Full Sail Partners Blog (43)

Charles Darwin once said, “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” In the 21^st century, with constantly evolving technology and ever present social media, competition for the same resources has dramatically increased. Firms must adapt to their new environments or risk extinction. Change management, the approach used to prepare, equip and support individuals to successfully adopt change and thus drive organizational success, is vital to a firm’s continued existence.

Reasons for Change

So, in today’s environment, what are some reasons firms must change? Well, there are many different reasons change is necessary. It could be to improve productivity or the quality of products to meet customer demands. Perhaps change is necessary to reduce costs or increase revenue to keep up with the competition? Maybe revised processes are required due to the enactment of new policies or laws? Regardless of the reason, change is necessary and is a constant.

Overcome the Challenge of Change

Of course, often hearing the word “change” strikes fear in the hearts of many as an employee. It is inevitable that the rumor mills will begin and embellished stories will be passed around the firm. The best way to thwart the challenge of change is for leadership to be proactive using a change management strategy. Change management includes several key components:

• Clear vision from management
• A detailed action plan
• Transparency to minimize uncertainty
• Employee involvement
• Skills and resources provided for employees to handle the change
• Buy-in from employees

As long as these components are part of your firm’s change management plan, it is up your particular firm’s discretion to choose the method to handle the specific change required. If needed, there are several models available for review by firm leadership.

Change Management Models

Here are three change management models:

• The Eight Steps to Successful Change by John Kotter - begins by establishing a sense of urgency and ends with institutionalizing the change
• The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle by W. Edwards Deming - four steps
• Change Management Foundation - shaped like a pyramid with leadership at the top setting direction and people implementing change at the bottom 

Don’t Fear the Change

In the words of Winston Churchill, “to improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often.” Firms will spend years in pursuit of perfection as the world continues to evolve. However, with a change management strategy in place, your firm can continue to successfully tackle the unknown without fear.

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner, is proud to announce that it has been recognized by Accounting Today on the top 100 VAR list for 2017. Accounting Today annually chooses the top value-added resellers (VARs), and Full Sail Partners has been ranked in the top 100 again this year. Not only was Full Sail Partners named on the 2017 list, but it impressively moved up in ranking by fifteen. 

“We are thrilled to move up the ranks on Accounting Today’s VAR 100 list,” stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing & Sales at Full Sail Partners. “This accomplishment is a result of having a diverse and talented team that can address not only today’s challenges, but tomorrow’s challenges as well. Over the past couple of years, we have invested in building the right team and developing our Blackbox Connector to allow project-based firms to connect Deltek products to other best of breed solutions. We can’t wait to see what 2018 brings.”   

Accounting Today also reported recognized trends from this year's top 100 VARs. Some of those trends included responding to talent demands, adapting to the cloud, and smaller clients demanding better technology and analytics. Full Sail Partners has positioned itself to respond to these exact needs. With its Blackbox Connector capabilities and emerging business intelligence offerings, Full Sail Partners intends to keep developing solutions to fit client growth and desires.

Here is the full 2017 VAR list: http://pages.marketing.accountingtoday.com/act_77836_sr_lp.html 

Accounting Today is a leading provider of online business news for the accounting community, offering breaking news, in-depth features, and a host of resources and services. The VAR 100 list is annual report developed to rank the top technology resellers in the account and ERP space.  

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. 

The long-term success of a sports team cannot be determined by looking at just one factor. For a sports team to truly excel, it must triumph on many fronts. From scouting the best talent to strategizing offensive and defensive plays for cohesive team execution, the team manager must create a winning formula that, when utilized, brings continuous success for the team. This is also true for professional services firms, and finding the right formula for your team can become less of a guessing game with the tools available from Deltek. Let’s see how Deltek can help your firm knock it out of the park.

Winning the War for Talent

We all know that finding and attracting the best players for your team is a time-consuming process. Even more, tracking their training and development can be laborious. With Deltek Talent, however, professional services firms can easily overcome these challenges.

Deltek Talent provides a complete view of the entire human capital management process. From recruiting new talent to career development and employee performance management, Deltek Talent is a unified talent management solution designed to help your firm recruit and retain top talent. Using this Deltek tool, your team will be a group of all-stars.

Winning Repeat and New Business

Taking advantage of every opportunity and identifying every weakness in your opponent is how to win a game, and the same can be said for acquiring business in the professional services industry. Using Deltek CRM, your firm will gain visibility into the entire business development process, from prospect to opportunity to gaining the new business. Most importantly, presenting your winning solution in a compelling way to your key contacts is vital to setting your firm apart from the competition.

