Becoming a champion of project management is as easy as solving a puzzle. The puzzle is rather complex and requires specialized training with a very specific kind of expertise, but a puzzle nonetheless.  So what does it mean to be a project based firm? What do project managers do? What do project KPI’s have to do with project management?  As with all puzzles, the best way to solve is to take the puzzle apart, piece by piece, and decode it.

Puzzle One: Am I a project based firm?

Interestingly, business theorists debate as to what determines “a project based firm”.  There is not a hard-and-fast rule for defining whether or not you’re project based and would need the services of a project manager. So let’s just stick with the basics.  The most obvious way to decide is if you have a business model where you perform “projects,” “jobs,” or “services” for external clients.  Ultimately, you are offering your expertise – NOT your goods – to an external customer.

The Project Management Institute says that a project “is a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result like building a bridge, relief after a natural disaster or expansion of sales into a new market.”  Examples of project based companies include:

• Management Consulting Firms
• Architecture, Engineering or Construction Companies
• System Integrators
• Advertising Agencies

If you’re goods oriented (you sell software or insurance) or operationally oriented (i.e. you manage clients’ IT structure), you are not naturally a project based firm.  We could expand our definition by looking at your business organizational structure – project based firms tend to organize around their projects or jobs.  In a non-project based firm, “a business may include separate departments for manufacturing, accounting, marketing, and human resources because the organization is based around functions, not projects, …” (Miranda Morley, Demand Media, “What Is the Difference Between Project Based & Non-Project Based Organizations?”)

Puzzle Two: Am I a Project Manager?           

Most of us have a general understanding of project management, but we can go to the Project Management Institute (pmi.org) for a good definition – “project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently.  It’s a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project results to business goals – and thus, better compete in their markets. Project Managers Initiate, Plan, Execute, Monitor and Control, and Close their projects.”  

Many would argue that there is more to being a Project Manager. I would argue that communication and follow-up are key areas required to be a successful Project Manager. However, the basics of being a project manager revolve around the delivery of a project. 

Puzzle Three: What are Project KPI’s for Project Management?

KPI’s are Key Performance Indicators and they are quantifiable, measurable indicators of goal attainment.  They are the very backbone as to what makes projects succeed or fail – which is directly tied, in your project based firm, to your company’s success or failure.  When given a new project, Project Managers create KPI’s to:

• Initiate the project and its deliverables
• Plan project details
• Execute those details
• Monitor and control each step in the project
• Close the project upon completion of the deliverable and the project post-mortem

Some subject examples of project management KPI’s are adherence/deviation of budgets, milestones, and task times.  Here are some sample KPI’s that might be part of a project plan: 

• Determine percent of rework attributable to requirements definitions. 
• Conclude deviation of planned ROI
• Establish cost of managing processes

For more information on writing project KPI’s, refer to “KPIs | Writing, Establishing, and Measuring" by Full Sail Partners, Inc.

Bonus Round…

Although joining a game show is potentially a quick way to make some money, it’s the savvy business owner who aligns his project based firm with project KPI’s. This alignment helps ensure the firm’s bottom line is replete with positive cash flow and employees who are happy, because they know their jobs and how to be professionally successful.  No, we shouldn’t rely on a game show host to guide us to riches, but we can depend on consultants at Full Sail Partners to help guide us to metrics that matter.  And don’t worry about buying a vowel, just turn over your mouse to this webinar and see how achievable all your goals are.

How do you know when to move to a Project Accounting Software? There are many factors to consider in your decision. Although you may have looked at Deltek Vision in the past, you might be surprised at all of its new capabilities. Not to mention Deltek Vision's cloud pricing and out of box options can't be beat by any of its competitors. Outlined below are eleven important items to think about when looking at new project accounting software for your business. 

