Category: Industry Perspectives
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Shaping a Future of Excellence: Kantata’s Vision for the Professional Services Cloud
By Michael Speranza, CEO, Kantata In an ever-evolving professional services landscape, services organizations are grappling with business opportunities and challenges that require more effective technology solutions. I am thrilled to unveil Kantata’s vision for the Professional Services Cloud (PS Cloud), which reshapes the boundaries for what technology designed for services organizations needs to do. As…
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Insights from the Latest Kantata Survey: How Strategic Technology Decisions Address Distinct Challenges in Professional Services Organizations
Technology’s role within professional services organizations has never been more crucial. Get your technology stack right, and your business will have the insights it needs to operate confidently, aligning your highly skilled workforce with client-enabling work. Get it wrong, and your teams will be managing the professional services lifecycle in the dark, which can impact…
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Kantata Survey: Strategic Tech Choices Vital in Tackling Unique Professional Services Challenges
85% of professional services leaders recognize technology’s impact on daily operations, but just 47% trust current tools for crucial decision-making data IRVINE, Calif., and LONDON – November 8, 2023 – Kantata, the leading global supplier of purpose-built technology for professional services, today released the results of a new survey that explores the state of professional…
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How to Effectively Scale a Professional Services Firm Beyond 150 People
By Moira Alexander, Founder of PMWorld 360 Magazine and Lead-Her-Ship Group In small to mid-sized professional services (PS) firms, it’s not unusual for everyone to know each other. Team members understand what role everyone plays in overall success and how to efficiently work together. But there’s a limit to how much information people can hold…
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Optimizing the Professional Services Value Chain: How to Demonstrate Value at Every Stage of the Project Lifecycle
Powerful forces are reshaping the professional services industry, changing client expectations. Demand is volatile. Competition is fierce. And needs evolve rapidly. To win projects, meet client expectations, and build long-term relationships, professional services firms must adapt, too. Traditionally, sales conversations centered around exactly what the customer was buying. For product-based businesses, it was all about…
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Kantata Survey Sheds Light On How Professional Services Will Navigate Rapid Industry Transformation
Insights Highlight Industry Challenges Kantata is Uniquely Positioned to Address IRVINE, Calif., and LONDON – SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 – Kantata, the leading global supplier of purpose-built technology for professional services, today released findings from a recent survey among leaders in the professional services and consulting industry to shed light on the key trends driving the…
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Kantata Survey Finds 74% of Agencies Shifting Business Strategies To Address Economic Uncertainties
New Survey Explores Key Challenges and Priorities for Agency Operations IRVINE, Calif., and LONDON – SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 – A new survey from Kantata, the leading global supplier of purpose-build technology for professional services, found that 74% of agencies are shifting their priorities and business strategies in response to significant pressures faced amidst the economic…
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Infographic: Equipping Professional Services Leaders to Walk the Tightrope
Is your professional services business finding it difficult to balance profitability, customer satisfaction, and employee retention? You’re not alone. Project and resource management decisions will always have the potential to impact your company’s profitability, the loyalty of your customers, and how happy employees are to work for your business. Each of these three focus areas…
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Scaling After an Acquisition: Strategies That Guarantee Success
By Moira Alexander, Founder of PMWorld 360 Magazine and Lead-Her-Ship Group The recent acquisition of a business is certainly a cause for celebration, but there is still much work to be done to make sure both companies are integrated into one well-functioning entity in order to secure future success. In this article, we will delve…
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When Is the Right Time for Your Business To Scale?
By Moira Alexander, Founder of PMWorld 360 Magazine and Lead-Her-Ship Group Every business naturally needs to grow to succeed, but scaling a company doesn’t just happen on its own. An estimated 80% of start-ups fail to see new products or services through to full scale-up. According to McKinsey, established businesses are no exception, with 65%…
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Navigating the Pressures of Agency Work: Unveiling Huge’s Transformation and the Power of Purpose-Built Technology
Brent Trimble, VP of Advisory Services at Kantata The agency business is incredibly diverse, spanning digital transformation, product design, communications, social, digital media shops, and more. One thing is universal today — agencies are under rate, cost, and workload pressure. Client procurement trends, the implicit desire to over-service, drive extra-creative cycles, and innovate are conditions…
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Top 5 Professional Services Resource Management Techniques
TL;DR Modern professional services resource management has moved well beyond task assignment. Leading organizations are combining cloud-based visibility, skills-based hiring, and continuous upskilling to align capacity with demand in real time. The firms that treat these not as trends to chase but as strategic capabilities to build are the ones improving utilization, retention, and delivery…
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Revolutionizing Professional Services: The Rise of the Quantified Consultant
Using data-informed metrics to optimize consulting operations In recent years, the “quantified self” concept has gained widespread popularity, as individuals use their smartphones and connected wearable devices to track and measure various aspects of their daily lives to improve their health and well-being. Using data and metrics to optimize personal performance has proven highly effective,…
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Data Optimization: Make the Most of Your Data
Businesses today rely heavily on the data they collect to help increase their profits and maximize their workload. But it’s difficult to correctly implement all of that information when the data and the systems collecting them have not been curated specifically for the unique data needs of your industry. You can collect all the data…
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What is Operations Management and Why Do You Need It?
