In the News

In keeping up with CRM related forums, someone asked about the best approach to handling and maintaining their CRM system.  It started to make me think about the value of what is communicated in these forums and how much people trust advice from others they believe to be their peers. It made me wonder why people instantly trust others that may or may not have all of the background information that top consulting firms discover when providing their services.  

In this situation, I observed people giving advice as opposed to just sharing experiences.  I found it curious that contributors to the forum assumed many of the variables the person inquiring had not provided and further, the person making the inquiry hoped to find solutions without providing any background or specifics.  

No two companies are alike. Sure there are similarities, but my experience in consulting has led me to believe that if you want a true solution to your issue, you have to take the time to identify the “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, and “how” (wwwwwh) questions and the most important question, “What do you need?”.  As the forum conversation continued the inquirer thanked people for their input, but soon added more information as the responses were not really the direction they were looking for.  This occurred to me to somewhat frustrate many of the individuals that had already offered their “advice”.  One such comment was “well if you had told me that when you asked the question.” 

So What Happened?

When we ask a question, individuals drive off of their experience and what worked for them. However, they don’t necessarily provide context of why that worked for them and include those specific reasons. This poses a huge problem to the answers they receive. Many people go directly to wanting a solution without having any true understanding of the context of their question. When the basic “wwwww” are not qualified, the inquirer runs the risk of not addressing their true needs. Even some of the top consulting firms tend to take the same approach with their clients.  In fact earlier in my career I used the phrase, “when I was in industry, what worked for us was…”. 

So why do individuals seek a solution in these forums before building context and clearly defining what they need?  Here are a few thoughts I had on why this may occur:

1)     We seek good ideas from others in the same industry

2)     We crave solutions with little challenge

3)     We need immediate answers

4)     We love FREE advice!

Just like the advice provided by contributors in a forum, consultants sometimes fall into this pitfall of providing quick advice. In order to not challenge a client, consultants may diminish the level of anxiety to both their client and themselves by giving “a solution”.  As a consultant, ready-made solutions give a sense of accomplishment.  But sometimes that solution is short-term because the question asked is out of context of the bigger issue.  Because the question was asked in a vacuum (forum), there is little room for further qualifying discovery. 

Inquiring about what others in industry are doing and or have done allows one to know others experiences.  From this may come ideas that generate further inquiry, but the inquirer should look to put this further inquiry in context of their “wwwww” questions.  The key here is to be able to have these “wwwww” questions already established and to quickly hear the advice against what you already know.  The same preparation should be part of ones working relationship with the consultant. The difference is, one can dynamically interact with a consultant and establish the context.

So an important distinction the next time one works with a consultant: if the consultant is not looking to build the context of your issue, they likely are going to only provide short-term solutions that do not fit well in the long run with your company’s needs. 

Do you have any stories to share about a consultant that applied the “wwwwwh” principals that allowed you to develop a true solution and avoid thinking short-term? Share in our comments section below. 

SaaS, ERP, CRM, LOL blah, blah, blah. Today everything seems to be reduced down to acronyms, to fit into our fast paced instant message, text, and Twitter world.  However, many times we can be left out of the story because we don’t know what they mean.  So, what does ERP mean and what are some of the common related terms? To help you decipher this business jargon, let’s discuss what it is and how it can help firms.

ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning is a system facilitating the flow of information between all business functions, from your Finance and Management Accounting to Project management, Client Relationship Management (CRM – see more below), Human Resources, Inventory and Purchasing. 

The benefit of an ERP is your business efficiency can improve dramatically as all your business processes are automatically synchronized.  The real-time functionality allows for upper management to react quickly to changing dynamics in the company and the economy. 

Some of the characteristics to look for in a “good” ERP solution are:

• Operates in “Real-Time”, reflecting what is going on with your business now
• Database that supports all applications and allows for minimal duplication of efforts
• Consistent interface throughout the system for ease in training staff

SaaS – Software as a Service is a software model where the software and data are centrally located on the “cloud” (see below).  SaaS solutions are typically accessed via a web browser allowing access from any location.  SaaS solutions have become popular over the last several years.

