Background When a management consulting firm first approached Velosio, manually driven processes hindered their ability to maintain the highest level of client care and professionalism. With an aging Microsoft Dynamics SL back-end ERP and NetSuite for CRM, the team resorted to sticky notes and Excel spreadsheets. There was little to no visibility into its consulting bench…
In the highly competitive A&E marketplace, knowing and anticipating a project’s expenses correctly provides a definite advantage when competing for a contract. But, even in the best of circumstances, cost estimating is complicated and there are myriad risks and uncertainties to consider. First, it’s important to understand the complexity of cost estimating. Companies should invest…
Many professional services firms face challenges in delivering projects within the stipulated time and budget. Navigating intricate project structures often lead to issues in deriving precise estimates, budgets, and schedules. Missed communication can further escalate costs or introduce delays. To appease clients, some businesses might even offer discounts when projects face hitches. Ultimately, these hurdles…
In the world of professional services, resource planning is crucial for the success of any project. Without proper planning, projects can quickly become disorganized, inefficient, and unprofitable. Yet, many firms still rely on outdated methods like spreadsheets for resource planning, which can lead to costly mistakes and inefficiencies. Moving on from spreadsheets and adopting modern…
Project-driven organizations face a different set of challenges than other business models. Each project is unique and customized, and importantly, temporary. Elements of business that may be standardized and automated in other sectors are less predictable in project-driven businesses. Project-driven businesses likely use many more applications and third-party tools to estimate, define scope, and manage…
Today’s business landscape is treacherous. In order for professional services firms to thrive, they need information—up-to-the-minute, accurate data about what is happening and how it’s affecting the bottom line. One of the most crucial, but underutilized, tools among professional services is real-time data reporting. To say that the business world is volatile is nearly an…
On the surface, many of the best professional services growth strategies seem more protective than proactive. That assessment isn’t entirely off-base. Becoming adaptive, agile, and adept at infusing data into every process, phase, product, and touchpoint allows firms to brace for impact and emerge from the next round of disruptions, disasters, and black swan events…
In today’s data-driven world, every business needs a smart strategy. But for professional services firms, intelligence is a critical success factor (CSF). Their “product” is a unique blend of insights and expertise, and their bottom line depends on delivering results that other firms can’t match. While human experts have always been the foundation of success,…
