For professional services firms to be successful, they need a client relationship management (CRM) system to help them focus their business development strategies to identify prospective projects and to nurture client relationships to ensure they win new projects. Furthermore, an effective CRM system requires firm employees to use the system and this is not just directed to the business development team. This requires the entire firm to be updating client records to ensure the most up-to-date information is available for business development. However, firms that have invested in a CRM system seem to have a common hurdle which is employee adoption. Here are a few things that can negatively impact user adoption at your firm.

The Lack of Defined Processes

Time and time again, firms roll out a new CRM system with the assumption that it’s just requires switching it on, and it’ll take care of itself. However, this is not the case. Firms need to first start off by identifying what goals they want to achieve so they can actually see results. Once they have their goals identified, a formal process needs to be outlined to ensure the CRM system is utilized in a way the benefits firm and aligns with current marketing and business development procedures. Here are some things to consider when defining a process:

• What is a lead and when does a lead become an opportunity?
• Who has the information at your firm that needs to be entered about a contact?
• Who can update contacts and what can they update?
• What role is responsible for cleaning up the CRM database?
• What reports are required for different roles?

Misguided Goals

Goal setting for business development teams are far too often focused on dollar amounts and win rates. However, this thought process ignores setting goals that align with the firm’s strategy for achieving their targeted dollar amounts and win rates. For example, the sales cycle to win a project for many professional services firms can be months to years depending on the industry. Therefore, having a goal that helps the business development team keep up with touchpoints helps ensure client relationships are being properly managed. So when considering goals, it’s important to develop goals that align with your firm’s strategic client management process.

Picking the Wrong CRM Solution for Your Firm

There are several things to consider when selecting a CRM solution for your firm. Firstly, not all CRM systems are the same and have different capabilities to support different industries. For instance, having a CRM system that integrates with your firm’s accounting and project management platforms is essential for professional services firms. Especially if you want all your firm’s data in one central location and your desire is for people to utilize the CRM system. An example of this is a firm that uses Deltek Vantagepoint or Vision for their accounting and project management, the obvious CRM system selection is Deltek CRM.

Additionally, system integration is great, but having a CRM system that has a friendly user interface is important as well to increase user adoption. By selecting a system that is intuitive and well designed, implementing a CRM adoption directive will most likely succeed across your firm.

Increase CRM Adoption

Many firms struggle with getting employees to adopt a new system. However, this does not have to be the case. By setting goals and processes for different teams within your organization to encourage use, your employees will be able to see the value of the CRM system. Lastly, make sure to point out the fact that a CRM system will help your firm continue to grow and be successful in the future.   

Last year kept us busy with all the new developments of Deltek Vantagepoint, not to mention the large number of firms upgrading from Vision to Vantagepoint. However, we planned for this back in 2019 and decided to roll out a series of mini demonstrations focused on specific features and functions available in Vantagepoint.

This new format proved to be overwhelmingly successful. Therefore, as you review the top 10 watched webinars of 2020, you will likely notice that many of them are part of our “Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint” mini demonstration series. Enough with the introduction, here are the top 10 webinars you and your peers watched in 2020.