1) Work Breakdown Structure

Project accounting software becomes a must have for firms that want to track detailed information around deliverables. How do you know if it is right for your firm? Your firm may need the ability to: 

• Break down a project into manageable work elements by separating out the deliverables for the project
• Identify start and end time of each deliverable
• Define the overall budget for the deliverables as well as the entire project
• Attach key persons to the project for reporting
• Set-up work breakdown structures to show effort required to achieve an objective

By having the right software for your firm, you gain the ability to track detailed cost estimating and provide guidance for future development and controls. The ability to break a project into manageable work elements, and track the elements, allows firms to better estimate future projects while maintaining the projects that exist today. 

2) Accrual and Cash Capabilities

Many firms want the ability to run cash books alongside the accrual books to get the most accurate view of where the business stands with income and debts. Income and expense tracking is integral to a project accounting software. While cash basis may give you a better idea of where the firm stands with actual cash, the accrual method can show the ebb and flow of the overall business income and debts for the most accurate view of the overall organization and long term profitability. 

3) Robust Reporting

To get the most out of your software,  you need the ability to report on the data for your firm. Your software should be able to pull the data you have entered to allow you to analyze the overall business performance, and plan for future engagements (with data to back your decisions). Reporting should have the capability and flexibility of pulling the data you need without requiring customization from a programmer, and should be visible to key players in the firm. 

4) Mobile Access

If you have employees that work in the field, and have little access to computers, you may want to be able to give them access through non-traditional means. Mobile access becomes valuable, and keeps data flowing in the system to quickly and accurately maintain the data in the system on a real-time basis. Access via Touch Time, Touch Expense, Touch CRM, and Navigator are available with Vision and they allow remote employees to enter their time and expense data right from their phone or tablet rather than having to get on a computer and access the system directly. 

5) Flexibility

What core modules are available to you when you purchase? Do you have the flexibility to configure the software for your needs? Do you need User Defined fields for tracking? Are you currently tracking outside information in excel? Vision allows the flexibility to add new fields for tracking and to create fields directly in the software to pull data in from outside sources such as Excel. 

The advantage of Vision as a high end solution is the flexibility to configure for company specific processes and exact business processes, pulling all data into the system without the need for multiple solutions. 

6) Automation

Workflows, streamline processes…A good project accounting software will give you the ability to automate many of the processes and functions on a daily, weekly, monthly, or as needed basis. Vision has the ability to create workflows directly through the front end to send emails, alerts, update fields, and run processes or reports automatically. In addition, stored procedures can be customized to automate non-standard processes on the back-end. 

7) Real-Time Data

Project Managers need to plan, manage, and monitor their projects. Without real time data Project Managers are not getting the data they need to manage their projects.  Real-time data allows your marketing team to accurately evaluate business development efforts to ensure the firm is pursuing the right kind of work by measuring marketing effectiveness.   

8) Audit Trail

Many firms require modifications that fit their project-based firm. In QuickBooks and other software, excel workarounds with manual manipulation are required outside of the software. This can impact the firm’s audit trail. Vision has the capability of running reports for changes made in key records as well as the ability to see the financial audit trail, which is important for the firm to be compliant for GAAP, IFRS/FASB, or any other requirements. 

9) Security

Security is one of the most important features of a program because it either allows, or restricts, employees from seeing sensitive information such as costs or other employee sensitive information. Your firm will need to be able to provide access to the system for many roles in the company to work holistically with the organization’s needs. Without this ability there is no visibility, and management of the system and processes becomes very difficult. It is important for all players to have access to the information they require to manage their duties and keep the business running smoothly. 

10) Low IT Maintenance

Cloud based software is a new industry buzzword. The reason for this is that by having your software on the cloud it is maintained by the hosting agency and updated following the testing of new versions and updates. Without requiring an internal IT team to manage Vision, your team is freed up to do more important business tasks. 

11) Integration

Many firms have data silos with disparate systems. This separation between team members can increase inefficiencies and keep the firm from reporting on one truth for the company. Since Deltek Vision’s cloud software comes bundled with 5 Customer Relationship Management, Custom Proposals, SF330 License and Resource Planning license, firms can work as a team and build upon each other's data to gain a holistic view of the company and processes. 

