Transform your project services into a profit center

How you establish and manage your project services can greatly impact your organization’s bottom line. And as technology becomes ever-more integrated into our daily workflow, the benefits of Project Service Automation (PSA) become even easier to realize, turning your project services into a dynamic engine that drives profitability, growth, and client satisfaction.

Project Service Automation provides an end-to-end integrated business solution that gives the entire business team a holistic picture of projects and revenue across the firm, enabling them to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on value-add client interactions. And while there is an entire host of benefits from adopting PSA, some of the most compelling relate to profitability. Whether it’s an increase in billable utilization or an improvement in net profit, the impact of PSA on profitability is difficult to ignore.

Let’s break that end goal of profitability down into two key components most affected and improved by Project Service Automation—productivity and connectivity. 

Productivity

There are two main methods of boosting productivity that are facilitated by Project Service Automation:

1. Increasing the efficiency of key team tasks, and
2. Identifying and automating appropriate core tasks

Efficiency comes through standardization, real-time and postmortem data analysis, and process refinement to streamline efforts. Consistency and repeatability are process standards by which a team can effectively boost productivity.

At its most basic, PSA software can automate core tasks like resource assignments and project management. It can also provide granular information on the profitability of individual service offering, projects, or teams, and help companies understand which bundles of services have the best success rates with customers, as well as the most attractive margins for delivery.

Connectivity

Project Service Automation is a fully integrated tool that gives your entire team greater visibility and control over the process every step of the way. This can generate (no surprise!) a fully integrated and functional work environment that spurs faster alignment and decision-making, quantifiable results in real time, and long-term evaluation and adaptation of projects and processes.

Even more compelling are metrics that directly link connectivity with increased overall revenue performance. A few of the benefits from close alignment between sales and project service teams include[1]:

• 11% higher billable utilization
• 21% increase in profitability
• 38% reduction in project overruns
• 15% increase in new clients

Keep in mind also the importance of connectivity between individuals and the data they need to make informed decisions. Armed with real-time, contextualized data, your team can make business-critical decisions in a timelier manner, avoiding disruption and course correcting faster.

Optimizing for the modern world

In our increasingly competitive and connected world, organizations are running faster than ever to serve their customers. We are all having to operate at the speed of our clients, to adapt quickly to continually changing circumstances and even shifting goals.

Project Service Automation can help foster an environment of making informed and timely investments, and it can connect our teams both to relevant and timely data as well as to other key personnel, combining the efficiencies of core task automation with the vibrant creativity of well-informed, well-utilized professionals. And ultimately, that mix of greater productivity and improved connectivity can help lead to the very tangible results of increased profitability.

Matt Kresch

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