Top 10 Full Sail Partners’ Webinars of 2020

1. Deltek Vantagepoint – The Best All in One Package – This webinar is an ideal webinar to watch if you are new to or have very little knowledge of Vantagepoint. If you watch this webinar, you will learn what Vantagepoint is, what resources and information are available, and you will learn more about the steps to upgrade from Vision to Vantagepoint. Make sure to check this traditional one-hour webinar out to also learn about our favorite new features. Did I mention that this webinar aired live in 2019? It made the 2020 top watched list since the on-demand video was downloaded by so many people.
2. Powering Project Success with Deltek Talent – Candidate Engagement – Professional services firms are quickly realizing that acquiring and retaining industry top talent is becoming a necessity to stay competitive. Deltek has recognized this need as well and created Deltek Talent to assist firms in automating the employee experience and lifecycle. This mini demo hosted by Joel Slater features Deltek Talent and the specific tools within this human capital management system that support the candidate engagement experience to help attract the future leaders of your firm.
3. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Update Your Timesheet Using the Deltek Calendar– Billable employees struggling with staying organized with meetings and client appointments will benefit from this mini demo. No one wants to worry about completing the dreaded timesheet. With Vantagepoint, the challenge of keeping up with all your daily tasks has been simplified with the Deltek Calendar. During this mini demo, Nicole Temple will show how the Deltek Calendar helps users keep up with their billable engagements and how this information easily transfers over to a user’s timesheet.
4. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Quickly Build Project Plans – Maintaining successful projects requires all team members to have the information they need when they need it most. Furthermore, project plans often necessitate adjustments during the life of the project and this must happen quickly and easily. This mini demo is hosted by Rana Blair and shows users how to quickly build project plans and update them in Vantagepoint. This is a must watch for project managers.
5. Tale of Two Firms: Tackling Business Intelligence –Business intelligence (BI) is booming in all industries as more and more BI tools enter the market. But you don’t have to take our word for it! During this webinar moderated by Sarah Gonnella, two of our clients that represent different firms share how the Informer 5 BI tool has revolutionized their business analytics capabilities. Make sure to watch this webinar on-demand to learn ways your firm can embrace the power of BI.
6. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint - Mobile CRM – Getting out and talking with existing and prospective clients is a standard part of business development and essential to winning new business. With Vantagepoint’s mobile capabilities, updating touchpoints while on-the-go has never been easier. Watch this mini demo hosted by Kevin Hebblethwaite to see how Vantagepoint streamlines the business development process with mobile functionality.
7. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Create Flexible Billing Terms – Not all projects are the same, nor are project billing terms. However, this is not a problem for Vantagepoint users. During this mini-demo, Scott Gailhouse shows how simple it is to create unique billing terms for projects in Vantagepoint.
8. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Streamline and Expedite the Invoice Review Process - In any business, getting paid is the name of the game. However, professional services firms have a lot to track to create accurate invoices that can be sent to clients. With Vantagepoint, the old days of printing invoices and marking them up by hand are long gone. Now project managers can use the invoice review features to streamline the review process. If you are in accounting or project management, you will want to see Rick Childs’ demonstration that is available on-demand.
9. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Capture Project Information for Proposals – As many of you know, having high quality proposals that address all the requirements contained in an RFP is essential for winning new projects. Even more, proposal teams are usually up against tight timelines to draft and finalize a winning RFP response. With Deltek Vantagepoint, this struggle can be better managed. This webinar is a guided tour by Lindsay Diven to show users the features in Vantagepoint that enable the quick creation of winning proposals.
10. Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint – Project Templates and Plan Settings – The most popular webinar of 2020 was part of our Vantagepoint mini demonstration series. During this presentation, Theresa DePew shows users how to quickly create templates that have the correct pre-defined WBS so that entering data into the correct fields is the only task a user has to complete. Watch this outstanding demo to see how Vantagepoint has made planning a new project quick and easy.

What to Expect in 2021?

In 2021, we are planning on hosting a mix of traditional one-hour webinars and continuing to add to the “Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint” mini demonstration series. We will continue to promote these webinars using our newsletter and email notifications. Please make sure to pay attention to the amount of time allotted for a specific live webinar event on the registration page. Mini demonstrations are typically 30 minutes long with the actual demonstration being from 7 to 15 minutes long followed by live QA with the presenter.

We hope to see you at our live virtual events in 2021! In the meantime, catch up on past webinars you may have missed that are available on-demand. Enjoy learning!

Just the terms artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can cause some confusion as many relate these with robotics. Based upon common knowledge, this is a rational thought, but in actuality, AI and machine learning technologies are being incorporated into numerous software applications and personal assistant tools such as Siri and Alexa. It is important to note that AI and machine learning have some slight differences. Let’s take a look at how Deltek is using these technologies to improve the experience for Deltek Vantagepoint users.

Getting Smart with Artificial Intelligence

Simply stated, AI is the principle that machines can make smart decisions and complete tasks using logical intelligence. In theory, this means that machines using AI exhibit cognitive functions like those performed in human minds. AI works by using algorithms, and in many cases, multiple complex algorithms stacked on top of each other. Typically, these algorithms can learn from data enhancing the ability to make smarter decisions.

