The Deltek Clarity report is the longest running, most comprehensive study in the architecture and engineering (A&E) industry for North America. The report digs into benchmarks, market outlook, and industry trends to help A&E firms identify where they are and how they compare to other firms in the industry. The 43rd Annual Report provides both surprising and not so surprising findings, as well as positive firm indicators for financial strength and project management excellence.  

Deltek Clarity has participation from more than 540 companies and delivers more than 100 benchmarks and industry insights across the business. The study focuses specifically on architecture and engineering firms and other firms who support the design firms. The 43rd Annual Deltek Clarity Study collected responses from A&E firms of all sizes in North America based on 2021 fiscal data. Here is an overall look at what was reported this year, but for more detail, the 43rd Clarity Study can be reviewed in its entirety. 

Consistent Challenges Across Departments 

This was one of the report findings that was not surprising. The two biggest challenges across company departments were related to staffing and time. Business development is challenged to find the time to nurture client relationships while technology departments have a lack of time to invest in learning. Moreover, project management, human resources, and finance departments all cited staff shortages, finding, and retaining qualified staff as their top challenge.  

In fact, 78% of the financial leaders identified that finding and retaining qualified staff is the number one financial challenge. This has been very different than what previous Clarity reports have shown in the past few years. In addition to staffing challenges, other consistent themes included business process automation and managing strong backlog and pipeline. All of these have an underlying theme of technology and how best to leverage technology to address some of the challenges companies are facing. 

Purposeful Investment in Technology 

This begins by measuring the digital transformation and maturity levels now and in the next five years, and how this aligns with the goals of the business. Then aligning business goals and IT goals to have that culture of efficiency and culture of innovation. According to the report, most firms identify themselves in that early or exploratory phase of maturity but nearly 70% of firms expect to be mature or advanced within the next five years. This is less optimistic than the previous year’s study. Some factors attributing to this may be that the pace of technology is moving so fast that the ultimate end goal seems to be constantly changing and/or not attainable.  

The top three challenges related to technology were lack of time to invest in learning, cost of technology, and prioritizing which trends are most applicable. Companies are struggling to understand not only what the new technologies are, but how to apply them in projects and business improvements. Top emerging technology cited by the firms were geolocation, augmented reality, and Internet of Things.  

These are often externally focused and can be leveraged in managing and executing projects. Not far behind in the cited top technology was big data and data science. Both can help firms to provide greater visibility and insight into what’s happening inside the firm.  

What this all leads to is purposeful investment into technology. Firms are looking to invest in the right technology to meet firm goals, not necessarily the newest technology. Deltek calls this purposeful investment. It’s critical, with the challenges of lack of time and resources, to look at the firm’s current systems with the technology in place and make sure it’s using them to their maximum capacity.  

Strong Market Forecast 

As noted earlier, the report indicates a really strong market forecast for the North American A&E industry. However, there are limited resources to both pursue and perform work. With these issues in mind, firms are going to have to be more strategic about how best to capitalize.  

Fortunately, the report does show a net revenue growth forecast of 17.6%. This is the highest that growth has been in the last ten years, and this is very optimistic over last year at an increase of 13.4 percentage points. Small firms were drivers for a lot of this positive push. In last year’s report, small firms had a negative forecast but now are rebounding back to a 14.6% net revenue growth forecast.  

The overall percentage of firm revenue from the top three clients has decreased slightly from the previous year to 35%. This could show good or harmful trends. Firms may be strategically and purposefully diversifying their client base or competition may be winning work away from the top clients. This is a great time to lead these types of discussions internally to see how the firm compares. 

Thus, while the forecast remains optimistic, it doesn’t come without challenges. About half of the firms said they are struggling to find the time to nurture client relationships. Combined with increased competition, firm leaders are trying to keep existing client relationships healthy and strong while looking for new prospects and revenue sources.  

Project Delivery Keeps Improving 

Projects are the core of what architecture and engineering firms do. The 43rd Annual Deltek Clarity Study indicates that, overall, A&E firms are becoming more confident in their project performance. 67.8% of projects are on or under budget, more companies (59%) are doing internal performance evaluations based on projects not waiting for an annual review, and 15% of firms are sharing their best practices through either a center of excellence or a project management office. Firms are focusing on project management as a discipline.  

While more projects are staying on track or ahead when it comes to budget (67.8% of projects), they aren’t performing as well from a scheduling perspective. Just over half (58.5%) of projects are on or ahead of schedule according to the report. This number decreased by 6 percentage points from the previous year. These are areas that both firm leaders and project managers should evaluate to strategize, understand, and determine what is happening. Does the firm need additional training for project managers or is the schedule being driven by the clients but at the cost of the firm’s profitability? 

One challenge could be access to timely data around projects. When asked about visibility around schedule variance, half the firms report low or very low visibility for project managers and principals. It’s challenging for project managers to proactively manage and keep the project schedule on track if there is a lack of visibility. This is a good opportunity to ask the firm’s project managers how visible their project schedule variance is and how better to improve that visibility.  

Similar to other firm departments, top project management challenges include staff shortages, competing priorities, inexperienced project managers, and accurate project cost and timeline forecasting. When it comes to project management, how is the firm handling project schedules, are the schedule changes internally or client driven, how quickly can the firm train new project managers, how can technology improve the project delivery gaps, and do the project managers need more visibility and access to project data? Discussing these internally will help to continue to improve the firm’s project performance. 

A&E Talent Staying, but Not Enough 

While the talent shortage is not new news, the Deltek Clarity Study digs in a little deeper to see what’s exactly happening in the North American A&E Industry. One surprise finding was the employee turnover rate. This was expected to be high, but it’s 13.6% which is low compared to the 18-19% that is shown in the Deltek Clarity Global report. Additionally, the findings show that talent isn’t necessarily leaving the industry but rather moving to other A&E firms. This might be good for the industry, but maybe not for the firms struggling to refill the positions. 

Medium-sized firms experience the highest turnover at 14.7%. Large firms are just below at 14.4% with small firms even lower at 11.9%. This lower turnover might be because smaller firms could have better employee engagement or be able to give different opportunities to grow.  

Nonetheless, with the high turnover, firms are experiencing the biggest challenge with filling open positions. The majority of firms are seeing more open positions than they had last year (65% of firms) while a third (30%) have about the same number of open positions. For nearly half of the firms, it’s taking 60 to 90 days to fill a position.  

With this talent challenge, it might be a good time for the firm to look at external factors such as candidates available in the market. Firms could also look internally to make sure their processes are as efficient as possible. This would include leveraging technology to streamline the recruiting process.  

