of the interview that step was still planned.