Orangescrum

What is the billable utilization rate?

Billable utilization rate is the percentage of an employee’s available working hours that are billed to clients. It is the single most important leading indicator of agency profitability, calculated by dividing billable hours by total available hours and multiplying by 100. Although most professional services firms target a billable utilization rate of 75% to 80%, the right target varies significantly by role.

If you run an agency, consultancy, or IT services firm, your billable utilization rate determines whether you have a margin or not. Furthermore, this guide covers the formula, industry benchmarks by role, the five most common reasons utilization rates fall below target, and six proven strategies to reach 75%+ — with a real-world worked example showing how a 12-person agency moved from 62% to 78% in a single quarter.

Billable utilization rate formula

The billable utilization rate formula is:

Billable Utilization Rate (%) = (Billable Hours ÷ Total Available Hours) × 100

This formula looks simple, but most agencies calculate it incorrectly. Specifically, the two variables — billable hours and total available hours — both require clear definitions to produce a meaningful number.

Most teams don’t fail at Agile because they can’t sprint. They fail because they try to run a pure Agile framework inside an organisation that still runs on deadlines, budgets, and quarterly reporting cycles. The answer isn’t to abandon Agile — it’s to go hybrid.

According to the 16th Annual State of Agile Report, 71% of organisations now use a hybrid Agile approach rather than a pure framework. Yet most blog articles still treat Agile as binary. This guide fixes that.

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what hybrid Agile methodology means, why it outperforms both pure Agile and traditional Waterfall for most mid-size teams, and how to implement it step-by-step — including the tools that make it work without chaos.

What Is Hybrid Agile Methodology? (The Honest Definition)

Hybrid Agile is a project management approach that combines iterative Agile practices — sprints, backlogs, retrospectives — with elements of plan-driven methodologies like Waterfall or PRINCE2. The goal is flexibility where you need it and structure where the business demands it.

Every business wants to grow. That’s the ambition. That’s the story we tell ourselves when we hire, expand, and chase new opportunities.

But growth has a quieter side. One that rarely makes it into strategy decks.

It shows up in small decisions.

A new employee joins, and someone pauses-“Do we really need to add them to the system?”A stakeholder asks for visibility, and the answer becomes-“We’ll share updates instead.”A team expands, but access remains limited.

Not because the intent is missing. But because the cost is increasing.

That cost-per-user, per seat, slowly begins to shape how businesses operate.

And over time, growth starts to feel like a calculation instead of momentum.

Every business leader faces a defining question when evaluating on-premises vs cloud project management: Which deployment model truly delivers better value over five years? On the surface, a cloud SaaS subscription looks affordable. However, after five years, the math often tells a very different story - and the results may surprise you.

Your project managers are the operational heart of your IT agency. But most agencies are not fully leveraging their PMs’ potential impact on profitability. This article explores the financial levers PMs control, the systems and skills that amplify their impact, and how agency leaders can structure their PM function to drive measurably better business results. 

The Project Manager’s Untapped Influence on Agency Margins

When agency leaders think about profitability, they tend to focus on sales — closing more deals, at better rates, with higher-value clients. Sales matter, but it is only half of the profitability equation. The other half is delivery efficiency, and that is where your project managers live.

A project manager who consistently delivers projects within scope, on schedule, and without margin-destroying surprises is contributing directly to your agency’s bottom line. A project manager who regularly allows scope creep, misses delivery milestones, and consistently requires more hours than estimated is silently eroding your margins on every engagement they touch.

Growth is good—until your tools start charging you for it.

Most project management platforms increase costs as your team expands. Every new member means another subscription fee, making scaling unnecessarily expensive.

That’s where Orangescrum Cloud Pricing takes a different approach.

Instead of limiting your growth, it introduces a flat, scalable pricing model with unlimited users, allowing your team to collaborate freely—without worrying about rising costs.

A Smarter Pricing Model Built for Growth

Orangescrum’s new pricing isn’t just an update—it’s designed around how modern teams actually work.

Teams grow quickly

Projects multiply

Collaboration expands across departments

And your tools should support that—not restrict it.