The top talent acquisition challenges noted in the study were the availability of good candidates in the marketplace, ability to offer competitive compensation to candidates, and matching qualified candidates to open positions. This is even trickling over to the finance department. Finance leaders are feeling the increase in labor costs, higher salary demands for candidates, and additional costs to keep employees engaged. These higher labor costs could affect the future profitability of projects.  

In last year’s Deltek Clarity Study, succession planning and performance management were the top human resources’ challenges. This year, the challenges and priorities have changed. Now the top challenges for managing human resources are retaining employees, employee engagement/experience, and workforce capacity and planning.  

Relatively Stable Financial Statements 

The financial management section of the Deltek Clarity report is the longest running section of the report, with many findings showing a 10-year trend line. Firm financial leaders should review this section and analyze the trends and changes. For this year’s report, the financials are relatively stable but there are a few noticeable declines to note.  

Operating profit on net revenue declined after a decade of growth to 12.8% from 19.0% from the previous year. Deltek Clarity sets a threshold of 15% operating profit on net revenue for its high performing firms. In this year’s study, high performing firms had 23.9% operating profit on net revenue and large firms were near that threshold at 14.6%.  

Net labor multiplier is another key financial metric of the Deltek Clarity Study. This year’s multiplier increased just slightly to 2.99. The high performer firms had an average of 3.41 net labor multiplier. Something also to note is the top quartile net labor multiplier of 3.36. 

Overall, the utilization rate has decreased but is hovering close to 60% at 58.5%. This is not a surprising finding because of the increased labor costs, number of open positions, and maybe the increase in business development or other non-billable activities. Small firms saw the biggest decrease from 63.9% last year to 60.9% this year.  

Firms are seeing a strong backlog of nearly nine months. Large firms saw the biggest increase last year from 8.3 months to 9.94 months, and the top quartile is nearly 12 months of backlog. So, this is positive news for firms, if they are making sure that they can actually deliver on the work with the right resources.  

44% of the reported top financial challenges listed finding and retaining qualified staff as the top challenge. This was a big jump from the prior year’s report. Other challenges for financial leaders were managing firm growth and increasing profitability. These top challenges are interdependent. Finding qualified staff and having to compensate for that top talent will affect the firm’s ability to increase profitability and grow the firm.  

Diving Deeper 

This has just been a glimpse of some of the findings in the 43rd Annual Deltek Clarity Study. Firms should download the report (click the image below) and dig into it to understand what’s happening in their business, how they are leveraging technology, and where there are opportunities for additional training and awareness. This will allow these firms to better educate their teams, make sure they understand what their process is, and how they contribute to the overall success of the firm. 

So far in the “Driving Revenue Growth with Digital Marketing Series,” firms have developed their content plan and created content. However, creating great content simply is not enough. AEC marketers need a promotional plan that strategically shares content with the people that benefit the most from it. This article shares some common and uncommon promotional tactics.  

Search Engine Optimization 

Search engine optimization or SEO is a series of techniques firms can deploy for their content and on their website to rank higher for certain keywords on search engines like Google. Click here for a basic introduction to SEO. 

SEO should be the first strategy to be used as part of the promotional plan and should be considered when the content is being created, especially if that content is a blog article. Marketers should optimize the piece of content for the specific topics or keywords it wants to be found for. Another way to look at it is to think about the person that marketers want to read or consume that piece of content. What types of phrases or questions would that person be typing into a search engine as that person searches for answers? Make sure that marketing content has those phrases and key words included naturally throughout the content piece.  

Email Marketing 

This is the most overlooked and underutilized promotional tactic in the AEC industry. As a Premier Partner for Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint CRM, Full Sail Partners works with hundreds of AEC firms across the country specifically advising them on CRM and marketing strategies. So many of these firms have databases full of thousands of contacts but fail to have a consistent email marketing strategy.  

By using email marketing, there is a real opportunity for AEC firms to easily, affordably, and routinely get in front of clients and prospects with the content that is often difficult and time consuming to create. With tools like the Blackbox Connector for Mailchimp or Constant Contact that connect Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint to those email marketing services seamlessly, AEC marketers can get a leg up on their competitors just by using email marketing.  

Social Media 

This is probably the most popular and utilized promotional tactic. AEC firms often promote blog articles, white papers and case studies through their social media channels including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Each social media channel has its own pros and cons in terms of reach and engagement as well as best practices when it comes to getting in front of the preferred audiences.  

Finding out the social media channels where the ideal clients and personas spend the majority of their time is key for AEC marketers to develop the content, and they should focus their time on that channel first. Once that channel or channels are identified, marketers can research hashtags to utilize and optimize the visual content plus write engaging captions that keep both the tone of the social media channel and the brand voice.  

Live Events 

With a digital marketing campaign, often the content that is created is online. This includes blog articles, videos, case studies or white papers, for example. So, it isn’t a surprise that promoting this type of content is often forgotten when attending or presenting at live events. If the firm has technical experts or subject matter experts (SMEs) who present or speak at industry events, it’s a great opportunity to also promote the online content.  

Most recently, presenters have been including a slide at the end of a presentation with a QR code. The audience can snap a photo of that QR code, and it takes them to either a specific piece of content or to a webpage/landing page that has links to several pieces of content. Below is an example of a slide with a QR code from a recent conference. 

It’s not just for in-person conferences or events either. If the firm’s SMEs are guests on podcasts or webinars, those can be other great opportunities to promote marketing content. AEC marketers should help SMEs prepare for these appearances, including identifying what marketing content to promote.  

Creating Great Marketing Content Simply Isn’t Enough 

Thinking about the content promotion while developing it is a great way to make sure that content performs well and meets the digital marketing goals. The content promotion plan should list the ways in which the content will be promoted including SEO, social media, email marketing, and live events.  

This article is part of the Driving Growth with Digital Marketing and will walk through how to gather and analyze the results for the digital marketing campaigns.  

If the results from the digital marketing campaign efforts are not tracked, how will the marketers know if it’s working or not? It seems simplistic when written like this, but for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms, collecting and analyzing the results of digital marketing efforts is often the hardest part. And, because the results are often not collected, not analyzed, or not presented to the firm’s leaders, it’s hard for marketing professionals get buy-in for additional digital marketing resources.  

This article is part of the Driving Growth with Digital Marketing and will walk through how to gather and analyze the results for the digital marketing campaigns.  

Select the Metrics During the Planning Phase 

At this point, the digital marketing campaign is created and has been promoted. At this point it’s time to analyze the results and compare them against the original goals to determine the performance of the campaign. 