Running any professional services business is complicated, even for experienced managers and C-level executives. But when an organization grows – and the range of responsibilities and team members in the workforce grows along with it – it can be overwhelming. While detailed resource management and project management is crucial to taking control of the day-to-day…
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Bringing Certainty to Uncertain Times
Professional Services Organizations Use Vertical SaaS to Increase Efficiency, Maximize Revenue Opportunities and Accelerate Growth Mike Downes, the Resourcing Director at Logicalis, a global IT solutions and managed services firm, knew that he and his colleagues had the data they needed to accelerate the company’s growth and profitability. Data that reveals whether project teams are…
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Understanding the Shift in Evaluating Technology Investments
By Jared Haleck, Chief Product Officer, Kantata In the past, most technology investment decisions made by professional services organizations came down to direct financial benefits, with companies looking at the most direct return on investment possible from the software solutions they considered purchasing. However, this one-to-one financial evaluation largely discounted or excluded nonfinancial gains, such…
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Four Focus Areas for Businesses Navigating Labor Volatility
By Gina Hartigan, Chief People Officer, Kantata The Greek philosopher Heraclitus teaches us that “there is nothing permanent except change.” The businesses that build pathways to long-term success understand and embrace this – change is the fabric of how we operate a business now. But even for the most change-enabled companies, the level of volatility…
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3 Ways To Build Resilience and Predictability in a Challenging Economy
It’s not hard for business leaders in the professional services industry to recognize that the pace of change in the industry is accelerating, making long-term success more difficult to achieve. But what is hard is understanding those changes well enough to make impactful decisions and adjustments that increase the resilience of your business and put…
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How To Use Technology To Scale Your Agency
Regardless of what your agency focuses on – marketing, branding, advertising, media – growth is a crucial part of ensuring your business stays relevant and profitable. Agencies that don’t grow can become stagnant, fall behind competitors, and lose touch with the desires of their clients. That doesn’t necessarily mean that every small firm should try…
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Three Ways To Optimize Your Business During Uncertain Economic Times
By Banoo Behboodi, Vice President of Advisory Services These are uncertain and unpredictable times, something I see every day as I work with professional services businesses in my role on Kantata’s Advisory Services team. No one knows exactly what lies ahead, but business leaders are already changing their behaviors, and their plans, based on a…
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Top Three Company Culture Challenges in 2023 and How To Overcome Them
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast focuses on some of the unique challenges associated with building a strong company culture in today’s market, with recommendations for how businesses can transcend those challenges. Banoo Behboodi hosts the episode, with guest Christine Dunham, Kantata’s Senior Director of People Development and Culture. They discuss the…
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Introducing the 2023 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark
By Chris Scalia, Chief Customer Officer, Kantata This is an excerpt of Kantata’s introduction to SPI’s 2023 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark report. Click here to download the full report for free. I’m excited to present you with the 2023 edition of the annual SPI Professional Services Maturity Benchmark, which analyzes the performance of over 700 professional services…
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Better Understand Your Professional Services Business With These Insights From Enterprise Times
The professional services industry is undergoing a time of rapid change unlike any other. To help companies better understand both their own processes and the market around them, Kantata recently teamed up with Enterprise Times to provide insights that can help companies make informed decisions about the future of their business. Written by Steve Brooks…
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Emerging Trends & Challenges for Professional Services in 2023
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast focuses on some of the emerging trends and key challenges being faced by services organizations in 2023. Brent Trimble hosts the episode, and is joined by Dave Hofferberth, the Managing Director at Service Performance Insight (SPI). Hofferberth, known as the “Father of PSA” shares insights gleaned…
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How To Successfully Compete for Talent in the Networked Economy
This is an excerpt from the new Kantata eBook, “The Networked Economy: The Future of Freelance Work in Professional Services.” To learn more about how the world of full-time, part-time, and contract resources is changing, and how you can make the most of it, check out the full eBook here. What Is the Networked Economy?…
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How Globalized Competition Is Rapidly Changing Professional Services
This is an excerpt from the new Kantata ebook, “The 5 Biggest Forces of Change in Professional Services Today.” To learn more about the major currents reshaping the professional services world and how you can effectively respond, check out the full ebook here. The professional services industry has undergone significant change, driven by a wide…
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5 Reasons To Ditch Spreadsheets for Purpose-Built Solutions
For decades, spreadsheets have been a massive part of doing business. Even before the modern age of Excel and Google Sheets, physical worksheets and spreadsheets were used to help managers understand complex business processes and tabulate financial reports. It’s easy to understand why spreadsheets are so pervasive in consulting operations. Consultants are problem-solvers, and spreadsheets…
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What Red Flags Show a Gap Between Your Front and Back Office Systems?