Best Project-based ERP Software for SMBs

If it's been a year or two or even more since you've looked at Deltek Vision. It's time to talk to a partner like Full Sail Partners to see why SMBs are turning to Deltek Vision's cloud option. Even if you’re a 10-person firm, Deltek Vision is the best project accounting software for project-based firms because of its flexibility and economical price. 

In the last 200 years we’ve developed a variety of methods for communicating with one another.  We’ve taken the journey from individual letters delivered by horse to instant mass communication.  How can things get any more social than that? Deltek Kona, that's how!

Being ‘social’ involves more than just communicating and working together. Merriam-Webster defines social as “relating to or involving activities in which people spend time talking to each other or doing enjoyable things with each other”. 

The key phrases “talking to” and “doing enjoyable things with” only seem to reference something outside of the workplace.  In the 1980s, the focus was on output and productivity.  In the decades that followed, we labored to attain the ever elusive ‘work-life balance’.  In the new millennium, we strive toward contributing fully in our work and personal lives without restrictions of time and space.  We want to enjoy ALL of our life.

Deltek Kona, released in spring 2012, combines all that we know about working together with the best methods of communication.  It presents that blend to us allowing us to talk to each other AND do enjoyable things with each other across our work and personal lives.  Guided by the principles of confluence, immersion, accessibility, and digestibility; the innovators at Deltek Kona have found a way to leverage the best of all the communication tools developed in the past 50 centuries (not a typo: we still draw on walls to convey our thoughts) to help us interact in a more social and enjoyable way today. 

How does Deltek Kona help us get more social?

Use Deltek Kona to Create a Hometown

Kona is organized around context specific spaces or groups.  Each space is formed with a level of focus appropriate for its purpose.  There are no limits to the number of spaces an individual can belong to or the number of members in any one space.  Each space landing page is the “hometown” for the group allowing members to participate in and view interactions that are taking place.  Over time, users begin to become acquainted with each other’s concerns, thought processes, and involvements.

Enhancing Personal Interaction

Individual users may have more than one group in common across work and personal interests.  Knowing more about what you have in common with others allows you to get more social with them as individuals.  The ability to create and store one-on-one conversations with people in your Kona network allows users continuity and privacy even when time and distance are barriers to traditional communication methods.

There are times when we are having a conversation in a group but need to direct our comments to a particular person.  Deltek Kona incorporates “@mention” functionality to expand the personal contact in the context specific discussion. Nothing encourages us to communicate more than feeling like we are being listened to and understood.

Eliminating Polarization

Deltek Kona was built to be free.  Users can enhance their organizational experience with an upgraded account.  Regardless of the type of account, the experience and interaction is the same. This removes the barriers of participation across all members of the group and continues the social experience as no one is barred from participation because they must pay.  This allows us to use Kona for all sorts of purposes, from family reunions, to political organizations, to multi-firm business projects.

Deltek Kona further removes barriers by elimination of platform dependencies.  The Kona software works the same on any operating system and internet browser.  The accessibility extends to the mobile platform where users continue to get more social from wherever they are and whenever they want to. 

Increasing Personal choice

One of the favored features of the Deltek Kona product is its flexibility with the individual users’ need to digest information and connect on in his or her own time.  From the moment one opens the Kona product, it is clear which items take priority.  A user can access a conversation with 20 unviewed in-line comments and get a clear picture within minutes.  This is the first step in creating an enjoyable social experience when working with a group.

Because the Kona team recognizes that email has its merits, they’ve enabled the individual to decide how much or little Kona activity is transferred to email.  The possibilities to limit but not eliminate are almost endless for the individual user.  Being able to choose which groups to get more social with enhances the interactions that are wanted.