The hardest part about selling digital marketing strategies to firm leadership is showing the results. And choosing what to measure and how to measure the results is where AEC marketers often get stuck.  

The best time to select the metrics to be used in analyzing the marketing campaign results, is in the planning stages. Thinking through this while in planning, allows the tracking software or infrastructure to be put into place to gather the correct results.  

Using the original campaign goals along with thinking through how those goals can be measured, is the best place to begin.  

For example, if the original goal was to increase brand awareness in the Texas market by increasing web traffic in Texas by 25% in the first 2 quarters of 2022. The marketing department will want to make sure that they can track web traffic, including geography, and have a baseline number for the web traffic from Texas before the campaign begins. 

If the marketing department doesn’t have that ability or information before they begin the campaign, it's going to be very difficult to gather and analyze the results.  

That's why having very SMART goals outlined and agreed upon by leadership is critical to be able to track, analyze, and progress to achieving goals.

Understand that AEC Metrics May be Different 

AEC is different than other industries when it comes to marketing. It isn’t e-commerce. The AEC industry doesn’t provide online stores. AEC firm clients typically don't buy their services through their websites. So, this means that typical marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) like Cost per Acquisition, Customer Attrition, or even marketing-originated customers really aren't relevant.  

That’s why it so important to get the marketing campaigns SMART Goals determined. When those goals are clear, written down, and agreed upon by firm leadership, the metrics to determine that campaign’s performance become more clear. 

Possible AEC Marketing Campaign Metrics   

So, what should AEC marketers measure? How should they measure the results of their digital marketing campaigns? 

Marketers should identify quantifiable metrics that aligns with the goals of the organization and the SMART goals as mentioned above. These metrics should be either new leads (new to the firm’s funnel) or more interaction with current contacts to “nurture” the relationship until that content needs the firm’s services.  

And because each AEC firm’s goals are all going to be different, this article cannot simply provide a list of 10 example metrics. However, listed below are some potential metrics (KPIs) that could be considered. They are listed to help AEC marketers brainstorm metrics that are relevant to their specific digital marketing campaigns and firm goals.  

Possible AEC Marketing Campaign Metrics: 

• Website traffic 
• Search traffic/keyword rankings 
• Backlinks 
• Click-through rate 
• Conversion rate 
• Email sign-up rate 
• Delivery, open, click rate 
• Engagement/interaction rate 
• Follower growth rate 
• Brand mentions 

Marketers can then take those metrics and compare the marketing performance to a previous time such as: 

• To the previous month, 
• A 3-month average, or 
• Specific goal(s). 

Metrics That Shouldn’t be Measured 

The things or results that the AEC marketer can’t impact should not be measured. If the marketer or firm can’t change it, there’s no point in tracking it or making it a KPI.  

Vanity metrics should also not be tracked, or at least, have too much weight or emphasis placed on them. Marketers are sometimes tempted to track vanity metrics like the Facebook page likes or Twitter followers, but if the marketing department is not currently implementing a social media campaign with the goal of getting more likes or followers, why track it? It’s not an effective KPI. 

Best Practices for Collecting and Analyzing Digital Marketing Campaign Results 

The following are some best practices that marketers should keep in mind as they plan for, implement, and analyze the results of their digital marketing campaigns.  

• Use the campaign goal as the basis for analyzing the results. Marketers should tie what the goal of the campaign is to what metrics they collect and analyze.  
• Connect marketing platforms. By starting with the goals, marketers can list what metrics they need to collect. But, this is also the time to evaluate what systems can be connected and automatically share information. A great example of this is the Blackbox Connector for Mailchimp or Constant Contact. These connect the email marketing statistics to the Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint CRM systems. A marketer can easily pull in the statistics for one email campaign or an email campaign series into the Deltek Marketing Campaign.  

• Limit KPIs to only those that are needed. Marketers might be tempted to collect more data or statistics than necessary to see how the campaign is performing. Especially when first getting started, limit to collecting and analyzing only those metrics or KPIs that are needed to see how the performance is measuring to the goal.  
• Tailor the KPIs to the audience. If the marketing campaign performance needs to be presented to firm leadership, make sure to tailor what is shown to that audience to just what they need to see how it’s performing to goal. For example, the marketing manager may be tracking email newsletter opt-in rates and email bounce rates. However, if that’s not a goal of the specific marketing campaign, don’t report those metrics in a presentation to the firm principals.  

How to Use the Digital Marketing Campaign Results to Improve Performance  

Collecting and analyzing the performance of the marketing campaigns is only half the battle! The next step is optimizing the campaign’s performance to get even better results. And the next article in this series share a few different areas to optimize when it comes to the firm’s digital marketing efforts. Subscribe to the series below to get the next article.  

The primary goal for the AEC digital marketing program is to get a firm found online. This can be done through creating content highlighting the firm’s expertise and subject matter experts. However, it’s not enough to just publish this content on the firm’s website or blog. To have the right potential clients find that content, the content needs to appear in searches. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in.  

According to HubSpot, the definition of SEO is techniques which assist a firm’s website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This makes a firm’s website more visible via search engines like Yahoo!, Google, or Bing for those who are seeking solutions that a firm’s brand, service or product could offer. 

This article is part of the Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series and will provide an introduction to SEO techniques AEC firms can utilize when building their digital marketing program.

How SEO Works

Search engines crawl the internet to scoop up tidbits of phrases and key words to index them. Then when a user types in a phrase, question, or key word into the search engine, it provides results to the user based on those indexes. Search engines are searching for the websites, webpages, blogs, etc. that the firm is publishing.  

Search engines also look at the firm’s website structure and design, visitor behavior, and mobile optimization. So, it’s not just about the content that is being published, but the framework in which it’s published too.  

The Elements that Can Increase Organic Traffic    

Organic traffic is what most AEC firms are aiming for and includes the unpaid visitors (or traffic) that comes to the firm’s website through the search engines. The firm isn’t paying for any of that website traffic.  

There are elements of the website, structure, webpages, and even the firm’s social media channels that help or hurt getting organic traffic. Some of the elements that have the most impact are described below. 

Consistent Content Creation 

The website needs to be updated on a regular basis. Publishing genuine content that interests the targeted personas greatly improves SEO. The more often producing and updating content, the “fresher” it appears to search engines. Make the content easy to read or skim by using small paragraphs, descriptive headings, lists and bullet points. Also, link to internal and other external pages throughout the content.   