This is an excerpt from the new whitepaper “Mind the Gap: How to Bridge Front & Back Office Systems for Professional Services” by Roy Edwards and Steve Brooks from Enterprise Times, in collaboration with Kantata. To learn more about the causes of major internal gaps in businesses and their solutions, check out the full whitepaper…
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Strategies Required for Services Success in 2023 and Beyond: Eliminate or Replace Outdated Tools and Systems
Challenges, Trends & Best Practices From Our Recent Webinar With TSIA Below is the third and final blog of the series covering the key strategies required for professional services to thrive in 2023. Three key strategies were discussed in Kantata’s most recent webinar with TSIA, where TSIA’s VP of Technology Services, John Ragsdale, sat down…
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Strategies Required for Services Success in 2023 and Beyond: Build a Stable Bench of Independent Contractors
Challenges, Trends & Best Practices From Our Recent Webinar With TSIA With 2023 coming in just a few weeks, business leaders are preparing for some of the unique challenges and opportunities that the new year will bring. This topic was discussed in Kantata’s most recent webinar with TSIA, where TSIA’s VP of Technology Services, John…
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Strategies Required for Services Success in 2023 and Beyond: Double-Down on Client Success
Challenges, Trends & Best Practices from Our Recent Webinar With TSIA As the end of the year quickly approaches, many business leaders are taking a moment to prepare themselves for some of the unique challenges that seem to be surfacing as businesses head into 2023. This exact theme drove a recent TSIA webinar, where TSIA’s…
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5 Stats That Show Why Resource Forecasting Is One of Professional Services’ Biggest Challenges
Being able to accurately predict and respond to resource demands is one of the biggest keys to success as a professional services organization. But for many, creating and utilizing trustworthy resource forecasts is one of the most difficult challenges they face. If your organization is in the midst of a struggle to effectively forecast, know…
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Three Techniques for Creative Agencies to Stay Relevant in 2023
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast, hosted by Brent Trimble, features Sunday Dinner Founder, Ad Age 40 under 40 recipient, and brand strategy thought leader, Lindsey Slaby. The episode dives into how the marketing and advertising industries have evolved over the years and the growing challenges they face. Lindsey is one of…
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What Profit Margins Say About Your Company’s Biggest Challenges
This is an excerpt from the new whitepaper “How To Tell If Your Professional Services Organization Is Flagging” by Steve Brooks and Roy Edwards from Enterprise Times, in collaboration with Kantata. To learn more about the four major signals that professional services organizations (PSOs) should monitor to understand what factors are limiting performance, check out…
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Automate Your Workspace With PSA Software
In any industry, you want to maximize the billable hours provided by your workforce. The work you do for your clients is the heartbeat of your business, so you want to spend most of your time meeting your clients’ needs and finishing projects as far in advance of deadlines as possible. If you get to…
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Understanding and Optimizing the Customer Success Equation
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast, hosted by Banoo Behboodi, features Peter Wride, Senior Vice President of Professional Services and Upgrades at Gainsight. This episode focuses on how services delivery can be positioned to drive customer success and what a truly customer-centric organization looks like. This blog highlights the key variables involved…
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6 Key Stats That Show the Changing Dynamics of the Modern Professional Services Workforce
The professional services industry is undergoing a radical and permanent transformation, with people demonstrating they want more agency over their workloads and professional development and taking life-changing steps to realize their goals. As seen in new research from Kantata, these changes have had sweeping impacts on the way the professional services workforce operates, as well…
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Introducing the 2022 Professional Services Automation End-user Survey
By Sarah Edwards and Jared Haleck, Chief Product Officers, Kantata This is an excerpt of Kantata’s introduction to SPI’s 2022 Professional Services Automation End-User Survey report. Click here to download the full report for free. This is a very exciting time to be shaping the product vision for a technology vendor serving the needs of…
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The Impact of Inflation on Services Success and Customer Experience
This blog previews our latest podcast episode and focuses on the basics of inflation and how it’s impacting services today.