Some of the benefits of a SasS model are:

• Easier administration at the client level as all updates, and patches are handled by the provider on a timely basis
• Management of the data back-ups
• Subscription feel providing a lower up-front investment compared to traditional software models

CRM - Customer Relationship Management is a model for managing a company’s interactions with current and future customers.  A typical CRM system will synchronize sales, marketing, customer service and technical support (if applicable).

Some benefits of a CRM system are:

• Identification of top clients allowing for better customer service focus
• Increasing information sharing between employees
• Allowing systems to track client contacts
• Providing visibility into sales and marketing efforts

SQL – Structured Query Language is a programming language that allows access to and management of large amounts of data. The data is stored in a relational database and offers the user the ability to manipulate and view the data in various ways. Efficiency is the main benefit of a relational database as the data can be easily formatted providing ease of grouping and comparison.

Cloud refers to using the internet to access programs and data.  Operating in the cloud has some real advantages in that you can access your data anywhere at any time and the cost of maintaining local hardware and operating systems are reduced (somewhat replaced by the cost of the cloud operations).  Some concerns are ensuring data integrity and security, reliability, limited customization and latency.  Be sure to check out this whitepaper for more information about the cloud.

Project-Based ERP is an ERP system built to meet the needs of project-based industries.  Project-based industries generate most of their business via individual projects (as opposed to producing widgets).  A project-based ERP will allow managers to track the life-cycle of individual projects from the initial proposal through project close-out.  This allows management analysis of the success (or challenges) of individual efforts, apply best practices and come up with a company policies and procedures.

Open Architecture refers to the ability to add-on, customize or upgrade components of existing system software.  Software that has open architecture publishes or makes available its structure allowing for developers to access and manipulate.  In some cases this allows direct access via an OBDC (yet another acronym meaning Open Database Connectivity) connection or information sharing via an API (Application Programming Interface). 

Of course this is only a snapshot of what you hear out there. Hopefully it will serve as a starting point so you expand your research ERP.  New terms are created daily (just check any 15 year olds text messages to see) so this may be obsolete by the time it is published.  However, it does help you get a handle on the terms you have heard on the news, business reports, and around the office.  And now when someone asks you ‘What does ERP mean,’ you’ll have the answer!

Every firm is looking for ways to improve workplace efficiency.  Why?  Because the results are happier employees, improved bottom line, and a streamlined work environment.  There are a number of ways to achieve this goal, but what are the top ways to increase business productivity?  Let’s take a look at 5 ways to improve workplace efficiency:

1. Visibility
   Has your firm ever been guilty of making a sales call to the same client as someone else at your firm during the same week or even worse, submitting on the same proposal? When a client calls, do you know within a couple of minutes who the last person was that worked on the job or talked to them, and if there are any previous issues that are unresolved? In order to make quick, informed decisions and have the right information at the right time, it’s important to have real-time access and accurate visibility. Firms with the ability to instantly understand over and underutilization of resources by project and employee are able to quickly re-assign resources to increase productivity. Many firms utilize an ERP system to gain a global view of their company.
   
   
2. Repeatable Process
   Another inefficiency we find are firms that don’t think about developing processes that are repeatable. Firms that take the time to think through processes, document them, and test against them avoid recreating processes and errors each time they are carried out.
   
   Two examples are the execution of a project and hiring a new employee. Both of these should have repeatable processes that everyone knows within your company. What happens when you miss an important step in either of these examples?  You lose money. By not executing the steps outlined during a project, you run the risk of overrun and a project that fails. By not following a hiring process, you run the risk of not having the same standards of candidates throughout the company, which could result in the wrong hire.
   