SEO Friendly Webpage Structure    

Each webpage has a built-in structure that is universal no matter what program the firm is using for its website software. Each page usually has a hierarchy of headings that tells the search engines the importance of the content. For example, the heading tag called H1 is the main header tag. This is typically reserved for the title of the page. Then there are heading tags H2, H3, etc. Just like in a printed document, these should be used to help guide the reader (and search engines) through the webpage content.  

When creating new content, don’t cram it full of all the keywords. Make sure the keywords, topics, and phrases are spread throughout the piece and flow naturally into the content. Be sure to use keywords in the title tags (H1, H2, etc.). Also, make sure that the content is easy to read and/or skim by using many small paragraphs, descriptive headings, lists, and bullet points, for example. 

Image Optimization 

Another SEO component is how fast the webpage loads, and images are the biggest culprits when it comes to slowing down webpage load times. Since AEC firms tend to have very visual websites, it’s easy for the websites to be slowed down dramatically due to the number of images. Make sure that every image on the website is compressed and is the right image format for the screen (as opposed to print-level quality).  

Meta Descriptions 

A meta description is the text that appears in the search results underneath the page title. See the screenshot below for the example that appears with the search of “Deltek Vantagepoint Upgrade.” Meta descriptions can be added to the backend of the firm’s website builder and should be written to include keywords and phrases. The meta description should also be relevant to the content that is on the page, so keyword stuffing will actually hurt the results. Also, the meta description length should be between 150-300 characters. 

URL Structure 

Did you know that URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator? Just like the webpage structure and meta descriptions, search engines display the URL on the search results. Consider following these SEO best practices when creating URLs: 

• Use clear, descriptive words in the URL as opposed to random numbers and letters. For example, www.fullsailpartners.com/fspblog would be better than www.fullsailpartners.com/453=?45659. 

• Try to use shorter URLs whenever possible. There is some research that shows that shorter URLs perform better because URLs that are too-long will be cut off in search results. However, it’s just as important to be descriptive in the URL so don’t cut the URL length just to cut it. 
• Use keywords in the URL. If the page is targeting a specific term or phrase, make sure to include it in the URL. But don’t go overboard or appear too spammy. The search engines know it and will penalize the content. For example, a spammy URL might be www.fullsailpartners.com/vantagepoint-partner/upgrade-to-vantagepoint/vantagepoint-upgrade-services. A good way to test this is to look at the URL through the eyes of a searcher and ask if it looks natural or like a robot wrote it.  
• Use hyphenations instead of spaces. Every search engine interprets special characters or spaces the same. Use hyphens to separate the words in the URL.  
• Use geographic location names, if applicable. If the content is about a specific location or a project in a specific location, use that location name in the URL. This can include city names, neighborhoods, or other regional descriptors.  

Off-Page SEO  

Some of the secret sauce to improving SEO happens off the firm’s website. Search engines like Google rank how popular a firm’s website is. If the firm’s content is popular, it sends a signal to search engines that it’s the best content, making it more of an authority in that topic area, thus a higher ranking. So, what makes a firm’s website popular? Let’s introduce a few strategies. 

Authority Building Through Backlinks  

One way to build authority in the search engines is how popular they rank a firm’s website. One factor they use is called ‘backlinking.’ Backlinks are links from other domains that points to a firm’s website or particular webpage. Each backlink is considered to be a “vote” of confidence for the content that’s being linked. Other websites should also be linking back to the specific firm’s website. Even better is if the backlinks are from higher authority domains such that end in .edu or .org. 

Think about the various ways in which the firm’s website can be backlinked. Some might include: 

• Sponsoring industry conferences and events. Ask the host entity to place the firm’s logo on its website and link back to the firm’s website. 

• Write articles for industry websites. Then, make sure the article has a link back to the firm’s website. 
• List the firm in online industry directories. For example, Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) has a rather established one. 

Google My Business 

This is probably the easiest task to improve SEO is to make sure the Google My Business is set up for every office location for your firm. Make sure that the firm’s name, address(es), and phone number(s) are correct on the firm’s website and that they are also the same at what’s displayed on the Google My Business page. It sounds so simple but can be quite complex especially the more offices the firm has and how often the offices move locations.  

Getting Started with SEO 

There is no exact science or formula to rank first, or even on the first page, in a search result. Basically, if the content provides value to the people searching for it, it will rank better. Here are some best practices to keep in mind as content is developed for the firm’s digital marketing program: 

• Research for the key words, phrases, or questions that the firm’s personas would be searching.  
• Conduct those same searches on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing to see what pages and content is already ranking high.  
• Review those pages and content to identify what qualities, format, content type, etc. that those pages possess.  
• Make sure to create content that is better than those! 

• And, if some of the firm’s content ranks high with those searches, evaluate those pages and content to see what’s working. Repurpose that specific content in new ways and create new content like that. 

Driving Growth with Digital Marketing 

SEO is just part of the overall digital marketing plan for AEC firms. Other components include identifying the persona, setting goals, and developing a content strategy. To learn more about each of these components, check out the entire Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series by clicking the link below. 

Consistent content that appeals to the ideal client is a cornerstone of a successful digital marketing program. Often, it’s a challenge for A/E/C firms to constantly be creating new high-quality content. There just isn’t enough time or resources. In this next installment of the “Driving Growth with Digital Marketing” series, readers will learn how to extend the life of an existing piece of content.

Introducing Content Repurposing

Content repurposing is a magical way to use content already created and revitalize it, so it works harder for your inbound marketing and SEO efforts. Repurposing takes previously published content and reimagines that content into different formats, refreshes the information based on industry updates, and allows the content to reach audiences that might have missed it the first time around.

Repurposing saves time because marketers don’t need to write new content from scratch. It is not just publishing the same blog article link with the same caption on the firm’s LinkedIn page once per month. It is transforming content into a new focus of interest.

How to Select Content to Repurpose

A great way to determine what content to repurpose is to audit the content you’ve already published. Look for content that still resonates with the ideal client and that is evergreen. If the content is too outdated or highly seasonable, it might be too much effort to repurpose it. Choose the content pieces that can be easily refreshed and still attract the targeted audience.

Then, take a look at your firm’s website analytics to find the high-performing content. Find the content that ranks the highest when it comes to page views, average time on page, etc. The content that meets all these criteria should be what you begin with.

Content Repurposing Case Study

A great example of a content repurposing strategy is this series, “Driving Growth with Digital Marketing.” As a new marketing manager for our Blackbox Connector products, I wanted to target other marketing managers who use Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint and who already have a digital marketing program or want to create one. So, I developed this year-long content series to attract new leads.

This campaign began in 2021 with a 10-part blog series. Potential clients could subscribe to the series to get notified when new articles would be published. And, using our HubSpot Connector, new submissions would be added to the Full Sail Partners’ Deltek Vision CRM to monitor and evaluate.