With much of our productivity arising from collaborative efforts conducted across vast geographic spaces, we meet and interact with more people than ever.  The Deltek Kona tool allows us to stay informed and control the inflow of information leading to a more relaxed experience.  When we remove unnecessary stressors, we naturally take time to get more social and find common ground with those around us.  Sign-up for Deltek Kona today and join the 21^st Century’s answer to communicating, socializing, and getting things done.

Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express isn’t the only train that uses platform 9 ¾.  There are other trains, similarly magical, that take their passengers to places they’ve never been.  Take project management training, for example.  Just like at Hogwarts, project managers are trained in a kind of wizardry, i.e. transforming the business experience of their clients from nothing more than a mere idea into something special. And those lucky enough to “receive their letter” to attend, must have honed ALL their skills in order to reach their final goal – being a productive and effective project manager. 

At Hogwarts, Harry takes classes like Divination, Transfiguration and Potions.  And although the names of the classes they take are very different, the content of the classes they take is very much the same. 

• Divination is the art of “seeing.”  A good project manager must indeed learn to read signs.  Is the project moving smoothly?  Is the client happy with progress and with process?  Are the employees on the project satisfied and therefore doing a good job?  Too often, these “signs” are definitely not clearly communicated.  They are often muddied, and it takes a good project manager to see them.
• Transfiguration is really about how to transform yourself.  During project management training, attendees will transform their natural business gifts – financial acumen, business savvy, and communication expertise – into a project manager who really knows how to wield those skills to benefit their customers, their employees, and their company. 
• Potions is a class on how to take seemingly dissimilar ingredients and turn them into a concoction which is business changing.  Take, for example, a handful of employees from various areas like a programmer, a writer, a financier, an administrator, a quality controller, and an executive – put them together into a cauldron-like project plan, and you have a new business process gaining efficiency, money, and time.  A potion any business would be proud of!

Another similarity between Harry Potter and those wishing to become effective project managers is natural skill.  Wizards aren’t made at Hogwarts, they are honed:  the young wizards who attend school already have the necessary abilities and project management is very much the same. 

One doesn’t become a project manager because of project management training;

one becomes a project manager because of their natural abilities refined at training.

Other than project management training, a good project manager must also have

Communication ability – exceedingly important!  Project management is not only completing and managing a Gantt chart, but effectively and efficiently communicating every portion of the project to every person involved … to their understanding.  The project manager is the translator of all things, so that each interested party is clear and satisfied.  A superhuman feat but one which good project managers achieve every day.

Business savvy – Someone who is good at business is just plain impressive.  Those who see ramifications outside of the project plan are the best at their jobs.  Project managers have an understanding beyond the project as to the impact to the surrounding business processes and how to structure a project to either improve or not negatively impact them.  It’s really knowing how to do your job in the project management box, but seeing and managing the effect outside of the box.

Experience – you just can’t teach experience!   People who have “been there, done that” and who then apply that experience to their projects are truly the most successful project managers.  And, to be clear, it’s not the same experience over and over, but broad experience garnered through years of accumulation.   

So how do you find out if your project management training was successful?  How do you know if you have what it takes to be a great project manager?  Just call our friends at Full Sail Partners (which could be considered the Hogwarts of Project Management).  Although they aren’t called that at Full Sail, you will have access to the likes of Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall – people who are sage, savvy, and just plain good at their jobs (oh, and really nice, too).  

Although project managers will probably never make the big screen success of Harry Potter.  They are, in fact, the real wizards working in our midst.  Their project management training has sharpened their skills to perform magic every day:  turning an idea into a project plan and then into something special for our businesses. 

Without the wand or robe, of course. Click your wand below to learn more. 

Payroll, the reason we drag ourselves out of bed and into the office.  Payday!!  Everyone’s favorite day – it is especially nice when it is on a Friday.  As happy as payday makes us, if you are the one stuck processing your payroll software can be a total PITA.

