Are you leveraging the technology that can help you achieve greater efficiency in the professional services industry and capture more value from your resources?
Professional services companies are recognizing that staying on an old, difficult-to-integrate system means reduced operational efficiency compared to a newer solution. Modern solutions have tight integrations and broader capabilities that provide a holistic view of operations so companies can better manage their resources and improve margins.
How, you ask? With a professional services solution, you can manage and allocate your resources to serve clients faster and deliver more projects on time. You can also bill faster, accelerating your cash flow. It has been said that “nothing loses value faster than services already delivered!”
Before you invest in new technology, evaluate your technology stack. Take advantage of hidden capabilities in your existing solution. Or consider moving from an on-premises software infrastructure to the Cloud.
Top-performing professional services companies can use tightly integrated solutions to leverage real-time data from across their operations and pursue continual improvement, according to the Service Performance Insight, LLC 2021 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark. They capture higher project margins because they’re more efficient, with more on-time deliveries and the capacity to deliver more projects overall.
With a more tightly integrated infrastructure, companies gain better visibility over every aspect of their business and operations to make better decisions. You can manage everything from utilization to process improvement to finance. And you can improve your quote-to-cash process, a desired benefit of any optimization effort.
Cloud-based software, like a Cloud ERP system from Microsoft or NetSuite, can greatly improve opportunities for efficiency, particularly considering that employees in professional services are projected to remain working remotely part of the time after the coronavirus pandemic.
In virtual settings, professional services organizations can achieve cost savings they’ll want to maintain moving forward. Additionally, having a Cloud environment means you can hire the best candidates for your company, rather than limiting yourself to a specific area or region.
Key business applications for professional services companies to consider integrating with their ERP include:
In professional services, people are your resource. How you manage and allocate them can affect your company’s operational efficiency and margins. Anything you can do to be more efficient with your team members’ time and utilization, thereby reducing downtime between projects, increases your bottom line.
When you improve resource management, you increase your utilization rate. A higher utilization rate means you’re getting more value out of existing resources and you can bill for more of their time.
Because your resources are your people, managing them is more complex than just making a few adjustments here and there.
Good resource management involves:
Ultimately, your goal is to improve utilization and decrease non-billable time. Your tech stack can automate processes that would normally keep your team stuck tackling non-billable work, so they can focus on delivering projects and putting their skills to use.
It can also help you allocate resources appropriately, putting the right people on the right projects to improve efficiency and delivery. Having the wrong resource on a project has many consequences, and newer tools have resource planning capabilities that will help you match resources by skill.
Additionally, today’s tools can help you improve time capture, which is critical to better operational efficiency and value. The hours in the day for your resources are your inventory. If you make it easier for your resources to enter time, they’ll spend less of their day capturing it and you’ll be able to capture it more accurately.
You don’t have to do a complete overhaul to get results.
When you reevaluate your technology stack and improve resource management, you improve utilization, tighten your quote-to-cash process, complete more on-time and on-budget deliveries, earn better margins on projects, and more. And today’s modern solutions often help small to midsized companies compete better than their bigger adversaries – blowing the doors off the competition.
Professional services organizations may seek a technology partner for a variety of reasons, including the need to:
Many professional services firms use legacy on-premises solutions with servers housed in closets and basements. While they can be integrated with new software solutions, many organizations aren’t aware of their integration options or that any integrations will be easier with modern tools.
Enavate helps clients evaluate their options from all angles so they can make the best investments for their specific circumstances. What you do depends on many facets, including expectations in your industry and your digital maturity level.
If you’re considering which path is best for your professional services organization, reach out to an Enavate expert and request a free whiteboard session.