The late Larry Tesler, a computer scientist who worked for many major corporations, tried to define AI. His theorem stated that “AI is whatever hasn’t been done yet” meaning that intelligence is ever changing. However, once something becomes common, it transitions to machine learning. Tesler’s theorem is often referred to when discussing the difference between AI and machine learning.

Be Efficient with Machine Learning

So, based on Tesler’s theorem, machine learning is a subcategory of AI and focuses more on the idea that machines are able to learn and adapt through experience. Like AI, machine learning uses algorithms to perform tasks without being programmed to, but it achieves goals by learning and figuring things out over time. In machine learning, the commonly accepted approaches are divided into three categories:

• Reinforcement learning – a computer program navigates a dynamic environment to achieve a goal. For instance, the computer-controlled players on your team when playing a video game.
• Supervised learning – the program is given inputs and desired outputs and then it creates the connections. An example of this is creating models to predict the weather.
• Unsupervised learning – As the name suggests, the program is given no pre-existing labels and left to figure out patterns in the data on its own. This technique is often used in marketing to identify clusters of potential customers.

Do More with Deltek Vantagepoint

Now that the difference between AI and machine learning has been clarified, it should help users better understand these types of computer sciences as used in Vantagepoint. Currently, Deltek is adding AI capabilities to Vantagepoint that will be available in later versions. According to Deltek, AI will be able to analyze data across the project lifecycle. As a result, the AI tool will provide unbiased insights into the health of projects addressing any needed changes to ensure project success.

Deltek has also announced plans for machine learning technology. One effort is to simplify the expense submittal process. Deltek has announced that Vantagepoint’s Time and Expense will have an Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) capability. The ICR technology will give users the ability to take a picture of a receipt needed to expense and Vantagepoint will be able to recognize characters no matter the font or if it’s handwritten or typed. The machine learning will recognize groups of data like food cost, taxes and tips, and then it will total those numbers.

It’s Time to Embrace AI and Machine Learning

Identifying and clarifying the difference between AI and machine learning is important since you’ll likely be hearing these terms used interchangeably from now on and far into the future. Even more, you’re likely only to benefit as a Deltek Vantagepoint user if Deltek continues to invest and take real advantage of these technologies. If you use apps on your phone like Lyft and Uber on a daily basis, you actually already do benefit from these technologies!

Have you ever noticed how the proposal process tends to fly by leaving you scrambling as the deadline nears? When producing proposals, project-related information needs to be found quickly. Of course, speed is important in the search, but data accuracy is imperative. Gathering accurate project details in a timely manner is a challenge I hear of nearly every day from marketing and proposal managers at project-based firms. Fortunately, with Deltek Vantagepoint, your teams can easily capture project information and reference it quickly when it matters most– during proposal crunch time. Let’s dive a little deeper.

Identify the Key Project Information You Need for Proposals

The Deltek Vantagepoint Projects Hub will become your one source of truth for the project information you need to rely on to produce winning proposals. The image below shows a project experience page created using Deltek Vantagepoint Custom Proposals. The page was built based on information captured in the Projects Hub and includes fields such as project name, project description, client name, project manager, and square footage along with a few project images.

Capture Information While Pursuing the Project

Using Deltek Vantagepoint, capturing critical project information begins in the pursuit stage. Because Deltek Vantagepoint has one project record that is maintained from opportunity to pursuit to proposal and eventually to a regular project record, the information captured during the pursuit never gets lost or goes unused.

The image above is showing a project in a pursuit stage. We can tell this record is in a pursuit stage because the coloring in the left-hand summary pane is gold and the Stage is labeled as Pending. During this stage, there is common key project information that is typically collected as part of the proposal process.

Much of the information you will eventually need for your project cut sheets and proposals is typically known during the pursuit stage, and thus can be collected and stored inside the project record in Deltek Vantagepoint.

Examples of common key project information include:

• Project Name
• Primary Client and Contact
• Project Location
• Key Team Members, such as Principal-in-Charge, Project Manager

You can also identify other team members, both internal and external to your firm, for the project. See image below.

Over on the Dates & Costs tab, you can begin to capture the estimated project start and completion dates.

You may even have some information about the project from the RFP or client description of the project. Deltek Vantagepoint allows you to easily store an initial project description on the Proposals tab.