Utilize In-House Payroll Software vs. Out Sourced Payroll

So why process payroll in-house?  Why not just hire a service?  In many cases a service is exactly what you would use.  However, payroll services have their own set of challenges:

• Rigid deadlines that may cause you to process payroll days before your pay date (in some cases before the pay period ends)
• Inability to add non-payroll items (like expense reimbursement) to the payroll
• Can be a bit more “pricey”

When looking at a way to process payroll in-house, a system that integrates with your existing ERP system, such as Deltek’s Vision, is priceless.  You can have a one stop shop for employee set up, employees can enter their time and it is automatically available in payroll when posted.   Since everyone is already used to the system, the basic information is already there.

Some of the other benefits of having payroll in-house and integrated with your ERP are:

• Employees will have access to see their vacation and sick time remaining
• Access to see and print copies of their paychecks (Meaning you don’t have to provide their last 5 paychecks)
• Accounting can control deadlines
• Can sometimes be less expensive

What to Look for in Payroll Software

If you determine that in-house is the way to go, it’s important to make sure your payroll software is flexible and provides the features that matter.  So what type of flexibility should you look for in your payroll software? A couple features include the ability to add codes when you need it or to track your company contribution to the employee benefits.

An example of an additional code is the ability to add an after tax code to reimburse your employees for expenses.  This allows you to provide your employees one check for payroll and expenses.

An example of a contribution code would be if you offer a 401K plan, the company match is your company contribution.  If you offer health care, the portion covered by the company is the company contribution.  Tracking this information on each payroll can simplify your accounting process (getting the costs into the right “bucket”) but can also allow you to easily create a total compensation report at the end of the year showing the employee the total value of their compensation package including benefits (not every service offers this either).

Either way you go, an in-house payroll software or outside payroll service, look for the process that will provide you the most flexibility and integration with your current ERP to make your life easier!

Often when discussing the benefits of using mobile CRM, we overlook just how powerful the tool actually is. You can literally leverage the power of a mobile CRM through every aspect of a client meeting or interaction. This is not hyperbole, but real life applicable benefits. Let’s break down the process of a meeting, and look at how technology can help you become a better professional:

On the way to meeting the client
I’m on the way to a meeting with a client and I can’t recall where their office is.

• I pull up my Vision Touch Mobile CRM application that allows me to look up the client or the contact and by clicking right on the address I can map my directions right to the office.
• If the address isn’t in there, I  update the information into my mobile CRM application to ensure the data is updated for upcoming marketing mailings or for other employees that might reach out to the same contact.

As I wait for the client to arrive

Just before I head into the meeting, I can also review previous meeting notes from myself or my co-workers who last visited the client.

• I previously asked my marketing team to add client research to client notes. So to prepare for my meeting, I review this information to assist me with our discussion.
• I review the list of past projects, and familiarize myself with similar clients that I might share with them.

Walking into this meeting I’m confident that I have a solid background and I’m more aware of where I still have gaps that need more information.  If any questions arise in the meeting, I have information right at my fingertips.

After the meeting, it’s time for action

When I’m leaving the meeting I pause to grab a cup of tea and add in any new contacts I met at the meeting.

• Because I can access custom fields in my Vision Touch Mobile CRM, I can add more than just new names. I can include their role and add any upcoming opportunities we discussed.
• In an effort to build more personal relationships, I fill in notes I learned about the client -- my contact loves to run, so I even add them to future marketing campaigns for a relay team we are organizing for a local industry charity event we are a sponsor of.

I take the time now to jot down my notes while they are fresh in my mind, as I know I won’t have time when I get back to the office.  So I pause now to make sure I add not only new contacts, but also notes regarding strategic information I gathered at the meeting before I forget what I heard. This information, because it’s entered in through my Mobile CRM, is sent directly to Vision and recorded for future review by me or others in my firm.

So what does this all mean?

I take my last sip while I add any reminders or follow-up activities and assign them to myself or others at the firm.  I don’t want to forget anything I promised to get back to the client on. I grab my keys and I head back to the office knowing that I’m doing what I can to move the relationship and opportunities along.