   
3. Measuring the Right Statistics
   I had an old co-worker that used to create as many activities in the system as they could because that is what was important to their boss. The philosophy was more calls, emails, activities resulted in more sales and opportunities. The problem with this was there were two important factors left out: the quality of the activities and the results of those efforts.  In order to affect results, you have to choose the right statistics then track the results.  Establishing the right measurable goals and expectations help employees understand the value they bring to the company. When setting up metrics for employees remember to:
• Establish goals for the company
• Work with each employee to identify how they will contribute to the success of the firm and gain agreement on those goals
• Measure them at set time periods
  
  
4. Manage Customer Expectations
   Managing customer expectations impacts your long-term relationship with a client. When your customers are happy, your firm spends less time performing tasks that could have been avoided to get the client or project back on track. However, managing those expectations can be difficult to do throughout the project delivery. One way to manage customer expectation is to check-in with the client at multiple times throughout the project. Period check-ins provide your team with the time needed to make adjustments if something is not meeting the client’s expectations. Additionally, handling a small issue is much easier then handling a client that unloads their bottled up frustrations all at once.
   
   
5. Develop Engaged Employees
   Did you know that a recent Gallup poll revealed that disengaged employees – least productive employees -- cost the US economy $370 billion every year?  In the review, three types of employees were identified: Engaged, Not Engaged, and Disengaged.  Engaged employees innovate and use their talents to build the company, while disengaged employees tear down the infrastructure by questioning and disagreeing with anything and everything.  Another set of employees are those that are not engaged. They sit back and avoid committing themselves.  It went on to show that of the US workforce, 29% is actively engaged, 55% is not engaged, and 16% is disengaged. So in essence only a third of your firm is operating at their full capacity.
   
   Each employee has different needs or desires. At times, money is important to employees. However, many employees find other things much more important in a firm: flexible work hours, recognition of talent, or an outlined career path. Ultimately firms should establish an open communication with employees and establish trust. Lack of transparency and understanding of the big picture and goals of the company leave employees wondering and concerned about the future.

The key to improve workplace efficiency is to constantly evaluate, adjust, and improve. What are your thoughts? Do you think your firm could benefit from these 5 steps? Try them and see if your overall efficiency impacts productivity and profitability.

Everyone is talking about “Going Green” these days but like the weather, who really does anything about it?  One way to Go Green using Vision is to take advantage of Vision’s ability to email invoices to clients.  This process can save your company time and money while saving the planet!

Here’s how it works: 

• Once you get your drafts back from the Project Managers, go into Interactive Billing and make your adjustments for held time, changes in percent complete for billing fees, writing-off expenses, etc.  Preview your invoices to make sure that each is ready to send to the client, but do not “Accept” the invoice at this point.

• Make sure your invoice template includes images from your letterhead so that the emailed invoice will look like the one that you would mail.  Adding images to invoices is really not very difficult and is definitely worth the effort.  You can have multiple invoice templates – one for printing on letterhead, one for emailing and one for draft invoices, for example.

• Once the invoices are ready for production, go into Batch Billing, select to print for Active Projects, select “Final Run” as the run type and set to use Billing Terms for AR, Backup, etc.  This will produce the invoices according to each project’s billing terms.  In the Invoice Template field, select your Email Invoice Template, which includes images discussed above.  Then, select to email the invoices to the Billing Contact.

Try this with a small group of invoices to start until you get the hang of it.  Then expand to include all your invoices.  This method not only saves you time and money (printing and mailing costs) in producing final invoices, but it also gets your invoice to your client sooner which can reduce your cash cycle days.

Taking Green Invoicing to the next level:

• To personalize your invoicing, think about setting up user ID’s tied to your project managers.  This will allow you to send the invoices and have it appear to the client that the project manager is the one that sent the invoice.

• Follow-up with the clients to ensure that delivery was successful.  Now that you have reduced the time it takes to deliver invoices, use some of that saved time to give a call to your clients to make sure that they received the invoice.  This gives you the opportunity to get some “personal time” with your client and to solidify the process

• Add additional email addresses where clients need to have the invoice delivered to multiple recipients. 

• Create email templates to personalize the email, give the client additional information and to save time when producing the emails.

Give “Green Invoicing” a try.  Save time, money and the planet!  