Move From Pursuit to Billable Project Without Losing Key Information

Now you might be thinking, why would I want to store this information into a record that is in pursuit? Well, Deltek Vantagepoint makes it seamless to move from a pursuit stage to an awarded project stage. When you make that move, all of the information captured in the pursuit stage stays with the awarded project record. This makes the process more efficient. Information is entered only once and is used throughout the project lifecycle.

Access the Data You Need When You Need It

Once you have won the project and are performing the work, you can easily continue to enter and access key project data:

Key Team Members

Over on the Team tab, Employees are automatically added to the project when they charge time to that project on their timesheet. Then, you can easily update their role on the project.

In the image above, you can also see the number of hours employees have charged to this project. Additionally on the Team tab, you can add external contacts that should be associated with the project. You can even identify who should be the project reference (for future proposals, of course).

Project Descriptions

As the project evolves, you will have more details to include in the project description. That information can quickly be added to Deltek Vantagepoint on the Proposals tab. Deltek Vantagepoint allows you to store different types of project descriptions that you may need for different uses. Examples may include short description, long description, key features, etc.

Firms often have a primary project description that is used on project cut sheets, but then may need a project description that is shorter. The shorter descriptions might be good for resumes or when page limits are tight. You can mark one description as the default by checking the default checkbox. No matter how you use your project descriptions, Deltek Vantagepoint makes it easy to store and use project descriptions for proposals.

Track Project Awards

Chances are you have some award-winning projects. Vantagepoint makes it easy to track what awards your projects win in the Awards grid as shown in the image above.

Project Photos

If you want to use project photos in your proposals, Deltek Vantagepoint allows you to store and manage images and other project related documents on the Files & Links tab.

Information Specific to Your Firm’s Projects

If there is information that is specific to your firm’s project, Deltek Vantagepoint allows you to create custom fields, grids, and tabs. The image below is showing a custom tab called Project Information. On this, I have added custom fields like square footage or number of floors. Other popular custom fields are around tracking sustainability goals such as LEED Certifications.

Drive Success with Deltek Vantagepoint

As you can see, Deltek Vantagepoint allows you to easily track key project information through the entire project lifecycle, from initial lead to project completion. That information can then be quickly used to build winning proposals that drive success for your firm. 

What do you think is the most widespread office tool used amongst your peers and coworkers? If you answered email, you are correct! Employees use email throughout the day to communicate with coworkers, clients, vendors, and the list continues. In fact, a study by McKinsey found that employees spend 28% of their workweek managing their email, the equivalent of 11 hours if we assume that an employee works 40 hours a week. So, how can we help employees more effectively manage their email?

Email Management Pitfalls

Let’s start where most people do when they read and write an email - the subject line. The fact is, there is not a global standard to email subject lines, and most companies don’t establish predetermined subject lines either. As a result, searching for a specific email about a certain topic wastes a lot of time especially if the email is never found leaving some to wonder if the email ever actually existed.

For some savvy email users, they have learned to create a folder system to improve their email organization. According to a study by Microsoft Research, 30% of email users create a folder structure to organize email. However, ironically, 90% of those that create folder structures don’t actually use them.

Here, we just discovered two email mismanagement issues, but if you want to dig deeper, there are many more. There are other simple things like not using reply all so that everyone on the email chain has access to the communications and decisions made based on the email content. Also, not using convenience features such as setting reminders to follow-up or complete an assigned action item. All these examples are things that can be improved, but how does a business get everyone on board with practicing better email management?  

Put the Right Email Management Solution in Place

Email tools such as Gmail and Outlook contain intuitive features and functions that allow users to improve their email management. However, these tools by themselves are not enough to be able to improve firm-wide email management. While these email tools are great for facilitating communication especially for person to person, where they fall short is when emails contain specific details and information about a project that requires multiple people from multiple departments to know about changes and statuses as they happen.

An effective email management solution will have the ability to store uncategorized emails with important information in a database that makes these emails more searchable allowing employees to find the information they need, when they need it, with only a few clicks. Additionally, the emails should be in one centralized location for all relevant staff to be able to access and obtain the pertinent information. An effective email management solution integrates your firm’s email platform tool with the firm’s ERP solution to ensure all data is stored in one place.