Sure, there are task lists, emails, note pads, and plenty of other ways I could keep track of these meeting notes. However, all of those are missing something that a Mobile CRM application such as Vision Touch CRM give me – the ability to not only track but also assign and share tasks and information with everyone else in my firm. With all the noise, meetings, and short amount of time I have in the day, there is no better way for me to collect these nuggets of gold from clients or the things I promised to follow up on during that meeting.

Like the beloved Sesame Street Count Von Count character, your project accounting should be just as obsessive about tracking numbers – project management numbers that is.  Many companies are very good about ensuring that their general accounting functions (things like their A/P and A/R balances, for example) are consistently maintained and reported to those who need this data.  But when it comes to project accounting, too many companies fall short.  

But first – what is project accounting?

Let’s start by comparing it to standard accounting, which most of us know.  Standard accounting manages the financials using a company’s organizational structure – how divisions or departments are tracking (like their G&A, labor, etc.) compared to their budgeted amounts on a periodic basis.  For those who embrace their arithmomania (a compulsive love of counting) and for those companies where growth is a key component of their future, there is another layer which is a must.  Project accounting looks closely at the projects a company has undertaken most of which regularly cross departments and might last months or even years. 

Let’s say, for example, company X wants to undergo a new green initiative in their office.  Our standard accounting will keep good track of costs for things like the smart electronics to manage lighting and HVAC or the newly hired “Green Officer.”  What standard accounting doesn’t do is manage the costs for the actual project, i.e. how much did it cost you to achieve your final goal.  Things like:

• The project manager’s time to create and manage the project plan: the work breakdown structure and project hierarchies.
• Were deadlines met?  If not, what the cost of missing those deadlines?  If so, how did meeting those deadlines translate into cost savings?
• How is percentage of completion managed and tracked to budget?
• What long or short-term investments will need to be managed on an on-going basis once this project is complete? 

But let’s take this a step further.  Let’s say you need to perform a customer project – you’re going to implement that same green initiative in your customer’s office.  You probably have access to someone who is really good at estimating the costs of a project, so you have this first step covered.  You may not, though, have a good system for tracking those project costs to the actual costs which means for the entire project, you’re working with blinders and hoping that at end of the project, you’re not bankrupt.  That’s where a good project accounting system will save you.  Forbes.com contributor, Bill Connerly’s piece, “Businesses Lose Money From Bad Accounting,” says he’s surprised at “how many businesses do not know the profitability of each customer or project or order they have. For instance, a sign company could not tell … how much it cost them for a particular job they undertook. Their financial statements told them whether the entire business made money in the month” or not but there was no accounting in place to determine to which project the gain or loss was attributed.

Now, SOLUTIONS, please.

When you’re a small company doing your best to manage your business day-to-day, a smaller accounting solution, like Quick Books, serves your needs … for a while.  J. Carlton Collins, CPA details those limitations in his piece “Practical Advice for Companies That Have Outgrown QuickBooks” (http://www.iyoungland.com/_pdfs/outgrown_quickbooks.pdf)

QuickBooks has two basic limitations:

• Limited accounting system features

• Limited database performance 

If you run a smaller operation, these product characteristics are actually appealing … If your organization is rapidly expanding, however, you will eventually outgrow the QuickBooks feature set and database performance … growing companies often find they need more sophisticated features that aren’t offered by QuickBooks.

And therein lies the rub.  Growth.

For companies who have “growth” as part of their future – and “growth” can be defined any number of ways like increase in revenues, employees or customers, higher profits, greater market share, etc. – they will outgrow these types of small accounting solutions and have to take the leap to accounting sophistication by finding a solution that manages both their standard accounting as well as their project accounting.  

