Category: Resource Management
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Can Excel Manage Resource Allocation at Scale? The Limits of Spreadsheet Forecasting
Excel gets the job done when you’re staffing a handful of projects with a small professional services team. But scale up the project volume, the skill sets, and the schedule changes, and that same spreadsheet starts working against you. Static rows and columns can’t keep pace with a business that’s moving in real time, and…
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Top Professional Services Time Tracking Software Compared: Features, Pricing, and Benefits
You know how it goes. It’s the end of the month, the invoices flood in, and you’re trusting that your contractors or hourly employees tracked their time accurately. But in professional services (PS), time tracking is far more than just a payroll function. Professional services time tracking is the practice of capturing hours as the…
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Professional Services Utilization Benchmarks and Capacity Planning Best Practices
TL;DR Most PS firms track a utilization number, compare it to an industry benchmark, and never question whether that benchmark fits their cost structure. Benchmarks are reference points — not targets. The firms that consistently hit their numbers build targets from their own margin model and run capacity planning ahead of the pipeline, not after…
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AI Resource Management Software: What It Does and How It Optimizes Resource Allocation
TL;DR AI-powered resource management helps firms stay ahead of demand, not react to it. By continuously forecasting needs and optimizing capacity, skills, and financial performance in real time, it enables smarter staffing decisions before risks impact margins or delivery. The firms pulling ahead are running purpose-built professional services platforms — not generic tools configured to…
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What is Workload Management and How Does It Impact Business Efficiency?
TL;DR Workload management is what keeps delivery balanced once projects are underway — assessing what the team is carrying, understanding individual capacity, and distributing work before imbalance becomes a delivery or retention problem. In PS firms, even strong resource management processes can miss it. The firms that deliver consistently are the ones that treat workload…
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What is Project Resource Management and How to Start Doing It Right
TL;DR Project resource management determines whether delivery is proactive or reactive — and for many firms, it’s still reactive. Done well, it protects margins, prevents burnout, and gives teams the confidence to take on more of the right work. Success starts with two things: a resource strategy that aligns capacity with demand, and the software…
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How Capacity Planning Helps Services Teams Stay Aligned with Project Demand
TL;DR Capacity planning is how PS firms close the gap between what the pipeline demands and what the team can realistically deliver. Without it, utilization variance compounds quietly — teams either turn down work they could have handled or overcommit to engagements they can’t staff well, and both directions cost margin. Done well, it keeps…
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How to Optimize Your Resource Forecasting, Skills Management, & Agility
Every day, professional services (PS) leaders are playing what can only be described as a daily game of Tetris as they work to strike the delicate balance of supply and demand: shuffling people between projects, reacting to unexpected client needs, and trying to align the right skills with the right work. But this game isn’t…
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How Smart Professional Services Leaders Are Taking Utilization Analysis to the Next Level
If you lead a professional services organization, you’ve likely heard it before: “Our utilization needs to improve.” You may have dashboards tracking the basics, maybe even some reporting that lets you slice performance by team, project, or person. But if you’re being honest, you’re probably still struggling to answer three deceptively simple questions: Many traditional…
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IT Services Leaders: The Key to Answering Tough Business Questions? Smarter Forecasting
Let’s just cut to the chase—accurate capacity forecasting is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s your frontline defense against chaos. When resources are misaligned, it’s not just about missed deadlines—it’s missed revenue, burned-out teams, and clients quietly heading for the exit. And when your boss comes knocking with tough questions like: “Do we have the right…
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The Fine Line: What a Fan Belt Can Teach Us About Resource Management in Professional Services
I once spoke with the Global VP of Professional Services at a major tech firm, and he said something that’s stuck with me ever since: “My job is to maintain the tightest possible team to provide the best services to customers.” He was under no illusions—he knew this was easy to say and hard to…
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What Is Reactive Resourcing Costing Your Business?