 

Deltek, Inc. recently announced at the Deltek Insight 2012 Conference that Full Sail Partners and its client, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE), have been selected for the Partner Award for Deltek’s 2012 Project Excellence Awards Program.  The Partner Award recognizes a Deltek partner, and customer, that together have delivered an exceptional Deltek solution implementation.

Full Sail Partners assisted Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., a prominent A/E/C firm ranked on Engineering News-Record's list of the Top 500 Design Firms in America, with the implementation of Deltek Vision across its business.  Full Sail Partners built numerous workflows in Deltek Vision such as conflict checking, project initiation, billing, and project status report.  As a result, WJE realized an annual savings of about $1.8 million and a reduction in DSOs of 45 days.  The cost to purchase and implement Deltek Vision paid for itself over 30 times in just one year. 

“As the leader in solving the world’s most challenging construction-related problems, WJE works on more than 7,000 projects a year. Our project management, time, and accounting systems must not let us down,” said WJE Associate Director of Finance and Controller, Steven Schmit.  “We are honored to receive this award recognizing the partnership between WJE and Full Sail Partners, whose expert guidance and support has been so critical to the successful implementation and ongoing operation of Deltek Vision within our firm.”

Since the awards program started in 2008, Deltek has recognized some of the most innovative, market-leading companies in the world. The Project Excellence Awards program, a key component of the annual Deltek Insight User Conference, was designed to highlight and honor unique achievement among Deltek's more than 14,500 customers worldwide.  The goal of this award program is to recognize outstanding Deltek customer and partner success in improving business processes and performance, increasing profitability and winning new business.

“We are very proud to be honored with the Project Excellence Partner Award with WJE.  We loved the challenge as presented by Steve and WJE” said Kevin O’Connor, President of Full Sail Partners. “The automation created by WJE and the FSP team brought forward a game changing level of efficiency. The implementation provided increased functionality, reduction of manual processes through automation, and timelier reporting and distribution which resulted in significant time savings. WJE has been a true partner with our firm and the close integration of the work we did is a testament to both or team’s commitment to excellence.” 

Deltek recognizes Full Sail Partners as a top-performing business partner.

Full Sail Partners, offering business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision, is chosen as a 2012 Deltek Premier Partner. Deltek, Inc., the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for government contractors and professional services firms, offers this distinction to top-performing business partners. To achieve Premier Partner status, Full Sail Partners demonstrated continuing excellence in marketing, selling, implementing, and supporting their customers with Deltek solutions.

“Full Sail Partners continues to differentiate itself as a true industry thought leader and serves as an advocate for hundreds of clients,” said Claus Thorsgaard, Deltek’s EVP and General Manager – Professional Services.  “Our mutual clients appreciate Full Sail Partners’ ability to leverage Deltek Vision to provide insight on product enhancements, new product releases, and feature functionality.  I would like to congratulate Kevin O’Connor and everyone at Full Sail Partners. We are pleased to recognize the accomplishments and talents of the individuals of this top performing company.”

“We at Full Sail Partners are extremely honored and proud to once again be named a Deltek Premier Partner.  I am grateful to our clients who provided us the opportunity to continue to serve them in 2012,” said Kevin P. O’Connor, President of Full Sail Partners.  “The energy and professionalism the group at Full Sail Partners consistently brings speaks to their passion for providing quality services to our clients.”

The Full Sail Partner team sees that 2012 and beyond affords many opportunities to project-based clients with the release of Deltek Vision First Essentials and a host of software enhancements.  As a Deltek Premier Partner, Full Sail Partners is committed to working with clients to help strategically plan and leverage the solutions within the Vision suite of tools.  Full Sail Partners' team, collectively, brings more than 200 years of experience with Deltek products and is excited to unveil in late third quarter of 2012 unique technology solutions to assist with business needs.

About Full Sail Partners
Full Sail Partners specializes in client-focused technology solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Partnering with more than 1000 clients nationwide, Full Sail Partners builds long-term relationships and seeks to identify the critical resources to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure.

