2026: The Year of Doing Less, Better

2026: The Year of Doing Less, Better

If 2025 was the year agencies tried to fix everything with more tech, 2026 has to be the year we undo the chaos.

Because honestly, for every problem that’s popped up lately, someone’s gone, “I know! Let’s get another bit of software.” And now? The average tech stack is a patchwork of half-connected tools held together by good intentions.

Complicating things is easy. Simplifying… that’s where it becomes complicated.

So, before we stumble into another year juggling twelve logins, five reporting tools, and a to-do list living in four different systems, here’s what might be worth sorting now.

 

  1. Declutter your tech stack

Tech bloat has become the new cluttered desk. Every new shiny tool promises the world, then quietly adds another layer of admin. Half of it overlaps, the rest gets ignored. We’ve reached the point where people spend more time managing their software than doing their jobs.

Maybe 2026 is the year to go full Marie Kondo on your systems. Keep what earns its keep, ditch what doesn’t. It’s not about the most tech, it’s about the tightest tech. The kind that helps you, rather than the kind that promises to help but then generates more work for you.

 

  1. One source of truth

“Just check the spreadsheet” should be outlawed by now. If your team can’t agree on which numbers are real, you’ve already lost. When people stop trusting the data, they stop following the process.

The fix is boring but beautiful: centralise. One system, one view, one truth. Agencies running proper job management platforms already know the magic of this. One set of live numbers, no version control dramas, no back-and-forth, no “has the connection dropped?”.  All the answers are clearly in front of you; no extra steps or doubt involved.

 

  1. Quality over quantity (especially with data)

We’ve drowned ourselves in dashboards. There’s one for everything: utilisation, margin, client happiness, caffeine intake… But the truth is, nobody’s looking at half of them.

Next year, smart agencies will focus on relevance. A single snapshot that tells you what you need to know right now is worth more than ten overcomplicated reports. You only need one report that should land in front of the right person, at the right time.

 

  1. Use AI where it actually matters

Let’s stop pretending AI’s only about writing headlines or churning out visuals. The real magic is in operations.. The unglamorous stuff.

For instance, AI can read supplier invoices, code them, and push them into your system without a single human touch. That’s not sci-fi, that’s right now. And when AI’s woven into your workflow, it stops being a ‘thing’ and just becomes part of how the machine runs.

Same goes for automation. Reminders for missing timesheets, utilisation reports sent to team leads… all those small but constant drains on brainpower. The ops teams that embrace this automation will be the unsung heroes of next year.

 

  1. Focus on what actually matters

Three things will decide whether agencies thrive or wobble in 2026: cashflow, client health, and team wellbeing.

Cashflow’s obvious – it’s oxygen. But client health? That’s your pulse. You can see the warning signs long before an account goes cold: missed deadlines, scope creep, those polite-but-frosty emails. If your data’s clean and it’s all in one place, you can fix things before they turn into awkward “where did it all go wrong?” meetings.

And then there’s your team. When tools slow them down, everything slows down – client calls, deadlines, even the creative side. The goal is to give them space and time to focus on what matters. And that isn’t just client happiness; it’s your agency’s profitability too.

So, where does this leave us?

2026 isn’t about adding more. It’s about doing less, but better. Anyone can complicate things. The clever ones will strip it back and make it simple again.

Because when your systems, people, and data finally pull in the same direction… work just works.

Who’s Paprika?

Paprika Software’s been helping agencies get their act together for over 40 years. Some clients have been with us since the nineties, which says a lot. It’s one system, one login, designed for agencies but shaped to fit the way you work. Jobs, resourcing, finance, timesheets, contacts.. all in one place, growing as you do.

Janine Evans, Client Engagement Consultant, Paprika Software