Few industries change as rapidly or evolve as continuously as the professional services industry. As the economies of developed nations continue to shift to be predominantly service-based, the firms that produce that output are continually reinventing themselves to overcome obstacles, satisfy market needs, and seize opportunities. Every year SPI Research surveys those firms and develops their annual Professional Services Maturity … Read More
Professional Service Contract Structures – Comparing 6 Different Models
At the core of every professional services engagement there is a contract structure that dictates the expectations of each party. While strong results are ultimately what every client wants, the contract structure that surround consulting a project plays a significant role. It dictates who bears risk, when money changes hands, and the how final product is to be delivered. As … Read More
When Should You Implement a PSA Solution
Are you still managing your professional services firm with spreadsheets, whiteboards, emails, and a host of manual processes? Do you know what sort of software you need to manage your consulting firm more efficiently? Should you settle for a series of individual point solutions—separate time tracking, invoicing, project management, and resource scheduling applications—or invest in an integrated Professional Services Automation … Read More
What is PSA Software? – A Deep Dive into Professional Services Automation
“What is PSA software?” It’s a question that I get all the time. I can answer that here (and I will), but in the tradition of great journalistic practices, I’ll do more than that. Journalism 101: in order to tell a compelling (and complete) story, I’ll make sure I answer the what—but will also cover the who, when, where, why, … Read More
Utilization and Engagement – How Efficient Management Impacts the Workplace
Utilization is a loaded term in the professional services sector. Decision-makers get excited when discussing utilization because they often face demand to maximize every bit of resourcing they have available to improve the bottom line. We talk about strategies for maximizing resource utilization a lot on this blog (because it is what we do every day), but there really are … Read More
3 Tiers of Professional Services Management that Unlock the Potential of Enterprise Data
Managing projects based on a consolidated view of performance has always been an attractive idea in the professional services sector, but one that has been traditionally difficult to follow up on. Accounting for revenues, costs, profits, and performance to both budget and schedule for in-flight projects requires a complex data gathering and analysis processes. Bringing together information from disparate systems … Read More
Contingency Planning for Professional Services Projects
One of the greatest risks to a professional services project is starting it without dedicating any time to contingency planning. Sure you’ve delivered this type of project a thousand times. Of course, you have an excellent relationship with the client. Without a doubt, your team has the right skills to deliver under budget and on time. But things change, and … Read More
Lessons Learned in the Professional Services Industry – A Decade of Insights
This year marks the tenth publication of Service Performance Insight’s annual Professional Services Maturity Benchmark survey. This phenomenal body of work not only provides insight into the micro trends affecting the professional services market over the past 12 months, it examines broader macro trends tracing back a decade or more. This broader history is especially interesting as it examines the … Read More
6 Revenue Forecasting Mistakes Professional Services Firms Make – Part 2
At the center of every professional services firm, there is a revenue forecast. Regardless of the platform used to develop a revenue forecast—spreadsheets, whiteboards, or Professional Services Automation software—every services manager is trying to predict what the future may hold. And revenue forecasts are just that, a prediction. In my last post (link below) about revenue forecasting mistakes, I took … Read More
6 Revenue Forecasting Mistakes Professional Services Firms Make – Part 1
Professional services firms live and die by their ability to forecast revenue. Although there are many types of forecasts that service firms perform—utilization, profitability, or backlog—they all tie into an underlying revenue forecast. Get your revenue forecasting right, and you have an appropriately sized firm that has a healthy service mix. Get your predictions wrong, and you will be under … Read More