This blog series was then turned into a presentation abstract that was submitted to several marketing-related conferences. It was selected to be presented at three conferences where there was a high number of the targeted audience.

Eventually, Full Sail Partners will present this as a webinar and possibly publish it as a guide accessible by a form on the website. Between now and then, different steps will be shared as infographics and other resources to post on social media.

This one content topic has been transformed into over a dozen different content types and formats.

Other Repurposing Ideas

When planning for new content, brainstorm ways in which that piece of content can be repurposed. Some ideas include:

• Convert long blog posts into an eBook or listicle social media series.
• Turn conference presentations into blog articles, webinars, etc.
• Build an infographic from a presentation or blog article.
• Refresh and republish old blog posts with new, relevant information or data.
• Create a podcast or video series from a previous conference presentation.
• Create a frequently asked questions area on your website from previously published blog articles.
• Create a checklist freebie based on the firm’s project management process.
• Pitch existing articles to guest blogs on other websites.
• Record existing content such as previously written blog articles or conference presentations. Post those recordings on YouTube or use them in a podcast.
• Visualize existing content such as articles. Turn them into short video snippets, pull quote graphics, or carousel-type posts.
• Group existing content to create content pillars or resource hubs. Full Sail Partners has done this with our resource pages. Check out the marketer’s page here.
• Promote similar content previously published via an email series. Deliver each piece of content in one email spread throughout an entire campaign.
• Package similar content topics into an eBook or guide. Gather as many similar topics already created and add an introduction or point of view to make it more of a book. These are often titled, “The Ultimate Guide to…” or “The Only Guide to…”

Making Marketing More Efficient

Making the best use of the marketing resources and the subject matter experts’ time ensures marketing investments are more efficient. Content repurposing is one of the best ways to effectively use previously created content and allows for more time to spend on other marketing efforts. Keep a lookout for the next article in this series that introduces search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to help A/E/C firms get found online.

The initial steps in putting together an online marketing program include defining personas and setting goals. Once those are set, it’s time to begin creating content. But what types of content need to be created? How does an A/E/C firm come up with content ideas that attract potential clients?

In this article, we will walk through the answers to these questions and go over the process of building a content strategy. And it’s the next step in the Full Sail Partners’ Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series.

First let’s define what a content strategy is. A content strategy is a plan in which firms use content to achieve business and marketing goals. A successful content strategy will attract ideal clients and decision makers at different stages of their buying decisions. Below are the steps to help A/E/C firms to develop a content strategy.

Step 1: Formulate the Decision-Making Funnel

In every sales transaction, buyers go on a journey that begins the moment they decide they need services to when the contract is eventually signed. This is also referred to as the funnel. Marketers often group the funnel into the following phases as shown in the graphic below.

The funnel stages are described below along with the content intent for each. A/E/C firms should formulate their own decision-making funnel for their clients and potential clients.

• Awareness – Is the uppermost part of the funnel. Potential clients are drawn into the funnel through marketing campaigns that include content, events, advertising, trade shows/conferences, social media, and more. In this stage, content is developed to capture new leads and to pull those leads into a CRM system for nurturing further through the funnel.
• Interest – Once leads are collected, they are then moved into the interest stage. Content for this stage should be more about the firm, its services, and case studies and best practices. This is typically shared through email newsletters and performs best when it can be more targeted to the leads around their industries, markets, or locations.
• Consideration – In this stage, the lead has become more qualified to become a prospective client. For A/E/C firms, this may mean that the potential client has a project in the future or obtained funding such as a bond. Content developed in this phase is even more specific to that potential upcoming project or service offering. The content should also highlight the firm’s differentiation and value proposition. It might also be sent directly by project managers or business developers.
• Evaluation – Decision makers move into this stage when there is a procurement event taking place. This will range from a client issuing an RFP or invitation to bid to just a meeting to negotiate. Typically, at this point marketing is working with a project manager or business developer to develop content to convince the client to select their firm.
• Purchase Decision – The ultimate goal is to get the win! To have the client select your A/E/C firm. The prospect is now a client.

A content strategy should be a mix of content for all phases of the decision-making funnel. And, it’s possible to have different funnels for different personas identified for the firm because the decision making might be different.

Step 2: Run a Content Audit

Knowing what content is already available is a great place to start. Once you know what content is already created, the new content that needs to be created is just filling in the gaps. Take the time to gather all the available content, look through everything and tag it with the stage of the funnel it could work for.

Places to look for content:

• Blog articles on firm’s website
• Blog articles written by subject matter experts (SMEs) for other websites
• Published articles written by SMEs
• Presentations given at conferences, webinars, etc.
• Proposals
• Shortlist presentations
• Project award submittals
• Firm award submittals
• Press releases
• Brochures
• Statements of Qualifications (SOQ)

When firms run a content audit, they are often amazed at just how much content they already have created. Often, content developed for a specific pursuit can also be used in various stages of the funnel after a few edits.

After reviewing a firm’s own content, take it one step further by doing a competitive analysis. Review your competitor’s own website and social media content. This will help when creating content that is differentiated.

Step 3: Fill the Content Gaps

Once the decision-making funnel is formulated and the existing content is gathered, the gaps should be clear. Now, it’s time to develop the new content to fill in those gaps. Review each stage of the decision-making funnel and make sure there are content ideas for each stage. Some ways to formulate content ideas are:

• Ask project managers and business developers what they get questioned the most about by clients and potential clients
• Conduct keyword research. Keyword research is an essential foundation for a content strategy because it gives valuable topic ideas. Using keyword research tools like HubSpot, Ahrefs, and Semrush will uncover search topics and questions asked by prospective clients.
• Use the above two actions to brainstorm new content topics. Brainstorm ways to approach old topics, combine two different ideas into one, give a unique perspective on an industry outlook, etc.

Putting it All Together

At this point, the firm should have a defined decision-making funnel or funnels depending on the firm’s different markets. The firm should also have a list of content already created and identified what stage of the funnel it can be used for. The content gaps have been identified and a list of new content to create has been written.

In the ongoing articles in this series, we’ll walk through how to develop new content, how to maximize it by repurposing, and the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). Sign up below to be notified when a new resource in the series becomes available.

Deltek’s new Vantagepoint product has been completely reimagined. It’s a true showstopper. Why? Because it supports the entire project lifecycle from start to finish. And the Full Sail Partners Crew is proud and thankful to give project-based firms the power and the tools they’ve been seeking, all thanks to the power of Deltek Vantagepoint.

