PS Pulse Articles

Making Complex Projects Succeed: Know Your Client’s Mindset Before You Begin

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By Michael W. McLaughlin, Principal, MindShare Consulting - February 7, 2012

You’re bound to have doubts before you start any project. That inner voice will nag at you–is this really the right thing to do and the way to do it? Will it result in the value promised? And, will it go smoothly or end up a nightmare? Given project failure rates, such misgivings are natural. Researchers say that the failure rate for IT projects, for example, can be as hig ...Read More

The Service–Product Feedback Loop

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By Matthew Kuckuk, Senior Executive Consultant, CGI - January 30, 2012

The Service – Product Feedback Loop As Professional Services leaders, just about all of our time goes to keeping the customers satisfied, the staff productive and the numbers on target. There’s another crucially important aspect of our jobs though, that’s always there somewhere on the priority list but doesn’t always get as much attention. That is the need ...Read More

Integrate Business Value into Your Delivery Model to Ensure Long-Term Success

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By Adam Signaigo, CEO & Founder, modalminds, Inc. - January 4, 2012

You’ve worked long and hard to land business. Your team and delivery practices are solid. Yet in this economic climate, new projects and clients are still at risk if you do not (1) effectively communicate the value your services will provide in business terms, and (2) establish a linkage to “the Business” (i.e., the key decision makers and leaders driving the client ...Read More

Unlocking the Customer Value – Professional Services As a Key Driver of the Customer Lifecycle

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By Lori Ellsworth, SVP and General Manager, Compuware Changepoint - December 14, 2011

Today, businesses understand that their relationship with the customer is not about the initial sale. That first transaction is simply the first stepping stone in what one hopes will be a long and mutually satisfying journey. To enable that journey – and ultimately the customer’s happiness – the entire organization must be engaged across the entire customer lifecycle in ma ...Read More

Impact of SaaS on Consulting Engagements: A Customer View

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By Tom Minick, Managing Director, Catalyst Advisors - December 1, 2011

The jury has voted: SaaS is here to stay. I believe that’s a good thing. I’ve been involved in the movement to move enterprise software “off premise” from the early days of the technology, and I am a diehard advocate. Not only does SaaS deliver the obvious benefits – no hardware procurement and deployment, no need to deal with upgrades, rapid deployment, c ...Read More

Customer Success: Leveraging CRM in a PSO to Create a Coordinated View of the Customer

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By Nello Franco, SVP, Customer Success, Lyris - November 23, 2011

Professional Services organizations have long been measured by the fundamental objectives of profitability, utilization, and services revenues. However, facilitating true customer success hinges more squarely upon how well a company understands the needs of its customers, sets achievable expectations around the delivery of those needs, and executes beyond those expectations. As our ...Read More

Services Resource Planning – Evolution Beyond Best of Breed Point Solutions

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By Ed Marshall, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Services Vertical, NetSuite - November 11, 2011

You and I have something very important in common: we both want to see our professional services business thrive and operate as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, until recently, enterprise software was not very sensitive to our needs. Our sales teams have seen the benefits of sales force automation (SFA) tools, our finance teams have a multitude of accounting software packages to ...Read More

The Butterfly Effect in Project Management - How to Make Disciplined Decisions in Project-based Organizations

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By Rudolf Melik, CEO, Tenrox - October 26, 2011

Small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. The Butterfly Effect is a term used in Chaos Theory to describe how small changes can have a substantial impact on large complex systems, like weather patterns. The term has been used to suggest that the wing movement of a butterfly might have significa ...Read More

Zero to 60: Building Global PSO’s within a Product Company

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By Dmitry Shkliarevsky, Head of Professional Services - U.S., AppSense - October 12, 2011

Going from zero to sixty is about time to market (speed) but also about critical mass (people) and building a sizeable business (revenue); yes, there is a double meaning here which applies. Time to market along with quality is important but can be categorized as competing priorities when racing to drive product adoption with customers, maximize revenue potentials within a sales proces ...Read More

4 Sure-Fire Ways to Bring More Value to Your Customer Relationships

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By Michael W. McLaughlin, Principal, Mindshare Consulting, LLC - September 30, 2011

This may sound odd, but I really like my dentist. My loyalty to his practice isn’t because of the services he offers. In fact, it seems like there’s a dentist on every corner, and most of them could probably do what he does. Nor is it because of his prices–I’m not even sure how his charges stack up against others. Mostly, I go back to him because he knows how I ...Read More