You’re reviewing your sales pipeline for the next quarter and spot a critical skills gap. If the forecast deals close, you’ll need to hire quickly – hiring and onboarding take time. But, as you know from experience, forecasts can be unreliable. You’ve been burned by inaccurate close dates in the sales pipeline one time too…
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How Client and Project Team Sentiment Data Can Revolutionize Staffing Strategies
What if you could predict when a project might veer off course — not by analyzing deadlines or budgets, but by tapping into how your team and clients actually feel about the work? In today’s data-driven landscape, organizations have plenty of KPIs to analyze, but the real game-changer lies in understanding the emotions and satisfaction…
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Professional Services Forecasting Is Stagnating. Here’s Why That’s a Bigger Problem Than Ever
Staying ahead of the competition in professional services takes more than just hard work and talent. Success hinges on anticipating future developments in your business. This is where resource forecasting makes a world of difference. In late 2022, the Resource Management Institute (RMI) unveiled their inaugural Forecasting Report, which underscored the pivotal moment that forecasting…
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Two Birds, One Stone: Optimizing Capacity Planning and Revenue Forecasting Through a Holistic Approach
In the intricate ecosystem of professional services, where every project demands a unique blend of talent, the significance of accurate forecasting cannot be overstated. Imagine a firm with a 20-person resource pool endeavoring to staff two projects with seven open roles. That doesn’t sound that daunting at first glance, right? But the permutations for resourcing…
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Do Leaders Truly Understand The Pressure Their Teams Are Under?
The professional services industry is constantly evolving, and new research shows that leadership and the teams they manage aren’t always on the same page about how those changes are manifesting in the field. The widening gap between leadership perception and the actual experiences of team members, particularly regarding workload pressures and client service delivery, poses…
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Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Team: Overcoming Skill-Centric Challenges with the Right Technology
In the fast-evolving professional services landscape, the difference between a high-performing organization and a stagnant one often comes down to how effectively a company leverages its team’s skills. The right technology doesn’t just offer new insights—it can be the key to unlocking the potential that exists within your team, thereby enhancing service delivery across project…
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The 5 Biggest Barriers to Resource Management Governance
Most professional services (PS) companies know they need better resource management, but they find themselves running into the same obstacles over and over again. Despite investing in new systems and processes, their efforts keep getting derailed. To help these organizations better understand the role governance plays in their long-term success, Kantata has sponsored new research…
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Navigating Talent-Centric Challenges in Professional Services Organizations
Professional services is an innately people-centric discipline. Talent is the key driver of success in the industry. Your people and their skills are the lifeblood of your professional services organization. As such, managing and retaining the best and brightest talent poses one of the greatest challenges for leaders today. This is reflected in the 2023…
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Kantata Hosts Webinar On Optimizing Business Performance Through Talent Engagement
Join Industry Experts Dave Hofferberth and Charles Gustine for Key Insights from SPI’s 2023 Professional Services Talent Benchmark IRVINE, Calif., and LONDON – November 30, 2023 – Kantata, the leading global supplier of purpose-built technology for professional services, is hosting a webinar on December 7, 2023, at 11 am ET. In this webinar, Dave Hofferberth,…
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The State of the European Professional Services Market: Today’s Biggest Resource Management Challenges & Opportunities
by Lucy Butterton, VP of Product Management at Kantata, and David Anheier, Associate Partner at entero AG Resource management is a challenging endeavour for any professional services leader, but operating in a dynamic European market adds another layer of complexity. In Europe, the art and science of maintaining the precise balance of team members needed…
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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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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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Resource Forecasting for Success: Best Practices for Professional Services Firms
Resource forecasting is an essential part of running a successful professional services firm. With the right resource forecasting tools, you can ensure you have the capacity to meet client demands without over- or under-allocating staff. Are you looking to make resource forecasting an essential part of your business or are considering revamping how your business…
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How to Use Kantata’s Utilization and Revenue Calculator: A Step-by-step Guide
TL;DR The biggest opportunity to increase services revenue often isn’t hiring more consultants or charging higher rates—it’s improving utilization. Kantata’s Resource Utilization and Revenue Calculator estimates how even modest utilization gains can unlock additional annual revenue using the capacity you already have. Key Takeaways Utilization rate is calculated by dividing billable hours submitted by total…
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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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Better, Faster, Happier Teams Part 3: Creating Strong Employee Engagement With Strategic Resource Management
By Kristi Gooden, Principal Customer Success Manager, Kantata This is part 3 of a 3-part series from experienced resource management practitioner Kristi Gooden focusing on how professional services organizations can help their teams work better, faster, and happier; read part 1, focused on skills mapping, here, and part 2, focused on flex workforce best practices,…
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Better, Faster, Happier Teams Part 2: Use These Flex Workforce Best Practices
By Kristi Gooden, Principal Customer Success Manager, Kantata This is part 2 of a 3-part series from experienced resource management practitioner Kristi Gooden focusing on how professional services organizations can help their teams work better, faster, and happier; read part 1, focused on skills mapping, here. The professional services industry is more unpredictable than ever…
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Better, Faster, Happier Teams Part 1: The Importance of Skills Mapping