With Orangescrum, you get:

Unlimited users across all plans

The ability to scale projects as your business grows

Predictable pricing without per-user charges

Orangescrum Cloud Pricing Plans (Now More Flexible Than Ever)

Orangescrum offers three structured plans that adapt to different stages of business growth—each available in both monthly and yearly billing options.

Basic Unlimited — For Getting Started

Designed for small teams and freelancers who need essential project management without complexity.

Starts at $29/month

Available at $26/month (billed yearly)

This plan gives you a strong foundation with core features to organize and manage work efficiently—without overwhelming your workflow.

Pro Unlimited — For Growing Teams

Built for teams that need more control, automation, and visibility as they scale.

Starts at $69/month

Available at $62/month (billed yearly)

At this level, teams unlock advanced capabilities like workflow customization, time tracking, integrations, and agile project handling—making it ideal for fast-moving organizations.

Premium Unlimited — For Advanced Organizations

Tailored for businesses managing complex workflows, multiple teams, and strategic operations.

Starts at $349/month

Available at $297/month (billed yearly)

Includes additional savings up to 15% annually

This plan is built for organizations that need complete control over resources, budgets, and performance tracking – all within one unified platform.

Imagine a Monday morning where your team is scattered across multiple time zones, but the project deadline looms closer than ever. Your inbox is flooded with email chains, each one more confusing than the last, and the team chat is a cacophony of overlapping conversations. This is the reality without effective project collaboration software. In fact, companies without integrated collaboration tools report up to 20% lower productivity, leading to missed deadlines and increased costs.

In this guide, we will explore how project collaboration software, specifically Orangescrum, can transform the way your enterprise operates globally. We’ll delve into the structural issues that plague project management, quantify the cost of inaction, and provide actionable steps to implement a solution that meets the needs of team leads, project managers, and operations managers. This isn’t just about productivity—it’s about empowering your team to work smarter, not harder.

Understanding Project Collaboration Software

Project collaboration software like Orangescrum serves as a centralized platform for managing tasks, timelines, and team communications. Unlike traditional methods that rely heavily on emails and disparate tools, Orangescrum integrates workflow management and task tracking in one seamless interface. This integration is crucial for enterprises where the coordination of large teams and complex projects is paramount.

Customer support is the backbone of every successful business. Every question, issue, or service request from customers carries an opportunity to improve products, strengthen relationships, and deliver better experiences.

But many organizations still struggle with scattered support channels — emails, chat messages, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools. When requests are spread across multiple systems, it becomes difficult to track issues, assign ownership, and ensure timely resolutions.

This is where a dedicated ticketing platform becomes essential.

Today, we are introducing the Orangescrum Ticketing Platform — designed to help teams capture, organize, and resolve support and service requests efficiently.

Why Businesses Need a Structured Ticketing System

As organizations grow, customer requests grow with them. Without a structured support system, teams often face common challenges:

Customer issues getting lost in email threads

Lack of clear ownership of support requests

Slow response and resolution times

Limited visibility into ticket status

Poor coordination between support and internal teams

A structured ticketing system ensures that every request is tracked, assigned, and resolved through a transparent workflow.

Mobile productivity has become essential for modern teams. Project managers, developers, and remote teams need tools that allow them to track work, collaborate, and manage tasks from anywhere. That’s exactly why the latest mobile app upgrade from Orangescrum focuses on performance, usability, and better collaboration.

​The updated mobile app introduces improvements that make project management smoother and more intuitive for teams working on the go. From faster navigation to improved task tracking, the new upgrade ensures users can manage projects efficiently without needing a desktop.

​In this article, we’ll explore what’s new in the upgraded Orangescrum mobile app, how it improves productivity, and why it’s a valuable tool for modern teams.

Why Mobile Project Management Matters

Today’s work environment is more flexible than ever. Teams often operate remotely, across time zones, or outside traditional office spaces. Because of this shift, project management tools must support real-time collaboration from mobile devices.

​A powerful mobile app helps teams:

Stay updated on tasks and deadlines

Respond to project updates quickly

Communicate with team members instantly

Track project progress anywhere

The upgraded Orangescrum mobile app addresses these needs by providing a streamlined interface and powerful project management capabilities in a mobile-friendly format.