With Deltek CRM, you can access the actual past performance of similar projects you’re bidding on with the data stored within Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services. This feature easily allows you to create proposals based on actual firm performance, and they are quick to produce with the proposal automation capabilities of Deltek CRM. Now, that’s a game changer.

Winning with Project Delivery

To build your game plan, you must first know who is available to play or whose injury would prevent the best performance. The same goes for project management in a professional services firm. Using Deltek Vision and Deltek for Professional Services, your firm will have the resource planning capabilities needed to ensure staff utilization is being maximized so that you are never blindsided in your projects. Even more, instant access to project metrics and performance data helps guarantee projects will stay on track.

Win with Deltek

In Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, there is a Pete Palmer quote, “Managers tend to pick a strategy that is the least likely to fail, rather than to pick a strategy that is most efficient. The pain of looking bad is worse than the gain of making the best move.” Fortunately, professional services firms don’t need to play this guessing game when using Deltek tools. Let Deltek help your team find the right formula to win on all fronts. Wouldn’t you like to have the upper hand?

Welcome to Deltek for Professional Services (DPS), the next generation solution for professional services automation (PSA). If PSA is a new term for you, think of it as a specialized system like an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution except specifically designed for the professional services industry. Also, check out this short article to learn more about PSA.  So, what can DPS do for your firm? Let’s see how this new cutting-edge solution will add value.

What is Deltek for Professional Services?

At its core, Deltek for Professional Services is a solution to assist your professional services firm with overcoming industry challenges and give you the tools needed to gain a competitive advantage. Whether it’s winning more work, recruiting new talent, providing top-notch project delivery or accurate forecasting of final performance, DPS will help your firm stay focused on the future. As a complete and all-inclusive package, DPS will positively affect all the core areas of your business by streamlining your processes.

Intelligent Business Development

Knowing if you have enough pipeline to meet your firm’s future goals is critical to measuring the success of your business development efforts. With Deltek for Professional Services, you can eliminate business development shortcomings by providing your team with a collaborative platform to enable every team member to stay engaged and up to date. Even more, DPS is an integrated solution that allows your business development team to create proposals based on the historic performance of your firm. As a result, your firm can create actual target revenues per account and realistic revenue forecasting.

Simplified Project Management   

Using Deltek for Professional Services, building a project plan has never been easier. With an improved user interface based on iAccess for Deltek Vision, DPS allows project managers to develop plans based on the performance of similar projects. Managers can simply build key performance indicators (KPIs) and milestones into these plans which can track the success of a project. Furthermore, these KPIs and milestones can be used to develop a project management dashboard that lets project managers see all critical project information on a single screen.

Improved Financial Insights

Tracking project profitability can be challenging. However, Deltek for Professional Services makes this process simple by eliminating the guessing game with dashboards and alerts to let you know how a project is faring. DPS allows you to monitor the key metrics that can determine the success of a project like margins, utilization, and cash flow. With this tracking system, you can keep your finances on target.

Transitioning to Deltek for Professional Services

Ready to make the move? Deltek has a plan to transition your firm to DPS if your firm is currently on Deltek Vision. Contact us to find out more about preparing for the migration. If you’re not currently using a Deltek product, Full Sail Partners can help your firm determine if DPS is right for you!

Full Sail Partners is pleased to announce that the Blackbox Connector for Concur and Deltek Vision is now available in the Concur App Center. The Blackbox Connector for Concur and Deltek Vision provides Concur clients who use Deltek Vision with a solution to more effectively manage project expenses with near real-time exchange of data between these two industry leaders, allowing bi-directional synchronization of projects, work breakdown structure, employees and completed expense reports.

“We selected Concur because they are the best in class for expense reporting both for end-user simplicity, as well as the breadth of customization and options for the accounting staff. We are excited to have our Blackbox Connector available in the Concur App Center. This will allow our clients to marry the elegant user interface of Concur and the power of Vision to reduce their time spent on submitting expense reports, and provide more control and visibility on spend for the company,” said Tanya Drake, Director of Add-on Technology for Full Sail Partners.

Concur is the world’s leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services and solutions. Offering apps with streamlined integration with Concur Travel, Expense and Invoice products, the Concur App Center delivers innovative functionality in key categories such as finance, regulatory compliance, enterprise identity, traveler productivity, travel management and much more. For more information, visit https://www.concur.com/app-center.

