Creative agency software, built for Dubai

Agencies in the UAE tend to end up with a stack assembled from tools built for other markets, then patched with spreadsheets wherever the fit is wrong. The patches are always in the same places.

• One currency assumed. A Dubai retainer in dirhams, a Saudi project in riyals and a regional brand paying dollars cannot honestly be summed in a tool that treats currency as a display setting.
• Tax fields that do not exist. The TRN ends up typed into a notes field, or into the invoice template every single time.
• A calendar from somewhere else. Scheduling that assumes a Western working week and takes no view on Ramadan produces plans the team then fixes by hand.
• Client comms scattered. Approvals arrive by WhatsApp and email, and none of it is attached to the project it belongs to.

Individually these are small. Together they are the reason a fifteen person agency needs someone whose real job is keeping the tools in agreement.

The client record knows where it is

A client carries its trading and legal name, trade licence details, TRN, emirate and country, alongside the billing contact, payment terms and currency. Those are fields, not conventions, so the information is on the record instead of in one person’s memory.

Money in the currency it was agreed in

Invoices and expenses carry the client’s own currency. Dirhams are a first class citizen rather than a conversion, and reporting keeps the currencies apart instead of adding them together and hoping.

Retainers treated as retainers

A large share of agency revenue in the Gulf is retained rather than project billed. The client record holds the retainer and its amount, its contract start and end, and whether it renews, so the question of what recurs next month has an answer that does not involve reading contracts.

A calendar that matches the region

Scheduling assumes the working week actually worked here, and the client record carries a flag for brands whose calendar needs to be handled carefully around Ramadan, so it is visible when the plan is being made rather than after something has gone out.

Everything below reads the same client and project record, which is the whole point. Nothing needs to be entered twice.

• Projects. Briefs, deliverables, owners, deadlines and approvals on one board.
• Clients. Contacts, contracts, files, invoices and history against one record.
• Finance. Invoices, expenses and cashflow, multi currency, without a parallel spreadsheet.
• Planner. Plan, caption, preview and schedule social content, with approval before anything goes out.
• Influencers. A creator database with rates, deliverables and campaign tracking.
• PR. Coverage logged as it lands, and client ready reports generated from it.
• Reporting. Monthly client reports built from the record rather than from screenshots.

There is more detail on the thinking behind a single system on the agency operating system page, and on the creator side on the influencer platform page.

Wiro suits small and mid sized agencies in the Gulf, roughly three to fifty people, where the same team touches strategy, production, client service and invoicing. Social and content agencies, influencer and PR shops, and full service creative agencies running retainers alongside project work.

It is a worse fit for a single freelancer, who will find it heavier than they need, and for very large networks with an established finance system they cannot move off.