What’s New in the Orangescrum Mobile App Upgrade

The latest upgrade focuses on usability, performance, and better workflow management. Here are the key improvements.

Enterprises deal with thousands of documents every day – contracts, reports, invoices, design files, and project documents. Managing all this information manually becomes difficult, time-consuming, and risky.

That’s where Document Management Systems (DMS) come in.

A modern document management system helps organizations store, organize, track, and secure documents in one centralized platform. When integrated with enterprise project management tools like Orangescrum Self-Hosted, teams gain better control over documents while maintaining security and compliance.

In this guide, we’ll explain how document management systems work in enterprise platforms, why they matter, and how self-hosted systems provide better control for businesses.

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Time is the only resource every team has in equal measure – yet most organizations still struggle to manage it effectively.

A developer loses 20 minutes switching between tasks. A marketing team spends hours on meetings that produce little outcome. A project manager realizes too late that a project has already exceeded its budget.

Without visibility into how time is spent, productivity quietly slips away.

That’s why time tracking software has become essential for modern teams. Instead of relying on guesswork or manual spreadsheets, businesses now use smart tools to track work hours, analyze productivity patterns, and manage projects more efficiently.

Modern time tracking tools do far more than just record hours. They help teams:

Understand where time is being spent

Improve accountability across projects

Track billable and non-billable hours

Optimize team productivity

Deliver projects on time and within budget

Many tools today also integrate with project management platforms, automate timesheets, and generate detailed productivity reports. As a result, organizations can make better decisions based on real data rather than assumptions.

In this guide, we’ll look at the Top 10 Time Tracking Software to Boost Productivity in 2026 – including tools designed for freelancers, agencies, remote teams, and growing businesses.

In today’s fast-paced software world, delivering high-quality products quickly is no longer optional – it’s essential. Yet many QA teams struggle with scattered test cases, disconnected bug trackers, and manual processes that slow down releases. Modern QA workflows demand more than spreadsheets – they need a centralized, collaborative, and scalable test case management platform that connects planning, execution, defect tracking, and reporting in one seamless system.

Choosing the right platform can transform your QA process. It improves visibility, enhances collaboration between testers and developers, ensures complete traceability, and helps your team release software faster with confidence. In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to select a test case management platform that fits modern QA workflows and supports Agile and DevOps teams effectively.

What Is a Test Case Management Platform?

A test case management platform helps QA teams create, organize, execute, and track test cases in one system.

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Government departments today operate under intense public scrutiny. Citizens expect clear accountability, oversight bodies demand audit-ready documentation, and leadership needs real-time visibility into how public funds and government projects are performing.

Yet many government projects still rely on spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected tools. The result?

Delayed reporting

Poor traceability

Cost overruns discovered too late

Difficult and time-consuming audits

This is where centralized project management software becomes a critical enabler of transparency. By bringing planning, execution, reporting, and governance into one system, government agencies can move from reactive reporting to proactive accountability.

Agile execution has come under intense scrutiny over the past few years. Organizations blame Agile for missed deadlines, unpredictable delivery, and exhausted teams. As a result, executives question scalability, managers struggle with forecasting, and teams feel overwhelmed by constant process overhead.

Because of this frustration, many leaders quickly conclude:

“Agile doesn’t work for us.”

However, that conclusion rarely reflects reality.

Agile execution isn’t broken. Instead, most organizations struggle because they execute Agile practices poorly. In fact, Agile failures rarely stem from the Agile framework itself. Rather, they emerge from visibility gaps, weak execution discipline, and incentives that reward activity instead of outcomes.

In other words, frameworks don’t fail; execution fails.

The Myth of “Doing Agile”

Most teams believe they practice Agile execution simply because they follow common Agile practices. For example, they conduct daily stand-ups, run sprint planning meetings, groom backlogs, and hold retrospectives.

At first glance, everything appears compliant. However, delivery outcomes often tell a very different story.

For instance, work spills over sprint after sprint. Meanwhile, dependencies surface too late. At the same time, priorities shift mid-cycle. As a result, teams remain busy, yet customers receive value slowly.

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