But before you take that leap alone, let’s get you a partner.  As much as we all love Count Von Count, you should look to a partner who is just as obsessive about numbers, but without the funny accent.  Your friends at Full Sail Partners are just what the Count ordered.  Take, for example, this piece by Mark Lovstrom with Full Sail.  He writes that growth is a KPI which should be analyzed with “a project KPI dashboard [that] can examine some simple indicators [to] allow a project manager to gauge which project(s) need more attention.”  He goes on to list those items which should be closely examined in order to manage your project costs.  Things like:

• Accounts Receivable
• Unbilled Labor
• Estimated to Complete (ETC) and/or Estimate at Completion (EAC) 

In the end, we are all working toward success for our business.  And to most of us, success means growth which then means managing every minute and every dollar – through project accounting – to achieve your success.  Click to view this webinar by Full Sail Partners to learn more about how your particular style of growth can be achieved. 

Count Von Count and all his Sesame Street friends will be proud of how much your project accounting has allowed your business to grow!

What does CRM Mean? CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a solution that enables your firm to cultivate relationships and gain valuable insight in to marketing efforts. An integrated CRM solution brings together data from all data sources within an organization to provide a holistic real-time view of each customer or campaign. This real-time knowledge provides your team with the metrics and data needed to make informed decisions in a quick, yet calculated manner. 

What Does CRM Mean for My Firm 

A CRM system is truly something that each member of your team can benefit from. Examples of the benefits a CRM solution provides include: 

• Track client contact information | No need for the use of virtual cards or digging through outlook to find email signatures, a CRM allows your entire firm to store valuable customer information in one location.
• Monitor marketing campaigns and efforts | What good are your marketing efforts if you cannot track the results? Track the effectiveness of your efforts and campaigns to help better refine your message and target audience.
• Review past engagements | Utilize dashboards to easily track which messages, campaigns, and leads resulted in the highest wins.
• Access customer (or lead!) information, on the go | Never get left out in the cold again! Gain access to your customer information on the go! Readily available intelligence allows your business development staff to go out and produce, and track, results.

What does CRM mean for your SMB, and how can you use it to grow stronger? The answer is simple; a CRM solution means that as your business grows, and the associated contacts and connections grow with it, you have the ability to manage a myriad of relationships across your entire firm. Clients are the lifeblood of any professional services firm, and without a proper CRM solution in place, you are essentially ignoring an open wound. So how can your firm use CRM to manage an opportunity from concept to completion? Simple: 

• Pipeline and Cash-flow forecasting | Avoid rough patches and dry spouts by becoming intimately familiar with your pipeline of potential new business, and the value of your current projects.
• Track progress on current sales opportunities, review historical information on past opportunities | When speaking to a client or prospect, easily log details about the conversation for later follow-up. Tracking detailed information about interactions can allow you to win future work, based on often overlooked past experiences.
• Create milestones for each step of the project, and specify a target completion date | Tasks can be created and associated with each milestone within the project, so you have more granular control of what needs to be done, by whom, when.
• Comprehensive reporting allows deeper insight | Setup your marketing goals within your CRM and track status and progress quickly and easily.

It is important to not only track valuable customer data, but to do so in a way that promotes sharing amongst your team. Promote growth and sharing and consider taking your customer data in to the cloud with an all-in-one CRM solution that consolidates all of your information in to an easy to access system. Stop wasting valuable customer insights and information, and start impressing customers with your deep firm-wide knowledge about each relationship. 

So next time someone asks you ‘what does CRM mean’, you can tell them, “CRM means winning more work!” 

Just like Dorothy in the Land of Oz, we are all searching for the great and powerful wizard to handle our problems, like computing.  Instead of the brave lion, the full-of-heart tin man, or the intelligent scarecrow, our companions to this all-powerful place are IT Consultants who lead us to today’s version of the Land of Oz … the Cloud Solution. 

What is a Cloud Solution?

First, let’s talk about this land that, to many people, seems amorphous and far away – the Cloud Solution for your IT problems.  The cloud is really a symbol for an ever available electronic network that relieves you of managing your IT infrastructure.  To bring it closer to earth … the cloud is really a partnership where another company manages all of your IT needs including securely storing your computer data, handling all hardware and software needs, and allowing you continuous access to your computing.  