Unravel the Email Management Mess

There’s a lot of confusion about email management solutions versus email tools. In layman’s terms, email tools are what you use to create and respond to emails. On the other hand, email management solutions allow you to quickly categorize an email from your email tool that will then add the email to a general database that lets others access the information. Furthermore, email management is more than an individual process and requires an email management system in conjunction with FIRM-WIDE established processes to ensure proper email management success.

Most importantly, email management solutions can change the culture of your company and open up the ways we communicate. They help eliminate inadvertent gatekeepers of information and ensure everyone within your firm has the information needed for client satisfaction. Lastly, they create time savings for your firm by providing easy access to the information your teams need to deliver a great client experience.

During the lifecycle of a project in the professional services industry, there is a lot of information being shared among all the members of the project delivery team. Furthermore, history has shown that there is a larger amount of project related documentation being created as the professional services industry continues to become more digitized. As a result, more information is being shared and there are more decisions and final approvals to be made.

With all this information bouncing back and forth, it can become difficult to track what your other team members have reviewed. Therefore, making timely decisions becomes increasingly harder which can jeopardize the successful delivery of a project. However, Deltek has created Deltek PIM to help firms better manage project documentation to allow project delivery team members quick and easy access to important project related information.  

Easily Track Submittals with Automated Workflows

There are all types of various submittals that have to be tracked and documented during the lifecycle of a project. For many firms, this is still done using spreadsheets and other manual methods. Due to this, tracking change orders becomes a heavily manual process which is time consuming and prone to errors.  

What if there was a way to make this process less time consuming and allows for improved tracking of submittals? With Deltek PIM, firms can take advantage of the workflow functionality to create a formal submittal review process. What makes PIM’s workflow functionality so great is that it allows project team members to track the status of each submittal throughout the entire process. Even more, it allows team members to see who has reviewed the submittal and who still needs to review it to help ensure it gets processed and approved before the deadline. PIM also sends reminder alerts to individuals when a deadline is approaching to ensure they review the change order before the deadline.

Emails Here and Emails There

During the project lifecycle, email is a leading communication method amongst project team members. However, have you ever left someone off an email, or have you not been included on one? If this has ever happened, it is likely that a project team member has been left out of the loop about critical project information. Even worse, a project team member may not receive a crucial document that contains important project information.

The problem with emails is that the sender may not include an important recipient, or the recipient may not open the email in time to make an actionable decision on the information being shared. Thus, the decision-making process can be delayed, and the project timeline can be put in jeopardy. However, Deltek PIM provides a solution to improve project communication.

With PIM’s email management functionality, the entire project team has access to all the conversations that have influenced changes to the design and construction process of the project. Furthermore, PIM’s email management solution allows for the storage of project related communications in one centralized area designated to a specific project. Therefore, you never have to worry about obtaining these communications even if a team member is on vacation, out on leave, or has left the firm. All this information is permanently stored and made easily accessible.

Keep Up with Important Project Documents

A large portion of delivering a successful project requires keeping project documents up-to-date and organized. This means having access to the latest version of a document and being confident that the version you are working on is the most current version. With most document control processes, it’s difficult to know if the version you are working on is the correct and most recent version. Even more challenging, what if someone is trying to make changes to the same document at the same time? As most can agree, document management can be truly challenging and can hinder the success of a project.

The good news is that Deltek PIM makes document management simple. When firms adopt PIM’s document management functionality, they are able to implement standard document management processes and make sure project team members are compliant with them. Even more, PIM ensures one single version is available to all project team members which reduces duplication and provides the team access to the latest version.

Improve Project Collaboration with Deltek PIM

Information here and information there, information is everywhere. Well, this can be great for somethings like researching an item before making a big purchase. However, information everywhere is not so great when trying to deliver a project for a client. With Deltek PIM, all project related information is located in one space making access to it quick and easy for all project team members.  

How well an engineering and architecture (AE) firm can deliver a project is core to the firm’s success. However, the 40^th Annual Deltek AE Clarity Study found that AE firms still continue to have trouble with delivering great project management. Let’s take a deeper dive into these findings and identify areas your firm can improve on in regard to project delivery.

Top Project Management Hurdles

Surprisingly, the top three challenges reported by AE firms were the same as last year. We should take note so that these challenges do not repeat themselves in next year’s study. The leading challenge firms reported was the competing priorities of project managers. This entails managing and delivering projects while also being responsible for designing future projects and tasked with business development.

