The Core Challenges of Disconnected Technology

Picture the following scenario: You are a fast-growing professional services firm or project-based business with service and product revenues. You’ve got a CRM system that manages the product sales and a PSA system that manages time and expense (and projects), along with an accounting system for billing and financial management. With projected sales and product revenue, service revenue, and cash-flow all coming from separate systems – each with its own “version of the truth” – it is incredibly challenging for management to get a point-in-time sense of how business is doing. In particular, decision makers struggle with year-end budgeting and forecasting, trying to determine how to invest and manage the company to continue growth and maintain profitability.

The result of disparate systems in Service Firms

As a result, employees are copying and pasting data into spreadsheets, massaging and normalizing data, and then cobbling together backwards-looking reports based of questionable quality. Essentially, your systems and tools are disconnected, and this results in not being able to see an accurate picture of how you did last year in order to effectively plan for next year. 

Integrated PSA solutions

On the other hand, picture THIS scenario: Your integrated PSA and automated technology system handles sales, project, and financial functionality, allowing you to manage all aspects of client-facing activities, from sales through project staffing, project delivery, and invoicing. You have better insight into staff utilization – knowing who’s available, who’s oversubscribed, and who has expertise or interest in certain topics – and know if you should invest in recruiting more staff. Ultimately, you have better insight into the state of your business, leading to better forecasting, planning, and decision-making.

Clearly, any business would opt for scenario B. Unfortunately, most businesses are constrained by disconnected systems of people, processes, and technology. And when sales, marketing, project management, financial management, and executives (to name a few) all have siloed processes and systems – each using different tracking and reporting tools, both automated and manual – business leaders don’t have the insights they need to take on the right projects, utilize their people most effectively, and maximize profitability.

Connecting your systems to maximize efficiency

What’s the solution? Connecting your disparate systems so that they are integrated, automated, and allow your people to maximize time and efficiency. Read more about the core challenges of disconnected technology and how to overcome these challenges.