The cloud takes the IT infrastructure burden off you

and allows you to focus your energies on what you do best.

Here’s an example … let’s say you’re a small construction engineering firm.  Your engineers can create CAD designs that are a thing of beauty.  But managing an internal network, updating software and hardware, and troubleshooting issues are just not in their skill set.  Furthermore, researching and buying all those computers and other technical devices is a massive non-revenue generating responsibility.  You need someone to take care of all this – you need a Cloud Solution that will eliminate headaches, and provide benefits: 

• Reduce costs – managing your entire IT hardware and software structure and all labor with people whose first skill and interest is taking care of your computing.  
• Be disaster safe – with disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, it’s nice to know that your data is housed in a facility specifically designed to protect the hardware and software from these types of occurrences.  Is your building that safe?
• Be green – these days, we’re all trying to do our part in taking care of our planet; the less energy we use and the fewer old computers that end up in a landfill is a big part of that.  Cloud computing manages this far more effectively than many businesses are designed to do.
• But most importantly, allow secure access to your data from anywhere, at any time on any device.  

Adding client feedback results to your project evaluation plan provides an incredible return on investment. Conversely, by failing to identify key satisfaction metrics, your projects are less efficient, and you have less insight in to the mindset of your clients. Ask yourself, in the modern competitive business environment, can your firm afford to overlook anything -- let alone the satisfaction of your clients?

Our easy to use client satisfaction solution, The Client Feedback Tool, allows clients to quickly and easily provide insightful data that will ensure that projects stay on course, and meet or exceed expectations. Utilizing our tool, asking your clients how your processes work takes them only two minutes to complete - but the information provided gives both parties valuable data to assure effective, successful projects.

Based on our research, including 100K pieces of data from our clients, we've listed 4 ways that feedback will add to your bottom line.

• Identify your top 10% most loyal clients. Do you have a way to identify which clients value you most?  Using the information provided using the Client Feedback Tool, our clients have identified their top 10% most loyal clients and converted this knowledge into increased billings, increasing fees by 3% to their top-rating clients.  For a $10 million firm, this translates into roughly $30k in additional profit each year.
   
• Retain one client on the "bubble." One-third of our subscribers came to us after losing a major client.  In every case, these firms were surprised by the defection and realized they were blind to a pattern of problems the client never brought to light.  Frequent feedback greatly reduces the chances of this happening.
  
  According to PSMJ Resources: 
  
  
  • AEC firms spend four times more money replacing a client than the costs of retaining one.  
  • Even if you replace the lost revenue of a departed client, the added cost of winning a new client typically exceeds $22k.
   
• Increase marketing efficiency by 3%. The average AEC firm spends 11% of their revenue marketing, while seeing only 25% of pursued work turns into billable work.  Adding client feedback informs you of your market successes and identifies where your firm’s strengths are.  By marketing your strengths to your best market sectors, you’ll not only target the markets that are most satisfying (and profitable), you will also reduce wasted effort pursuing work that doesn't match your firm's core services.  Even a 3% increase in efficiency will save a $10 million firm over $33k a year.
• Reduce key staff departure by 5%. PSMJ Resources again reports that replacing your best staff costs in excess of $100k per departure.  Most key staff don’t leave for better salary. They leave because they feel unappreciated, unvalued, and because they feel their growth is not supported.  Quantitative feedback gives you the tools and information to recognize performance.  In fact, your clients will be directly recognizing your staff’s efforts as they provide feedback.  Research based on nearly 10 years of helping our clients collect feedback indicates that their clients rate staff performance as "Exceptional" 22% of the time.  This satisfying work environment will help retain (and identify) your best people, saving an average of $67k each year.

It’s simple, regardless of firm size, incorporating feedback in to your project evaluation plan can increase profits 13% or more just by applying these tools and strategies.

Garnering the client feedback metrics needed for your project evaluation plan is easy with a simple and powerful system like The Client Feedback Tool.