More specifically, the Full Sail Partners Crew was asked about the specific Vantagepoint features they were most thankful, and this article shares some of those.

Ability to Get Vantagepoint CRM Insight in the Email Inbox

“I am thankful for Vantagepoint Outlook Connect to see the history of clients and ability to log emails while in Outlook.” Sarah Gonnella, Vice President of Marketing and Sales

With the Deltek Vantagepoint Outlook Connect, users can see the interaction history between contacts, clients, and projects as well as quickly log emails into Vantagepoint. Basically, this feature allows users to bring Vantagepoint into their Outlook inboxes. And this tool comes with other features like the ability to sync calendars and schedule meetings while saving them in Vantagepoint at the same time.

To learn more about the Vantagepoint Outlook Connect, watch this video.

Simple, Intuitive User Experience

“I’m thankful for the modern look and feel of Deltek Vantagepoint.” Cate Phillips, Relationship Manager

“I am thankful for browser agnostic access, so we are not tied to Internet Explorer anymore.” Heath Harris, IT Consultant

“I am thankful for the navigation tree menu search. It makes getting around in the system so much easier and faster!” Nicole Temple, Principal Consultant

“The left summary pane in each hub keeps the most relevant information in view. This is helpful to keep high level information in view when tabbing through records.” Amanda Roussel, Senior Consultant

It’s no surprise that several Crew members were thankful for the modern design and accessibility of Deltek Vantagepoint. It is truly a solution that is a more efficient way to work. Vantagepoint enables teamwork and collaboration via a single tool and empowers users with a simple, intuitive experience.

Access Information to Make Better, Faster Business Decisions

“I am thankful for all reporting options in one area with filtering capabilities.” Terri Agnew, Senior Consultant

“I’m thankful for out-of-the-box, role-based dashboards!” Rick Childs, Principal Consultant

Deltek Vantagepoint allows firms to monitor the health of the business in one place. It provides complete visibility into every aspect of the business by measuring performance by project, client, team and more. As a result, firms can make faster, better decisions with all the information in a single view on interactive dashboards.

See how to quickly business intuitive reporting in this mini-demo.

Vantagepoint Streamlines Expense Report Creation

I’m grateful of the fact that Deltek Vantagepoint can automatically match credit card charges with expense items. It’s functionality that many clients out there have come to expect and Deltek can now deliver directly.” Joel Slater, Product Sales Manager

With Deltek Vantagepoint, users can automatically match credit card charges with expense items. They can do this using a desktop, a tablet, or a mobile device. Once matched, Vantagepoint makes recommendation for close dates, amounts, etc. Users can also add the expenses to existing reports or create new reports.

“Along the same lines of Expense Reporting, I’m also grateful that Deltek Vantagepoint has included ICR functionality. Today it’s only available for expense receipts, but who knows what the future holds for this capability.” Joel Slater, Product Sales Manager

Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) for expenses simplifies expenses and improves the accuracy of expense reports. It does this by reading text from receipts and populates the expense in the Vantagepoint mobile app. It also reads handwriting and leverages machine learning.

To learn more about ICR and why Joel is so excited about the future possibilities of ICR, read this blog article.

Easily See Remaining Effort on Projects, without Complex Reports

“Easy planning focused on the remaining effort and its ability to report very clearly on all I need to manage the financials on a project without running a report!” Rana Blair, Principal Consultant

The key to ensuring that the most current data is visible to other users is to allow project mangers the ability to update their projects quickly. When project managers act, such as changes to dates, resources, and scope, beneficiaries can rest assured they are reviewing the most current information.

Check out this mini demonstration, to see how project managers and accountants can quickly update components of the project and plan while instantly updating the results in project performance and Resource Utilization.

One Project Record, Fosters Collaboration Across Departments

“One project record from the earliest pursuit through project closeout and beyond. This brings numerous groups together within a firm and removes many information barriers.” Amanda Roussel, Senior Consultant

Projects are critical to the success of professional services firms. Deltek Vantagepoint gives these firms insight to into the entire project lifecycle. With the project command center, all the project information is in one place—from pursuit and proposal, through project planning and financial management.

Create Timesheet Entries from Outlook Calendar

“I’m thankful that you can create timesheet entries from your Outlook calendar.” Gina Stamper, Account Manager

Employees have countless tasks that they are responsible for including keeping timesheets up to date. Even more, staying organized with meetings and client appointments adds to the burden. However, Deltek Vantagepoint’s calendar feature will help eliminate these struggles.

The Deltek Vantagepoint Calendar allows users to keep track of their billable engagements and allows this information to easily be added to a timesheet with a few clicks. See it in action in this mini demonstration.

Thankful for Deltek Vantagepoint

There are a wide variety of features added to Deltek Vantagepoint that maximize productivity, boost collaboration, improve efficiency, and increase profitability. And the Full Sail Partners Crew highlights just a few of the features they are thankful for, many of which improve the work lives of multiple departments in the firm.

If you’ve already upgraded to Vantagepoint, share the feature you’re most thankful for in the comments below.

If you’re still considering Vantagepoint, feel free to watch the Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint demo series.

This article is the first in the Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series. This series will walk A/E/C firms through how to develop a digital marketing program that will raise brand awareness, capture new leads, and increase revenue.

But, before the series covers the nuts and bolts of how to do this, let’s define digital marketing, its history and how it can benefit A/E/C firms.

Digital Marketing Defined

Digital marketing is defined as any marketing that uses electronic devices to convey promotional messages and measure its impact. Typically, these marketing practices include marketing campaigns that appear on computers, phones, tablets, or other electronic devices. It takes many forms including videos, emails, and social media posts. Additionally, it includes organic content and paid content such as display ads. Digital marketing is often compared to “traditional marketing” like magazine ads, billboards, and direct mail.

The History of Digital Marketing

The term Digital Marketing was first coined in the 1990s when customer relationship management (CRM) software became a significant factor in marketing technology. Then in 1994, the first clickable banner ad went live for the “You Will” campaign by AT&T. Over the first four months of it going live, 44% of all people who saw it clicked on the ad.

In the 2000s, with increased internet usage and the birth of the iPhone, customers began to search products and make decisions about their needs online first, instead of consulting a salesperson. This encouraged marketers to find new ways to integrate digital technology into market development.

Digital marketing took another step forward in 2007 when marketing automation was developed. Marketing automation is the process by which software is used to automate conventional marketing processes. With this new technology, marketers could launch multichannel marketing campaigns based on the customers specific activities.

After that, social media including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter made consumers even more dependent on digital applications in their daily lives. Now customers and potential customers expect a seamless user experience across different channels when searching for a firm’s information.

