PSA solutions help professional services firms improve business results and project performance by combining these capabilities into a single application. This ensures that everyone in the firm has a consistent, accurate, and up-to-date view of the health of the organization—from individual projects to entire business units.
Professional Services Automation software is sometimes referred to by several other names, some formal and some informal, such as:. Whatever name you wish to use, Professional Services Automation software is the core operational system for professional services resource planning, project management, and time and expenses management.
PSA software can help professional services firms consolidate project tracking software, resource management tools, project accounting solutions, and time tracking technology into one system.
Service Performance Insight SPI Research is the premiere research firm that focuses exclusively on the professional services industry. He worked at Aberdeen at the time, and he has been covering the industry ever since. Needless to say, he knows a thing or two about the PSA marketplace. PSA systems also help professional services firms manage the core revenue-generating activities of their project delivery teams.
This can range from ensuring cost-effective utilization of allocated resources to accurate revenue forecasting methods. For example:. Leading Professional Services Automation solutions include a suite of features that can be used individually or, preferably integrated together.
These often include:. A top-performing professional services management tool will help you streamline your operations. Imagine replacing that interconnected spider web of spreadsheets or that unmanageable portfolio of siloed point solution applications that many organizations still use to run their businesses with an integrated software solution that boosts bottom-line results. In a word or two : performance improvement.
PSA software, because of its singular focus on the professional services industry, provides professional services KPIs , best practices, concepts, and tools designed to help services organizations operate as efficiently as possible. More generalized applications have no hope of understanding or managing the fine nuances specific to the professional services industry.
This includes:. Studies have shown material improvements in utilization, profitability, successful project delivery , and more when services firms implement PSA solutions. It is always helpful to read customer reviews to see the benefits they have experienced firsthand.
In addition, modern professional services management solutions are quite inexpensive to implement. SaaS-based products in particular are designed to require no infrastructure in the way of servers, networks, backup strategies, and associated IT investment in order for the product to be implemented. They also are generally designed to be easily configurable, quickly integrated with other commercial or legacy systems, and readily learned by end users.
Research into the return on investment of implementing Professional Services Automation software shows results that are nothing less than staggering. The latest PSA end user survey showed a breakeven time of well under a year and a five-year payback of times the initial investment and ongoing running costs. Classically, Professional Services Automation software was targeted at, well, professional services firms. This often includes management consulting firms, technology implementers, digital marketing companies, and other services organizations.
The common thread running through these companies is that their primary business model is managing client projects and selling high-value, knowledge-based services.
Whether those projects involve the development of a custom-built software application or a go-to-market strategy, a top PSA tool can help organizations successfully deliver on project based engagements. The best PSA software is now configurable to the point in which many internal, non-billable, IT organizations have adopted this technology as their central delivery tool. Many managed services operations have adapted the more flexible PSA tools to their recurring revenue business models.
Take a look at the types of customers and industries served by professional PSA platforms. Because the dollars involved in professional service delivery grow with headcount, the financial benefits of a well-implemented PSA solution scale with company size.
PSA software was originally developed for the professional services sector, which includes consultants, lawyers, professional service teams, and others.
While the advantages of a specific PSA solution depends on its capabilities and how they are used , the central benefit of PSA software is enabling people who are responsible for business performance to manage and measure service delivery at scale.
Reporting features enable account and resource managers to identify trends and allocate staff to match demand. Executives can see where the business is performing well and where there are opportunities to improve certain areas. PSA tools can also help organizations gain control over their project, financial, timeline, and resource data. A great PSA tool keeps top thinkers out of spreadsheets and more engaged with the data at a high level, to make decisions that drive greater profitability.
Both require implementation, business process reengineering, and user training, all of which incur costs in staff time or budgets. COTS solutions may have limited integrations and limited customizability; organizations opting to purchase PSA software must select an option that fits a majority of their feature needs, integrates with the systems they already use, or offers an API to build their own integrations.
Homegrown solutions come with their own limitations, including costly maintenance, upgrades, and integration build-out costs. Homegrown solutions are ideal for organizations that have a great need for custom functionality combined with significant internal expertise and financial resources to sustain a custom software application indefinitely.
PSA solutions were designed primarily with top-down planning and management in mind, and the reality is that a majority of non-management workers in a services organization access it only to enter time and expenses on a weekly or infrequent basis. The most significant weakness with PSA tools is that they do not facilitate collaboration required today. Collaboration is key across teams, and client collaboration is even more important in services. To fill some of the gaps and help with day-to-day operations, workers have incorporated additional productivity tools, often referred to as Collaborative Work Management software.
Collaborative Work Management CWM tools enable employees to bridge task management and collaboration. Today, a collaborative work environment allows workers to communicate across silos, borders, and offices. Now, companies are using both PSA as well as CWM tools, and continue to pile on more and more applications to the technology infrastructure one at a time.
Today the average worker uses additional niche solutions that support the major areas of communication and collaboration needs across the business.
Without the adoption of these applications, services operations would come to a halt. Download the whitepaper here. Collaborate Socially: Social collaboration tools help your team work efficiently, share updates with clients, brainstorm ideas for dealing with a tough situation and more. Gain Visibility and Control: If your existing solutions are siloed, it can take days or weeks to get accurate information about schedules, costs and profit by project or program.
The right PSA solution gives complete and timely visibility into project status, entire project portfolios and risks and opportunities. With timely information, you can take proactive steps before issues cause problems. Effective Professional Services Automation software includes these key features, many of which maximize productivity and revenue: Customer relationship management CRM users create campaigns and track prospect and client progress through the sales pipeline. Identifying weak links in the sales cycle and clients who tend to return is invaluable in planning future projects.
Proposal automation streamlines pursuing and winning projects, reduces costs and enhances proposal quality.
Project management centralizes and integrates project initiation, planning, execution, and close. Reports communicate timelines, budgets, activities and their logical order, and resources to perform activities.
Time and expense tools integrate with client AR systems and accommodate varying billing requirements to optimize invoicing, billing, proposals and contracts. HRM helps project managers delegate workloads and measure seasonal fluctuations, reducing resource issues and increasing productivity. Project accounting can be included as part of a PSA solution, or you may want to integrate with your existing accounting tools. Reviewing and managing the entire project portfolio helps you strategically direct the business.
Invoicing and billing : Capture and tracking functions keep tabs on time and expense data. Collaboration tools link people for sharing conversations, tasks, events, and files. Six Tips for Choosing the Right PSA System Implementing PSA software should be a no brainer for organizations looking to operate at a higher level than the competition, increase productivity and better understand what makes your business successful. A respected industry reputation : Is your vendor a respected leader in your industry?
Transparent total cost of ownership : Recurring costs should be clear from day one. Pricing models should outline all details. Look for companies with flexible price plans that include full suite, PSA and back-office capability with complete core accounting.
Invested in customer care : Look for a vendor independently recognized as having superior and flexible customer service plans, your main line of communication after implementation.
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