Additionally, having completed training by Concur on Concur methodologies, Full Sail Partners is now a Customer Success Partner with Concur. As a Customer Success Partner, Full Sail Partners is now better equipped with insider information and deep product knowledge so you can spend less time setting up Concur and more time enjoying faster deployments and greater returns on your Concur investment.

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department. 

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner and Client Feedback Tool Premier Partner, is pleased to announce the addition of Lindsay Diven, CPSM to the consulting services team. Lindsay has joined the firm as a senior Deltek Vision CRM consultant. In this position, she will work with clients to implement Deltek Vision’s CRM, Custom Proposal, and SF330 modules, as well as the Client Feedback Tool.

Lindsay comes to Full Sail Partners with 12 years of marketing and business development experience in the AE field. Using Deltek Vision, Lindsay has worked with both marketing and business development teams to implement business strategies and manage client data in pursuit of increasing sales opportunities and win rates. Additionally, her active involvement both with the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) and the Deltek Vision Central Florida Users Group ensures Lindsay keeps a pulse on the AE industry.

 “My prior experience as a marketing and business development director and a Deltek CRM client will help me bring an insider’s approach,” said Lindsay. “I’m excited to work closely with our clients to implement Deltek CRM in a way that strengthens their marketing and business development efforts.”

The Full Sail Partners’ CRM consultant acts as a trusted advisor for all clients. This consultant focuses on evaluating the client's existing software solution to develop a training strategy that is unique to each client experience. In this role, Lindsay will leverage her knowledge to ensure our clients continue to be successful long into the future.  

"When asked who would be an ideal candidate to be a CRM consultant, a hand full of names came to mind," stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing & Sales. "Amazingly the stars aligned and I am ecstatic to have Lindsay join the Full Sail Partners’ team. A strong Deltek CRM expert, demonstrated leader in the industry, and overall marketing and business development guru, our clients will gain an outstanding consultant in Lindsay to help grow their business."

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department.

Deltek Insight 2017 is fast approaching­! Have you made your plans to go? This year it will be in Nashville, Tennessee from October 23rd to 26^th at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. If you aren’t yet convinced of why you should attend Deltek Insight, here’s a look at some reasons to make it worth your while.

Sessions With Deltek Vision Experts

Deltek Vision can do more than most can even imagine. At Insight, there are numerous breakout sessions with Vision experts where you can learn tips and tricks that would otherwise remain undiscovered. Sessions are provided for Deltek Vision users of all skill levels from the novice to the expert Vision user. Sessions offer continuing education, provided by Vision experts, geared to increase your knowledge and ability to utilize Vision successfully.

Full Sail Partners will have several of its own experts on-site leading sessions. Rana Blair will demonstrate capabilities available to on-the-go project managers by displaying how iAccess can help more effectively monitor projects. If concerned with the challenge of recruiting top talent, you can join Sarah Gonnella as she shows how you can improve your HR effectiveness by deploying marketing tactics. Check out the whole list of Full Sail Partners’ led sessions here.

Network With Other Deltek Vision Users

Insight is the largest gathering of Deltek users. Attending Insight you will have many opportunities to network with Vision users from around the world. You will be able to talk with others in your industry about common user issues. In these pleasant interactions, you may be given answers to problems you have encountered, or you may be able to provide feedback that you acquired in using Vision.

Mixing Business With Fun

Deltek Insight begins with a huge welcome reception giving attendees the ability to mingle while learning more about the planned events for Insight 2017. Attendees will enjoy delectable hors d’oeuvres provided by Deltek. The welcome reception is a great time for you to stop by our booth and see what we are doing to improve our customer experiences and help you get the most out of Vision.

Insight 2017 also marks its 10^th anniversary. At the Celebrate Insight event on the last night of the conference, LoCash will take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. Attendees are never disappointed with the way that Deltek closes the action-packed week of networking and education. Between the food/dessert buffets and entertainment, this Insight event is sure to please.

Register Now for Deltek Insight 2017

It should be pretty obvious now that Deltek Insight provides great benefit to you and your firm. From the networking to the learning experiences to the fun, it is worth the effort to attend.

How does your company measure up to the competition? Are you performing above the industry standards or below? Are you achieving the objectives necessary to continue to grow and operate successfully? In order to answer these questions, management must have a way to track performance. Evaluating the progress of individuals, projects, and specific departments is important, but management also needs an in depth look at the company as a whole.

