Having an excellent team and delivering high-quality technology products doesn’t automatically set up your business for success. Some businesses still face unsatisfactory results. The combination of the human component with cutting-edge tools can’t really be effective without efficient and standardized delivery processes. Process standardization is a strategy focused on establishing a set of validated procedures that define the best and most reliable practices to be carried out within your business. At the same time, it allows the maximum use of human resources and technology, while maintaining a service quality adapted to your customer’s needs. This type of strategy is indispensable, promoting synergy between people and materials to achieve the most effective service methods for your business.
The truth is standardized processes are the backbone of your business performance. It gives you a baseline to track and measure performance, telling you whether you’re utilizing all available resources, allowing you to maximize revenue. Standardization will also put in place the structure for your team to execute high-quality work efficiently as well as provide a scalable infrastructure for the future growth of your business.
The demands and workflows of a services business are very unique in comparison to most businesses. Your core services/products are your resources and the skills they bring to deliver projects from conception to completion. So, you need a purpose-built solution such as PSA software to support and take the complexity out of your key workflow processes and one that works in tandem with process standardization.
Taking the above into consideration, let’s take a deeper look at 3 of the most important reasons companies have integrated our PSA software…
Automate Your Workflows
Competition for professional services firms is higher than ever! PSA software helps you stand out from competitors by freeing time spent on manual overhead tasks and focus that time on more revenue orientated tasks and projects. More advanced, robust PSA solutions also provide CRM and financial modules right out of the box. This eliminates the need for your resources to set up projects manually. Time saved on administrative duties can be better-spent on customer satisfaction and ultimately greater turn-over.
Tight Control of Projects
PSA software typically comes out of the box with an array of features around project management which allows you to effectively budget and plan. In addition to project visibility, your resources will also have the necessary insights to stay within the project scope and budget from conception to completion of each project. This is because PSA software allows you to track your project costs at a very granular level. You can easily account for every minute of time spent on each project and all the resources associated with it. Additionally, this allows you to analyze the productivity of your assigned resources to help you maximize your output.
Enhanced Decision Making
Incorrect or uninformed project decisions is a huge time waster and a risk for your service firm. PSA software contains all your relevant information around a project in one unified solution. Any updates or changes made are global across the PSA solution giving all your resources access to view the changes avoiding manual edits. Additionally, PSA software enables your resources to track all your projects: you can view historical costs, risks, and pay-offs in order to get better insights on how to price in the future. Information is key for effective management of your service firm, and PSA software provides the answer!
Standardized automated workflows can propel your service-based business to a new level of performance and growth. However, finding a workflow solution that specifically meets the needs of you and your team isn’t easy. Different companies have different requirements and use different methods to get work done. So when deciding make sure your chosen PSA solution matches your requirements closely.
Let’s look at how PSA Software helps with Billable Resources
Resources and skills are the backbones of every organization’s success. Effective resource management is a priority for all professional services executives looking to optimize your profit margins, improve billable utilization, retain top talent, and increase your client satisfaction.
Unlike traditional resource management approaches, with PSA software you see a complete view of what you need to efficiently and effectively manage your billable resources. Good PSA software includes built-in resource management capability that gives you a simple-to-use solution for the ongoing task of assigning people to projects. This helps you efficiently turn day-to-day information into the answers you need about utilization, revenue, and profitability in real-time.
In a nutshell, an integrated Resource Management module gives you the ability and visibility to:
- Kick start projects faster and more professionally
- Identify resource needs with extreme precision
- Increase resource utilization by matching the best skill-sets with different projects
- Increase resource morale and retention by taking skills, preferences, and professional development needs into account when making a decision when assigning to projects
- See the future of your resources with visibility into future hiring and skill development needs
Below are 3 ways you can utilize a PSA solution to automate resources management…
Manage Supply & Demand
PSA software gives you the tools to understand the overall supply and demand of your resources and skills. With PSA, you’ll have a real-time dashboard that quickly shows you where resources are projected to be and what sorts of projects are currently in progress. It also brings to light which resource needs have yet to be met and what type of skills are required
Align Your Financial Forecasting
Reports and dashboards consolidate day-to-day scheduling data to show you who’s projected to work on what, who’s available, and who’s overbooked. This also helps you understand performance to budget at completion, instead of just performance to date. PSA software gives you the ability to measure the profitability of fixed price projects before they’re complete.
Easily Match Your Resources with Projects
PSA software allows for scheduling workflows to be created & configured to allow your managers/team to request resources to fulfill or approve requests. You and your team with the right permissions can search for resources by skills, location, title, or other criteria to help get the perfect skill for a specific project. PSA software gives you an all in one solution where you can quickly identify resources matched by skill levels and availability.
If you can relate to the issues above, then it’s time to consider PSA Software. Regardless of the complexity of your business or the basic tools you currently use to get by, PSA software will help you streamline as a business.
PSA Software like CrossConcept Continuum is built to address the entire resource management cycle in one unified, simple to use application. With a central dashboard view of your entire organization’s resources, you can better plan for and bid on future projects, make staffing decisions on current tasks, and ensure that everything is done on-time and within budget. Our innovative scheduling module is intuitive, flexible and highly configurable which adapts and integrates with your organization’s people, projects and finances. It allows your project managers to define resource needs and helps resource managers to quickly identify how they can fill each requirement at the touch of a button.
