How the top cloud ERP helps professional services companies improve their agility, run their remote workforces and earn more money on every project.
Professional services firms provide high-end services to their customers, including helping them with digitalization, but have often themselves fallen behind on the technology adoption curve, according to time tracking software firm Replicon.
“A case in point is many of these businesses still rely on legacy, on-premises solutions from the past era to support their business processes,” it adds. “Most businesses continue using these because of the customizations they have done, long implementation cycles associated with any replacement solutions, and a steep adoption curve.”
The pandemic-driven move to remote work has revealed the vulnerabilities in this approach, and many professional services firms quickly realized that their current solutions couldn’t keep up with their changing needs. As a result, PwC says nearly 50% of professional services firms are now accelerating digitalization, automation, and other new ways of working, among other remote initiatives.
“The main aim of digital transformation for professional services firms is to get a single source of truth across their operations so that they can uncover hidden efficiencies and opportunities,” Replicon adds. “And, adoption of these digital technologies will not only future-proof their business operations but also give a significant competitive advantage.”
Running the Whole Show
As the top vendor of cloud-based solutions for professional services organizations, NetSuite offers Professional Services Administration (PSA) and Services Resource Planning (SRP) solutions that drive high performance for professional services organizations. Its key modules include:
1. Professional Services Automation
Automate, streamline and increase project margins and profitability with the most advanced, 100% cloud-based PSA system.
2. Services Resources Planning
Gain complete visibility into, and control over, the entire business in real time, from the moment a new opportunity is identified through to project delivery, invoicing and revenue recognition—all while eliminating double entry and costly systems and integration overhead.
3. Customer Relationship Management
NetSuite gives professional services companies a single repository of customer interaction enabling superior service quality with a complete 360-degree customer view.
The Top Benefits
Designed for professional services organizations of all sizes and business needs—from 10 resources to 20,000—NetSuite runs in the cloud. That means firms get support for the way their services teams work today—on the road, between meetings and on-the-fly—with online, offline and mobile access.
The key benefits that professional services firms get when they implement NetSuite include:
- Improved agility and faster reaction times: Real-time business analytics and flexible business processes enable professional services businesses to monitor and respond to change with speed and ease.
- Better operational effectiveness. Unite fragmented data, automate processes and control costs with a single, unified application combining CRM and ecommerce with back-office ERP.
- Improved visibility levels: Achieve a comprehensive, real-time picture of the business and support timely, data-driven decisions across the entire organization.
- Higher project profitability: Review timelines, resource needs and profitability to develop more accurate quotes and identify areas for margin improvement.
NetSuite ERP takes professional services firms beyond traditional financial management and accounting and provides a single, unified suite of applications that connects the business across finance, sales and service. This helps companies run more efficiently and make better, faster decisions.
Putting Tech in Your Corner
According to European Business Review, cloud ERP solutions help professional services firms optimize both their front-end processes and back-end procedures to create a coordinated and fully integrated system. “Positioning modern software solutions allows professional services companies to streamline their incongruent practices,” it says, “and enables their operational procedures to be fused into a single device.”
When delivered via the cloud, ERP also features built-in data centers across several languages and currencies to allow companies to transact business across intercontinental borders without losing any productivity.
“Modern cloud ERP for professional services also provides the ability to gauge your solution based on your growth,” it adds. “This can be achieved without letting your software command your expansion rate.