Full Sail Partners – Keep Your Business on Course. | For more on Full Sail Partners profile and background on the Full Sail Partners crew, visit us at http://www.fullsailpartners.com.

About Deltek
Deltek (Nasdaq: PROJ) is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional services firms and government contractors. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 15,000 organizations and 2 million users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects. 

Deltek – Know more. Do More. | For more on Deltek, visit http://www.deltek.com.

AccountingToday.com selects Full Sail Partners to join the 2012 Top VAR 100 List. Several Deltek Partners were named to the list, but Full Sail Partners was the highest ranking VAR dedicated to only Deltek products.

Each year a select group of 100 organizations are honored for their accomplishments as Value-Added Resellers (VAR). The top VARs are selected from organizations focused on sales and implementation of accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Criteria used to determine the winners include 2011 revenue, number of offices, and staff.  Full Sail Partners, offering business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision, is honored by AccountingToday as a 2012 Top Value Added Reseller (VAR). The firm provides on-premise and cloud-based solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners' team, collectively, brings more than 200 years of experience with Deltek products. 

"We are honored to have Full Sail Partners named a 2012 VAR," stated Kevin O'Connor, President of Full Sail Partners. "We focus on the 'value-added' part of being a VAR. We embrace Deltek's SaaS solution and are finding clients like the flexibility of knowing they have the option of both a cloud and on-premise solution. The cloud is not new to our firm. For almost 5 years, we've offered firm's the ability to host their application instead of investing in IT infrastructure. Our firm continues to differentiate ourselves by providing unique technology solutions and most importantly working with them through the sales process to solve business issues," added Mr. O'Connor. 

"We are proud to have Full Sail Partners represent Deltek. The award is a well-deserved recognition. As one of Deltek's most successful Vision Partners, Full Sail Partners is a major player in Deltek's overall strategy and has a long track record of providing outstanding software solutions and client services. They have earned a reputation as industry leaders and this recognition is a reflection of their hard work." Claus Thorsgaard, Deltek Executive Vice President and General Manager, Professional Services. 

About Full Sail Partners
Full Sail Partners specializes in client-focused technology solutions for architects and engineers, energy and environmental consultants, and professional service firms across the country. Full Sail Partners offers business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Partnering with more than 1000 clients nationwide, Full Sail Partners builds long-term relationships and seeks to identify the critical resources to create a faster, more efficient, and cohesive business infrastructure.

Full Sail Partners – Keep Your Business on Course. | For more on Full Sail Partners profile and background on the Full Sail Partners crew, visit us at http://www.fullsailpartners.com. 

About Deltek
Deltek (Nasdaq: PROJ) is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional services firms and government contractors. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. 15,000 organizations and 2 million users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects. Deltek – Know more. Do more.® www.deltek.com. 

About Accounting Today
AccountingToday.com is a leading provider of online business news for the tax and accounting community, offering breaking news, in-depth features, insightful editorial analysis, and a host of web-related resources and services.

Full Sail Partners announces the launch of its firm and website. Visible online at www.fullsailpartners.com, the site illustrates the company’s client-centric philosophy and approach to business.

The company provides business consulting, technology solutions, and application hosting for Deltek Vision. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for professional service firms and government contractors with more than 15,000 organizations and 1.9 million users in over 80 countries around the world. Deltek's ERP solution offers firms an integrated software product  to win more business, optimize resources, streamline operations, and deliver more profitable projects.

Keeping your firm on course, embodies the purpose behind Full Sail. Utilizing Deltek Vision, Full Sail Partners helps firms navigate the business horizon in an ever changing environment. We provide firms the tools and visibility to operate at maximum efficiency to bring them under full sail.

The power behind every great company is their employees. "I am humbled by the employees that helped launch Full Sail Partners. The passion, dedication, and collaborative effort put forth by our staff to launch this endeavor demonstrates what already makes this firm great," stated President Kevin P. O'Connor.