The two most popular methods for measuring performance are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Benchmarks. Both KPIs and Benchmarking are used to motivate employees by giving them measurable targets to meet. By meeting these targets, the employees help to increase the overall performance of the company. So, if they are both used to measure performance, what’s the distinction?

Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators are measures of how well a company, individual, business unit, or project is performing compared to specific strategic objectives or goals set by the company. KPIs that are well constructed provide direction leading to a clear understanding and awareness of current performance. KPIs often differ from company to company or department to department within a company based on the goals of the specific company or particular department.

A company’s desire to measure the indicators often dictates the KPIs put into practice. When developing a KPI, how that KPI relates to a specific business objective needs to be considered. Here are a few examples of KPIs that you may use for your business:

• Staff Retention
• New Customer Acquisition
• Timeliness of Projects
• Financial Growth

Planning is key when dealing with KPIs for measurement. It is important that they are significant, understandable and current. Using customized KPIs will provide great insight into your business.

Benchmark Indicators

Benchmarking compares other organizations in your industry to your own organization. Benchmarks are often measured by studying the results of other company operations that have best practices put in place to achieve exceptional results. The goal of benchmarking is to improve your processes to strengthen company performance, enhance customer satisfaction and increase revenue.

Performance benchmarking and strategic benchmarking are commonly used by firms. Performance benchmarking generally compares products and services with target companies in your industry allowing your firm to measure your economic position. Whereas strategic benchmarking involves observing and evaluating how other companies compete (which may include those outside of industry).

There is a significant amount of benchmarking data already gathered and available for companies to allow them to measure themselves against industry peers. The Deltek AE Clarity report, for example, is done annually. Sometimes there is a fee associated with acquiring benchmarking data, but it is easily recouped by the savings of resources and time in not having to do your own research.

Benefit from Key Performance Indicators and Benchmarks

Both of these methods allow management to identify areas where the company excels as well as areas that need improvement. However, to benefit from using KPIs and Benchmarks, a company needs to be willing to set objectives, make changes and follow through. Keep in mind, it is vital for company growth and success that those objectives are set both based upon internal history as well as industry standard criterion.

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner, is honored to announce that Kevin Hebblethwaite has been promoted to principal consultant. With 20 years of experience in marketing, business development and management for professional services firms, Kevin is a seasoned consultant. He is also a past national president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) and remains very active.

"Full Sail Partners has assembled an incredible team – one I learn from every day,” Kevin said. “I love watching professional services firms turn their traditional marketing and business development functions into catalysts for great client experiences and growth.”

As principal consultant, Kevin will continue to guide clients in strategic marketing and business development implementations of Deltek’s professional services platforms. Kevin also is the key point of contact for Full Sail Partners’ Blackbox Connector integrations between Deltek Vision and third-party marketing applications such as Client Feedback Tool, Constant Contact, and MailChimp.

"It is with great honor to promote Kevin to principal consultant," stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing & Sales. "Kevin has played a key role in expanding our focus of helping business development and marketing professionals. His strong leadership, mentorship, and client management skills will play a huge role as our firm continues to expand."

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department.

Full Sail Partners, a Deltek Platinum Partner, is pleased to announce that Ryan Felkel has been promoted to Marketing Manager. Ryan has extensive experience in content creation, web & social media, SEO, event management and Deltek Vision CRM. As a creative and focused marketing leader, he believes strongly in providing clients with the most valuable industry information to ensure they are getting the most out of their Vision systems.

"I truly enjoy being a member of the Full Sail Partners’ team and working with our consultants to identify content that is relevant to our clients,” Ryan said. “It’s extremely satisfying when a client reaches out to tell us how our information has helped them.”

As Marketing Manager, Ryan will continue to cultivate current client relationships while also pursuing new business within the AEC industry and in new market verticals. Additionally, he has assumed responsibility for building awareness of Deltek for Professional Services (DPS), Deltek Talent, Deltek Project Information Management (PIM), and the Blackbox Connector integrations for Deltek Vision.

"Finding the right person to fill your shoes is not always an easy task," stated Sarah Gonnella, VP of Marketing & Sales. "Ryan's demonstrated leadership and ability to quickly learn our business made that decision an easy choice. I am proud to hand the torch to someone that understands the importance of providing educational content to our clients and prospective clients."

For more information, please contact Full Sail Partners’ Marketing and Communications Department.