Digital Marketing Campaign Types

Digital marketing can consist of both online and non-internet channels and strategies. Common online digital marketing channels and strategies consist of:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Content marketing
• Inbound marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Display advertising
• Pay per click advertising (PPC)

Off-line or non-internet digital channels and strategies consist of:

• Television
• Text message campaigns (SMS and MMS)
• Virtual displays or electronic billboards such as at conferences or events
• Custom apps
• Cold calling

The Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series will go more in-depth on several of these digital marketing strategies. Click on the image below to be alerted when a new article in the series is available.

Goals for Digital Marketing

We live in a digital age, and millions of people spend most of their time on digital platforms including their computers and phones. Marketing is all about connecting with targeted contacts in the right place, at the right time, and if the contacts are plentiful online, then that’s where the best marketing strategies should be implemented.

One goal of digital marketing is to raise brand awareness. Recent trends show businesses and digital marketers are prioritizing brand awareness, focusing more of their digital marketing efforts on cultivating brand recognition and recall than in previous years. This is evidenced by a 2019 Content Marketing Institute study, which found that 81% of digital marketers have worked on enhancing brand recognition over the past year. Another Content Marketing Institute survey revealed 89% of B2B marketers now believe improving brand awareness to be more important than efforts directed at increasing sales.

Another goal for digital marketing is lead nurturing. Many A/E/C firms work with the same clients for many different projects. Because of this high rate of repeat work, the marketing goals aren’t to raise awareness to new leads, but rather, keep the firm top of mind with existing clients. Also, the sales cycle in the A/E/C industry can be long, stretching out several months, if not years. Therefore, a firm might want to stay in front of those leads between projects.

Most likely, the goals for the digital marketing program will consist of a combination of both of these for different markets and clients.

Benefits of Digital Marketing for A/E/C Firms

The agency Hinge Research conducts original research for digital and thought leadership marketing specific to the A/E/C Industry. In their 2020 study of high growth A/E/C firms, they found high growth firms are dedicating almost 27% of their revenue to marketing, and are generating 50% of new leads from digital sources.

Other benefits of developing a digital marketing program for A/E/C firms include:

• Cost effectiveness – Compared to traditional marketing strategies such as print advertising, conference sponsorship or attendance, digital marketing is relatively low cost. Some of the digital marketing strategies only cost the time to produce the materials and the technical knowledge. Others involved purchasing relatively low-cost software and online advertising like display ads or PPC.
• High return on investment – Because of its relatively low cost to generate new leads that could result in thousands of new firm revenue, the return on investment is very high for digital marketing. And with the proper marketing technology in place to track and attribute the marketing campaigns appropriately, it’s relatively easy to track.
• Easier to measure – Compared to traditional marketing strategies like a print ad or conference sponsorship, with a digital campaign you can know almost immediately how it’s performing. For example, an email marketing campaign’s performance can be known within hours or the next day. The opens and clicks are a good indicator of its performance, and marketers can use that knowledge to adjust accordingly.
• Easy to adjust – Because the performance of the digital marketing effort is known quickly, marketers will have that knowledge and can adjust other campaigns with that knowledge.
• Easy to share – Digital marketing channels like social media posts and email campaigns can be shared with a click of a button. This helps firms create a multiplier affect and amplifies the content.
• Precise targeting – Traditional marketing is one to many and everyone. For example, an engineering firm places a print ad in an industry publication. The engineering firm hopes that a few people who like what they see in that ad would take a positive action. Marketing over digital platforms allows for targeted campaigning. The engineering firm can now place a display ad where that ad is presented to potential contacts based on their preferences or initial action.
• Further reach – Digital marketing gives small firms, which make up most of the A/E/C industry, the opportunity to expand their reach. Using the benefits above of low cost, precise targeting, etc. every firm that deploys a digital marketing program can play on the same field as the mega firms. A small architecture firm in Iowa can be the worldwide leader in theater acoustical engineering through digital marketing campaigns and reach theaters in Moscow or Brisbane, for example.

Propelling Forward

The A/E/C industry has often been slow compared to other industries when adopting new marketing trends. But in 2020 with the global pandemic, A/E/C firms were propelled to rapidly make changes to their marketing programs, including shifting resources to digital marketing. Knowing this, Full Sail Partners has developed the Driving Growth with Digital Marketing series. In this series, marketers and principals will learn how to develop a digital marketing program that is right for their firm. Sign up below to be notified when a new resource in the series becomes available.

In May 2021, Full Sail Partners conducted its first-ever email marketing trends survey. We wanted to gain insight as to how many firms have fully embraced email marketing as a proactive marketing strategy. And, if the effects of the worldwide pandemic, when many face-to-face meetings and conferences have been canceled, adjusted firms’ email marketing strategy and results.

General B2B Statistics

Before the results from the Full Sail Partners’ survey are previewed, let’s take a look at some other statistics focused on email marketing and business to business (B2B) marketing strategies.

• Billions of emails are sent every day. 306 billion to be exact. And, according to The Radicatti Group, that number is expected to reach 361 billion by the end of 2024.
• Email helps you reach your clients as fast as possible. With the popularity of social media, you might think it has overtaken email as the fastest way to reach new and current clients. But the truth is that 21% of opened emails are opened within the very first hour of delivery.
• In the annual research conducted by Content Marketing Institute in 2020:
  • 85% of B2B organizations use email marketing software to assist with content marketing
  • 81% of B2B organizations use email newsletters as part of their marketing strategy
  • 87% of B2B organizations use email to distribute their content
  • 90% of B2B organizations used email engagement as the top metric to measure content performance
• That same research also found that email is the most reliable channel for nurturing leads to sales throughout the funnel.

Email Marketing Trends Survey Results Preview

So how do the responses from our email marketing trends survey compare to some of the national trends? Full Sail Partners invited our clients, prospects, and partners to complete the survey. The invitation was sent via email and shared on our social media channels.

Survey Demographics

The survey responses were from firms that provided mostly either engineering (41%) or construction (28%) services. Half of the responses were from firms that had either 1-50 (36%) or 51-100 (25%) employees. The other half of the responses broke down into the following: 101-500 (29%), 501-1000 (2%), and 1001+ (8%) employees.

Full Sail Partners is a Premier Partner for Deltek Vision and Vantagepoint. So, one of the questions asked if the firms responding were users of either software. Of the responses, 40% are either a Deltek Vision or Vantagepoint user, 58% were not users, and 2% said other. The one “other” response indicated that they are currently using another CRM software system.

