What is a Professional Services firm, and how can they benefit from Cloud-based ERP?
The professional services sector is one of the biggest employers globally, and Unit4 specializes in creating software solutions for them, but what exactly are professional services, and how can they benefit from digitized back-office processes?
Professional services are project-based firms that sit in the service sector, primarily work on business-to-business projects, and require specialized
Firms such as architects, accountants, engineers, consultants, and financial services providers need experts who possess specific skills to provide their expert service to clients.
What is a professional services firm?
These firms are defined by their ability to provide a service, whether that is expertise, labor, or any other service. However, there are key definitions of their business model that set them apart from other organizations, such as:
Talent
Professional services firms need succinct strategies in place to attract, develop, and retain top talent, as these are the people who deliver a service to a client. In the case of many services, your talent can define your firm – how they treat your clients, how they deliver a service, and the tools that empower their service delivery.
Providing outstanding working experiences for your people will enhance the services they deliver to your clients. Undeniably, when your people aren’t satisfied, feel like they are being asked to do more than is possible with what’s at hand, or are simply burnt out, service delivery and client satisfaction will likely suffer.
Leadership
Leadership can define a professional services firm, perhaps more than in other sectors. For example, there may be many organizations that provide the same service, but each specific firm will be led differently, have different goals, and may employ different tools to achieve these goals.
Leadership as a factor of success is magnified in professional services firms. This can include setting strategy, business planning, goal setting, and management. Moreover, a firm may fail not because it provides a bad service but because leadership was slow to change or has managed the business poorly.
Any potential clients will scrutinize and judge the leadership quality of the firm through their business practices, processes, and compliance when deciding which provider or firm they want for a specific service.
Click to read How to win the service game with ERP Gated
Marketing
Simply providing a service is often not enough to attract clients, the professional services industry is very competitive and how a firm is marketed and branded can be a key differentiator that drives a client’s experience and interest in a service.
Here are some key considerations - How do you organize your service offerings? How do you differentiate from your competitors? How do you communicate the benefits of your service approach, style, and the type of people you employ?
It's essential for service companies to differentiate themselves from the competition and to effectively present their benefits to a client. One way to do this is by optimizing your back-office technology to ensure that your internal processes are efficient, seamless, and transparent, but also to enhance the client experience as a result.
Demonstrating knowledge and expertise is also key. Having demonstrable experience delivering a service, understanding the specific niche service they provide, and knowing how to solve a client’s problems, are all key factors in selling your services.
How can professional service firms transform service delivery?
Flexible Pricing
Multiple factors will influence the pricing strategy of a professional services firm - market demand, competition, service model, the complexity of the project, and the brand premium will all play a part.
Flexibility is always available to the professional services firm; each tender presents an opportunity to renew the pricing strategy, model, and rate. They may offer a fixed price based on project completion or outcomes, or they may use the traditional time and materials model.
Professional services firms are always aware that an un-billed hour can never be recovered, which is why they need accurate reporting and precision billing. These firms are significantly different from product-based companies, so how can you ensure that your processes reflect this?
Your technology
Project-based work requires the ability to build lasting client relationships while working to strict deadlines and budget constraints. The experts delivering services must have access to data, analytics, and workflow models that will empower them to deliver premium work.
Professional services firms often use a multitude of different systems to capture time spent on projects, record project expenses, plan tasks, record different hourly or daily fee rates, invoice clients, and track work in progress.
Firms need to know how busy their people are, how profitable each project is, if time is going un-billed, and also track budget and performance against plan. Business leaders can manage this much more easily if they have easy access to the information needed and integrated reporting from an aggregated to a detailed level.
Outdated, legacy systems, spreadsheets, or manual paper-based processes can lead to human error, duplication of data entry, and siloes. If the focus is to be on service delivery, then an integrated ERP solution is the only way forward.
Professional services firms looking to invest in ERP need a truly flexible solution that will help you adapt quickly, become more productive, and sidestep disruption. It'll be primed for change, so you can react quickly as new needs emerge.
Empower your people
How do professional services business leaders make sure that, as their most valuable asset, their people are motivated and empowered to deliver top-notch services? The answer is to have one eye on the present and one on the future.
The right HCM and Talent Management tools can also provide key insights to ensure your employees feel heard and valued and give HR leaders the data and feedback they need to turn employee concerns into action.
Automation is key
Purposeful automation provides service-based firms with a better way to take control of their business processes, enabling them to stay ahead of the competition and focus on client and employee experience.
Automated processes can help overcome some of the productivity challenges associated with operations: management of multi-currencies, period close, procurement, cash flow, resource management, and much more.
By choosing a built for purpose service-based solution, which offers flexibility to expand, professional services firms can be assured of a solution that will support their growth plans.
How can Unit4 help professional services firms excel?
We have deep knowledge of professional services and their processes. With the right technology supporting you, your firm can focus on freeing your professionals to do more of what matters: attracting, supporting, and retaining clients.
Our people-centric, project-focused solutions are purpose-built. Firms can better manage their businesses with industry-leading software for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Capital Management (HCM), and Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A).
Check out Unit4's suite of solutions, that support all types of firms around the world, giving you the tools you need to grow your business, or talk to sales today!
