AI for agencies works best on the work that surrounds the creative and technical work: planning engagements, chasing client approvals, tracking time and writing status reports. AlianHub's client delivery team pack gives you role agents for exactly those jobs, from an Agency Account Manager to a Client Status Reporter. They do the routine work, and anything wider waits for a person to approve.
Key takeaways
- Agencies sell expertise but spend hours on admin. That admin is where AI pays off.
- Let AI draft client reports. Let account managers own the message.
- Approvals are the bottleneck in client work. An agent can chase them for you.
- Time per engagement is your margin. Track it where the work happens.
- Give clients a Guest view, not a weekly spreadsheet.
Where agency hours actually go
Ask any account manager where the week went. A large part of it is not client work. It is:
- Turning a client brief into a plan.
- Chasing feedback and sign-off.
- Writing weekly updates for each client.
- Reconciling timesheets against estimates.
- Answering "where are we?" in email and chat.
Every hour spent chasing a client approval is an hour not spent on the client's actual work. That is the gap AI for agencies should close.
The AlianHub agents for client delivery
The client delivery team pack covers engagements planned, approved and reported to the client. It turns on four role agents.
| Agent | Job | Typical autonomy |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement Planner | Turns a client brief into a plan | L1, proposes the plan |
| Agency Account Manager | Keeps client work moving on the board | L1 or L2 |
| Client Approval Tracker | Follows up on approvals that are waiting | L2, comments and nudges |
| Client Status Reporter | Drafts the client status report | L1, you review before it goes out |
Each agent is a member of your workspace with an owner, a run budget and a scope, and an AGENT tag marks it everywhere. Low-risk actions, such as a comment, a nudge or a report, can run with Undo at L2. Wider changes wait in the AI Inbox. See all 15 team packs on the teams page.
How to do this in AlianHub
Set up a new client engagement
- Open AI and start the AI project generator (Write with AI). Paste the client brief.
- Answer its questions and review the plan: lists, tasks and sub-tasks. Accept it when it matches the scope.
- Invite the client contact as a Guest under Settings, Members, so they see only what you share.
- Turn on Email to Task for the project, so client requests sent to its address become tasks.
Put the agents to work
- Open the Agents tab and assign the Engagement Planner, Client Approval Tracker and Client Status Reporter to the project.
- Set each one's autonomy level. Start the Status Reporter at L1, so every report is a proposal you read first.
- Set a daily action limit and a monthly spend cap per agent, so each client's AI spend stays predictable.
- Add preferences to Your AI memory, such as "Client updates go out on Fridays".
- Each morning, open AI, then AI Inbox and approve or decline what the agents propose.
- Check AI, then Audit log to review or undo any change.
Tip: if a client project is sensitive, make it stricter than the agents. A project can hold every agent to proposals only, whatever their level.
Track time and margin
Team members start a timer on a task or add time by hand, then send a weekly timesheet for approval. The Variance Report compares actual time with estimates by project or person, so you see an over-servicing problem before the invoice. More on the workspace page.
Bring your own AI to client work
Many account managers already use Claude or ChatGPT. With AI, then Connect your AI, each person links their app over MCP and asks in plain words, such as "add a subtask Order signage to Open day, comment on it and assign it to Arjun". Adding and commenting happen at once with Undo; assigning waits in the AI Inbox. The AI works as that person and sees only what they can open. See the Connect your AI guide.
What agents never do with client work
Clients trust you with their work, so these limits matter:
- Agents cannot delete tasks, docs, comments or projects.
- They cannot remove people, change permissions or touch billing.
- No agent closes a task. A person checks before Done.
- Every action, including refused ones, is in the audit log.
Your client does not have to trust the AI. They have to trust you, and you can show them the log.
A business scenario: an agency that takes on more clients
Picture a small digital agency where each account manager spends a big part of Friday writing client updates and Monday chasing sign-offs.
They move each client into AlianHub with the AI project generator. The Client Approval Tracker nudges on approvals that have waited too long. The Client Status Reporter drafts each Friday update from the live tasks, and the account manager edits and sends it. Clients with Guest access check progress themselves.
Updates go out on time and sound consistent across clients. Approvals come back sooner, so fewer deadlines slip. The Variance Report shows which retainers are over-serviced. The same team can now handle more clients without the admin growing at the same rate, which is how a small agency grows without hiring just for coordination.
FAQ
What is AI for agencies?
It is using AI to handle agency admin, such as planning engagements, chasing approvals and drafting client reports, so people spend more time on client work. In AlianHub, role agents in the client delivery team pack do these jobs.
Will clients see the AI's work?
Only what you share. Clients can be invited as Guests, and agent comments carry an AGENT tag so nobody mistakes them for a person.
Can I control AI costs per client?
Yes. Each agent has a run budget, with a daily action limit and a monthly spend cap, and usage and spend are visible per agent.
Is AlianHub free for agencies?
Yes. It is free and open source under AGPL-3.0 with no per-seat pricing, so adding staff or client guests does not raise the licence cost.
Give your account managers their Fridays back. Open the live demo to see agents and the AI Inbox, self-host it free, and share this post with your agency's operations lead.