Overall Firm Marketing Strategies

Before we asked about email marketing strategies, we asked respondents what marketing channels their firm currently uses. They could respond with multiple answers. The top three marketing channels included website, social media, and email. This seems to be consistent to the other independent research noted above.

Today’s Email Marketing Strategy

The survey also wanted to gauge how professional services firms are using email marketing today. We asked questions including goal/purpose for email marketing, frequency, type of email campaigns, and how the firms track success of their email marketing efforts. These were asked in a combination of quantitative and qualitative questions.

The biggest goal/purpose for email marketing is for brand awareness (41%) with lead nurturing well behind at 26% of the responses.

The main types of email marketing campaigns sent by the respondents included regular newsletters (33%), highlight emails (23%), and promotional emails (23%).

When asked for a brief overview of the firm’s email marketing strategy, objective responses ranged from simple holiday greetings to organized targeted campaigns. Some of the consistent qualitative response themes include:

• Holiday greetings
• Announcements such as new hire, employee promotions, new office, or office move
• Sharing content produced by the firm like blog articles
• Teaming and bid opportunity alerts to contractor and subcontractor lists
• Event invitations around either webinars or attending conferences/tradeshows

When asked how frequently email campaigns are sent, nearly half of respondents send their email campaigns quarterly (46%) with another 21% sending monthly. Some of the other responses included bi-weekly sends as well as sending depending on specific promotions.

Email Marketing Changes Due to Pandemic

Another reason for conducting this survey was to gauge how email marketing strategies and engagement have changed, if at all, during the pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, many face-to-face meetings and conferences have been canceled or transformed into virtual events. Staying in front of clients and prospects is critical for maintaining relationships for professional services firms. And, email marketing may be one way the pandemic has affected this.

First, we wanted to know if the firms’ email marketing strategy changed during the pandemic. Nearly half of the responses said their email marketing strategy DID NOT change (45%) while 20% indicated that they did increase the amount of email marketing efforts during the pandemic. Interesting is that 23% of the responses were not doing any email marketing before the pandemic and still haven’t started.

Next, we wanted to gauge the results of the firms’ email marketing efforts during this past year, regardless of any changes to their email marketing strategy. According to the responses of this survey, the majority said that everything has stayed about the same (38%). However, 18% did say that their email engagement has increased.

What’s Next

This is just a preview of the email marketing trends for professional services firms’ survey results. More results and recommendations will be shared on the June 30, 2021 webinar. During that webinar, Full Sail Partners along with a very special guest will be talking about:

• Why email marketing is a must-have for professional services firms,
• What’s working right now for B2B firms,
• How to get started in email marketing,
• Resources available from Full Sail Partners and SubjectLine.com

To register for this free webinar, click the image below.

Beginning in 2020, the workplace environment saw a drastic change when the pandemic shut down nearly all in-person office work. Not expected by many, this dark and looming cloud forever transformed the workplace indefinitely. Zoom and video conferencing became an everyday alternative to face-to-face interactions at the office, and work from home became the only solution and not a privilege.

While many workers had to adjust to this new remote working model, businesses had to quickly adjust to this changing workplace climate. As a result, employers had to quickly adapt to allow this newly created remote workforce to able to get work done from anywhere with an internet connection. As stated in July 2020, Accounting Today’s top VARs of 2020 noted that this is the year that has pushed the cloud over the tipping point largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now a year later, the forecast for the workplace environment has changed. Many firms accepted this back in 2020, but the businesses that held out hope that normalcy will return are now facing the reality that so many have accepted as the “new normal.” While the Deltek Cloud has emerged as a solution to solving numerous challenges professional services firms faced by becoming a more remote workforce, there are also other benefits to consider when choosing to move to the cloud.

The Difference Between Fog and the Cloud

Cloud computing in itself by name can be confusing. Simply stated, on-premise or hosting your own software means that software and servers that run your Deltek solution are typically hosted within the four walls of your business. In other words, on-premise is similar to fog in that it is on the ground.

On the other hand, the cloud means that the software and servers used to run your Deltek solution are on an external infrastructure like Amazon web services. Additionally, software as a service (SaaS) is a component of the cloud.

The Brightside to the Deltek Cloud

There are so many misconceptions about the cloud and the entire idea can seem daunting. To put your mind at ease, here are some benefits to taking your Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint system to the Deltek Cloud.

• Fast and Easy Upgrades – Always have the latest and greatest version of your Deltek solution without the need to tie up valuable IT resources for software and hardware upgrades.
• Off-Site Data Replication – Protect your data from an unexpected natural disaster with multiple backups in multiple data centers.
• Secure and Reliable – Data is secured and monitored 24/7 to standards set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and reported on Service Organization Controls (SOC) audit requirements.
• Access from Anywhere at Anytime – Workforces are more mobile and remote than ever, give your teams secure access to your Deltek solution from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Easily Grow and Expand – As your company grows, so can your Deltek Vision/Vantagepoint instance by simply adding users to your license, not hardware which tremendously helps during the acquisition and expansion process.
• Cost Effective – Eliminate costly and time-consuming software and hardware upgrades and ongoing maintenance hassles and the people and time required to support this making future costs predictable.
• One Subscription Fee – Using the Deltek Cloud allows you to pay one subscription fee that can be easily budgeted for year after year allowing you to use IT budgets for projects that can improve your firm’s productivity and effectiveness.

Should the Deltek Cloud be in Your Firm’s Forecast?

It’s easy for us to assume that since we made it through the crisis created by the pandemic without the Deltek Cloud, then we can continue on with our newly crafted workaround solutions. While this seems logical, there are other reasons to consider the cloud. Take a minute to review the following questions:

• Does my firm have aging hardware?
• Do we have plans for growth in the near future?
• Is our workforce becoming more remote and mobile?
• Are we getting ready to upgrade from Deltek Vision to Vantagepoint?

Is you said YES to any of these questions, then it’s time to take your Deltek product to the cloud.

No Umbrellas Needed for the Deltek Cloud

When it rains, it pours. Well, with the Deltek Cloud, it pours with even more benefits. For starters, nothing really changes for your firm or employees. The Deltek Cloud offers the same power of Vision/Vantagepoint and the same functionality your teams are accustomed to using on a daily basis. Furthermore, your employees get unlimited access to the Deltek University eLearning content at no extra cost so they can continue to build on their knowledge and improve how your firm uses Vision/Vantagepoint. Lastly, making the move to the Deltek Cloud is simple and can be done in 24 hours or less in most instances. Above all, by choosing the Deltek Cloud, your firm will be resilient to any workplace climate change going forward.