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Essential Elements of Services Success: What is a Resource Management Plan?
This is the first in the “Essential Elements of Services Success” blog series focused on helping professional services organizations strengthen the core of their business processes. Whether you have a strong business-wide plan in place or not, if you’re coordinating people, processes, and projects, then resource management is happening at your professional services business right…
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Uncovering the Reasons Professional Services Organizations Benefit from Vertical SaaS Solutions
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast, hosted by Banoo Behboodi, features Charles Gustine, Brand Evangelist at Kantata. This episode focuses on key results from new research from Kantata and Salesforce, which was conducted by Forrester Consulting. The resulting study, Vertical SaaS for Professional Services is Driving Material Benefits, reveals current trends shaping…
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Building a Reliable PS Revenue Stream with Renewable Service Offers
This is a guest post from John Ragsdale, distinguished researcher and vice president of technology ecosystems for Technology & Services Industry Association (TSIA). According to TSIA’s 2022 Professional Services Benchmark, services account for 26% of overall B2B tech revenue, on average. Professional services (implementation, integration, customization, business and process consulting) account for 53% of services…
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Professional Services Firms Are Increasing Investments in Vertical SaaS
New research from Kantata and Salesforce examines the factors accelerating the implementation of vertical SaaS technology developed specifically for PS IRVINE, Calif. and LONDON – September 7, 2022 – Kantata announced today that new research conducted by Forrester Consulting reveals professional services organizations (PSOs) are replacing generic, one-size-fits-all horizontal SaaS solutions and antiquated technology with…
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Two Success Factors That Will Set Your Professional Services Teams Up for Success
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast features Carrie Young, VP of Strategic Solutions at Cority, who has extensive experience scaling professional services organizations and managing demand against capacity and resource optimization. This episode, hosted by Banoo Behboodi, focuses on a common services challenge associated with today’s economic climate: retaining talent during a…
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The Impact of Shifting Talent Pools on a Changing Labor Market
On the latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast, our hosts Brent Trimble and Banoo Behboodi discuss how the professional services talent pool is shifting, both in terms of what employees expect from the organizations they work for and the values they want to see when applying to work at a new company. This…
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New Research Finds Business Leaders Spend Nearly Half of Their Time Every Day Coping with Employee Turnover
Survey also reveals a growing disconnect between employers and employees on a wide range of issues including benefits and professional development IRVINE, Calif. and LONDON – AUGUST 3, 2022 – Kantata, the leading global supplier of purpose-built technology for professional services, today released new research that illuminates senior executives at professional services organizations spend 40%…
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Integration Management: Dos and Don’ts
Cross platform integration software is becoming more advanced than ever before. More and more tech companies are creating software solutions with the intent of supporting integration from the get-go, making their products more accessible and desirable to the corporate world. However, because integration has become so synonymous with descriptors like “streamlined” or “simplified,” project managers…
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What Is The Kantata Professional Services Cloud?
This is an excerpt from “The Kantata Professional Services Cloud—Purpose-Built Technology for Unmatched Advantage.” Read the full whitepaper here. The Kantata Professional Services Cloud provides technology specifically designed to address the unique needs of services organizations. Kantata enables exponentially more effective operations and scaling in today’s networked economy. There are five key technical advantages the…
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Purpose-Built Technology: What It Is and Why Professional Services Companies Need It
Running a professional services business often means creating solutions on the fly and making whatever’s available work to keep projects going and clients happy. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way. Frequently, software used by organizations isn’t specifically designed for the professional services industry and doesn’t have the right features for a company’s…