Services Resource Planning – Evolution Beyond Best of Breed Point Solutions

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 choose from to support the finance function, and many of us have enjoyed the benefits of Professional Services Automation (PSA) in optimizing our services operations. However, as business challenges continue to increase, we need more: a solution that can not only govern but provide visibility into and enhance the entire quote-to-cash process, from the seed of a deal to the handoff at the final milestone. Fortunately, we now have options. For example, Services Resource Planning (SRP), an enterprise solution which accounts not only for the basics of customer activity and billing, but incorporates project budget, timely delivery, resource allocation and customer communication, all tightly coupled with core Financials and CRM capabilities.

Services have come a long way in the last decade. Ten years ago, no one was using PSA software. Resource management was done on the whiteboard – do you remember that whiteboard, with names along the y-axis and weeks or months along the x-axis? I could see what I would be working on for the next few weeks, and I would also sneak a peek at what my peers were working on, curious as to who had the better assignments. Spreadsheets soon replaced the whiteboard, adding a layer of security to the staffing process. Spreadsheets also added value by enabling true Excel-Jockeys to model out financial impact, utilization reporting, and other basic analytics for consulting organizations. Very few of us were bold enough to actually enter timesheet data into the spreadsheet to start getting planned vs. actuals, but if I worked hard enough, I could pull together all my spreadsheets and mine the data for insightful information on my practice. I would then manage my project in MS Project from my laptop. I thought the tools were great. It could not get any better.

Then there was PSA software. It pulled all my tasks together, allowing my organization to integrate time tracking and expense tracking with project management. Basic financial enhancements allowed PSA to quickly elevate services organizations to a better understanding of project profitability, planned vs. actual performance, seamless invoicing, and ad hoc analytics. Those of us using PSA find it hard to imagine running a services operation without it.

While we in services were loving our PSA solution, our colleagues in sales were loving their SFA and CRM solutions, which saw a similar evolution path over the last 10 years. And what about our colleagues in finance?  They too were being supported by advancements in functionality of accounting software. Additionally, many accounting systems started to see the value of basic integration points with PSA and CRM. The adaption of cloud computing has also made access, integration, ease of use, and upgrades easier for all systems. However, integration of multiple cloud solutions will be costly and time-consuming unless the PSA, CRM, and financials are built into one software solution.

This is where SRP kicks in. Before we had these great point solutions, integration was not something that crossed our minds. These great point solutions created a new need – a unified view of the business, and only one version of the truth. Anyone that is involved in this type of business process will have real-time visibility into business performance that’s key to the overall success of the company.

SRP gives that one version of the truth. Should the Cola customer exist as 10 separate accounts in your CRM system, four separate accounts in your PSA system, and one single account in your accounting system?  Absolutely not – but this is how these point solutions can evolve with SRP governing the entire business and ensuring an integrated perspective. If a sales order is approved for $200,000 but you only invoice $150,000, shouldn’t that be something easily viewed?  Yes, but those types of issues are difficult to pin point without the integration SRP champions.

We have evolved instead from best of breed point solutions – which was a great start – now we need to acknowledge that we are not yet finished with the evolution of our tools. We need to understand and embrace the vision of SRP. The vision of SRP helps services  organizations automate and manage key aspects of their business—resource management, project management, marketing, skills tracking, service delivery, billing, revenue and financial management, new client acquisition and driving repeat business from existing clients. For global services organizations, these solutions enable them to overcome the challenges of global services delivery, including comprehensive support for multiple languages, currencies, taxation rules, and global resource pools, as well as real-time global visibility across their entire business. SRP helps you run your services business better.