Even more, the second largest challenge AE firms have experienced with project management is staff shortages. If project managers are responsible for the aforementioned competing priorities, then it is clear the firms are understaffed. More allocated staff would balance the workload, so projects can be run more efficiently. In third place, AE firms reported that they are challenged with hiring and retaining experienced project managers with firms stating that inexperienced project managers actually hinder the successful delivery of projects.

Key Area of Need for Improvement

Project status visibility was identified as a key area of need for improvement. AE firms that participated in the study identified four areas to be improved regarding project management visibility. First, cost variance from original expected cost to deliver a project needs to be monitored closer. Secondly, ensuring projects are meeting predetermined KPIs throughout the project’s lifecycle needs to be a priority. Next, schedule variance from the original and proposed plan needs to be carefully watched. Finally, there needs to be a focus on client satisfaction.

If the top three areas are missing the target, then the client is going to have an unsatisfactory experience dealing with your firm. However, client perspective can be better managed if your firm uses the right tools. One tool that can help firms ensure client satisfaction is the Client Feedback Tool. Learn more about the Client Feedback Tool and how it integrates with Deltek Vantagepoint and Vision to give your firm better visibility into its project delivery. 

Projects are Busting Budgets

AE firms reported that 29% of projects ended up being over budget. Even more worrisome, this is a 9% increase from last year’s findings. Looking more into this finding, one might wonder if those responsible for managing projects have the information to keep project budgets on track. And let’s go deeper. Firms are also reporting that 36% of projects were behind schedule and only 58% of firms reported that they are confident in project reporting accuracy. These findings show that keeping to project budgets is a clear area of need for improvement for all AE firms.

Wrapping it All Up

For AE industry employees or executives, it is common knowledge that project management and delivery is the heart of their business. To continue to succeed in an extremely competitive industry, AE firms need to take a hard look at their project management processes. The challenges and areas identified in the 40^th Annual Deltek AE Clarity Study can be easily addressed if they become a priority for firm leaders. You can check out all the details about project management challenges in the latest Clarity Study.

The 40^th Annual Deltek AE Clarity study uncovered some interesting trends regarding business development from last year. The results indicated that AE firms still are struggling to find new opportunities early enough to convert them into sales. Additionally, a large number of firms that participated in the study identified the need to be more strategic about which potential projects to pursue. Here’s a quick summary of some business development findings from the 40^th Annual Deltek AE Clarity Study.

Business Development Challenges

One of the most significant findings in the study is that firms have trouble with prioritizing time to nurture client relationships. More importantly, this is a leading challenge for the second year in a row. The seller-doer model seems to be the go-to business development method for AE firms where not enough attention is given to focusing on potential new business opportunities. If firms stay with this outdated model, this trend will unfortunately continue.

Diving deeper, the number 2 and 3 challenges firms reported are increased competition and identifying new prospects. In regard to competition, this is going to occur in any industry and this challenge sounds more like an excuse. However, identifying new prospects has a direct correlation to firms using the seller-doer model. 61% of firms stated that project managers are almost always responsible for business development. With project managers being tasked to do their core job, delivering projects, they struggle in their efforts to successfully generate new business.

Revenue Growth Forecast Findings 

Less shockingly, net revenue growth remained at 5.1% on average. This is very little change from last year. So, why is this not surprising? The findings that firms lack having a dedicated business development team pinpoint the reason for net revenue growth staying stagnant.

Another notable discovery from the study is that smaller firms continue to pursue small projects that have shorter timelines as opposed to focusing on trying to win larger long-term projects. This business development model is proving to be less effective for generating increased revenue year after year. Smaller firms should take this under consideration when making plans for long term growth.

Key Takeaways from the 40^th Annual AE Deltek Clarity Study 

Out of all the firms that participated, less than half of the firms stated that they have a formal business development process. This is astonishing since creating new business is essential for future firm growth. Even more, firms are continuing to use the seller-doer model, and as a result, project managers face the challenge of balancing expectations which can hinder the success of their projects. Learn more by downloading your free copy of the 40^th Annual Deltek AE Clarity Study.