Survival in extreme conditions demand the necessary knowledge to prepare for the worst. Although businesses never know what may be thrown in their direction, their level of preparedness will determine who will best combat the harsh “elements” of the marketplace. Whether it be a major change in management or a small hiccup in customer communication, you can never be too ready to battle the winds of change. In situations where true survival matters, there are four core priorities one must take into consideration: Shelter, Water, Food and Fire. These basic necessities need to be addressed in order to humanly survive extreme conditions. In a similar vein, services organizations need to understand their core priorities to survive the increasingly competitive environment they continuously face.
In order to better prepare your organization’s Professional Services Automation (PSA) strategy for 2017, consider the following core priorities for business survival:
- Shelter – In the services world this will refer to the “Keep the lights on” (KTLO) activities that facilitate the successful operation of your services business. From a PSA perspective, this means that the services delivery component needs to integrate with operational work to provide accuracy around resource planning and project costing.
- Water – Rainmaking is never easy in business. However, without opportunities there is no business. Incorporating pipeline management into a service firm’s PSA strategy will not only help with better forecasting, but also facilitate better resource planning to improve service delivery.
- Food – The “food” for every service organization is the people that are responsible for the success and failures of the business. Just like the right food is the life source that sustains human survival, the right people in a professional services firm is what will determine the fate of an organization’s survival. Hence, PSA needs to optimize the people component of the business when it comes to resource planning, customer service, performance tracking and collaboration.
- Fire – Just like fire is the most primal energy source available, in service organizations, financials is the energy source that fuels businesses. Alternatively, these energy sources also have the capacity to deliver destructive results (when not employed wisely). A critical component to a PSA strategy needs to provide the full picture of project financials and their positive and negative impacts to the business.
In the professional services world, survival may not be a “life or death” matter, however the core concepts still ring true in ensuring that a services firm can weather even the harshest market conditions that are thrown in its path.
About the Author: Neil Stolovitsky has over 16 years of IT experience with end-user, consulting, and vendor organizations, along with extensive expertise in business development, software selection, and channel strategies. He has published numerous white papers and articles covering Professional Services Automation, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for service industries, Project Portfolio Management, IT Governance, and New Product Development to a global audience. Neil currently holds the position of Senior Solution Consultant with Upland Software.
To learn more about Upland Software’s Professional Services Automation (PSA) offering PSA go to: uplandsoftware.com/psa