As it has been for the past several years, the concern over the state of professional services organizations has not been about if they are going to grow; but rather how. Since 2010, the state of the industry has seen double digit growth in personnel and revenues despite economic and political uncertainty.¹
Of the primary research published in 2013 to better understand this phenomenon, I’ve discovered a uniting theme: resource visibility. The idea that larger PSOs are finding better project margins by understanding how their billable personnel are being utilized is not new or strange. However, in 2013, the research was resoundingly consistent as to how more successful companies are using capacity and personnel insight to ensure year over year growth.
In response, I’ve collected the four most relevant and popular works from 2013 as a primer for 2014. While not definitive, these four were selected because they did a fine job of marrying this link to success stories in four unique mediums. There is a white paper, 30-minute webcast, SlideShare, and eBook that supports and articulates this trend in a variety of ways and all available for free via the provided link:
[White Paper] Three Recommendations for Tackling the Talent Cliff by SPI Research focuses on concerns over STEM talent scarcity and isolates tactics to overcome the shortage of billable personnel via the integration and collaboration of common tools within a professional services organization.
[Webcast] In this 30-minute recorded presentation, NASCO, a provider of claims processing services for national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans describes “Changing the Game: From Billing by Time to Billing by Deliverable”. When pressed to look internally to change their revenue structure they looked to integrate their work managers, finance tools, and business reporting to ensure they were billing enough at the right time with regiment.
[SlideShare] “How to Optimize the Productivity and Profitability of Resources” is a slide deck presentation (with audio) to discuss the three most actionable recommendations for professional services professionals as prescribed by the 2013 Resource Management and Capacity Planning Benchmark Study by Appleseed Partners
[eBook] Over the course of 2013, Planview sponsored a number of reports from the industry’s leading analysts and experts. The four most popular were published as an interactive eBook. In Enterprise Technology and Professional Services (that functions very much like a PDF but has been optimized for digital reading on your computer, phone, and tablet) you get these four papers:
- Appleseed Partners, How to Optimized the Productivity and Profitability of Resources
- SPI Research’s, Dwell or Excel: Leadership in Large Professional Organizations
- Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA)’s, The State of Professional Services 2013
- Planview’s, Your Project-Based Organization: Paper Airplane or Rocket Ship
With these works in your arsenal, you’ll glean next steps for your organization as how to improve margins, profits, and client delight in 2014.
¹Cited source: Three Recommendations for Tackling the Talent Cliff by SPI Research, November 2013