By Kristi Gooden, Principal Customer Success Manager, Kantata This is part 1 of a 3-part series from experienced resource management practitioner Kristi Gooden focusing on how professional services organizations can help their teams work better, faster, and happier; parts 2 and 3 will focus on flex workforce best practices and employee engagement. The professional services…
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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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Enterprise Times Highlights the Gaps That Plague Professional Services and the Solutions to Modern Resource Problems
It can be easy for a professional services organization to be so focused on the businesses it serves that it begins to neglect its own needs and the shifting demands of both current and prospective employees. To help companies better understand their needs and improve how their already talented teams work together, Kantata has teamed…
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5 Ways Companies Struggle With Utilization Rates and What They Can Do
Within every professional services organization lies greater potential than managers often realize. For your business to effectively grow, take on new team members, and adapt to the changing market around it, you need to truly understand where your organization’s strengths lie and remove the obstacles that limit it. One of the most effective ways of…
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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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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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Salesforce’s Michael Maoz on Boosting Employee Excellence
by Michael Speranza, CEO, Kantata How can professional services organizations improve employee satisfaction while continuing to prioritize digital transformation? It’s a dual question that’s top of mind for many business leaders (or should be). Michael Maoz, Senior Vice President of Innovation Strategy at Salesforce, a longtime Kantata partner, joined me on stage during our recent…
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The Three Biggest Resource Forecasting Challenges and How to Solve Them
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast focuses on why resource forecasting continues to be one of the largest inhibitors at services organizations, and recommendations for how to overcome this challenge. Banoo Behboodi hosts the episode, with special guest Marc Lacroix, who is a partner at RTM Consulting and on the board at…
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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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How To Get a Project Back on Track With Resource Management Software
A resource manager cannot effectively work without the right resources. A resource can refer to a person, a good, a building in which to work or assemble items, and anything needed to get a job done. As a manager, the most important element of the job is to ensure that the company has enough resources…
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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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Help Your Team Stay Up to Date on Projects With Accurate Project Resource Planning
Your business can find itself in trouble if, in the middle of a project, you realize that you are short on people to finish it. Many companies have found themselves in this predicament, but despite this becoming a common occurrence across the professional services industry, the only true way to prevent it is to improve…
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Resource Management System: A Complete Overview for Professional Services Teams
The best way to streamline workflows and maximize profits is to implement a resource management system – software specifically designed to support planning, scheduling, and assigning workers, funds, and technology to projects so you can make the most of the resources available to you. When you implement the right type of resource management system, you…
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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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Quick Guide: How to Define & Calculate Billable Performance to Target
Services firms have a profound need for business intelligence (BI) to make sense of vast information in order to make profitable decisions. Without this clarity, success is just an illusion. So how do you move from busy to breakthroughs? The following article will discuss one of the five most critical metrics that every services business…
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The Importance of PTO Planning
Learn how poorly-managed paid time off can negatively impact business, and how to properly plan PTO to boost morale and optimize scheduling.
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Essential Elements of Services Success: What is Resource Allocation?
This is the third entry in our “Essential Elements of Services Success” blog series focused on helping professional services organizations strengthen the core of their business processes. Check out the first entry about resource management plans and the second entry assessing resource capacity planning. A great team is nothing without strong resource allocation. It’s the difference…
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Essential Elements of Services Success: How to Assess Resource Capacity Planning
This is the second in the “Essential Elements of Services Success” blog series focused on helping professional services organizations strengthen the core of their business processes. Read the first entry about resource management plans here. The key to success in the professional services industry is ensuring decision-makers across your business understand this fact: your profits…
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7 Ways You Might Be Driving Away Your Resources
This is an excerpt from Kantata’s new ebook, “The Guide to Retaining and Growing Your Professional Services Workforce.” Click here to read the full ebook. While most employees do leave a company eventually as their careers evolve, many businesses actually unintentionally drive their employees away. Here are some of the major causes of turnover in…
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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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Three Trends Driving Resource Management Automation Today
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast features Randy Mysliviec, President and CEO at RTM Consulting and the managing director of the Resource Management Institute (RMI). This episode, hosted by Brent Trimble, focuses on the results of RMI’s survey on Resource Management Automation Tools and Solutions. Brent and Randy dive into the emerging…
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Building the Best Resource Management System
To save money and maximize profits, your business needs to manage its resources properly. Today’s modern resource management tools make getting the most out of your teams easier than ever, and best of all, you don’t need to create a patchwork of multiple software solutions to build the best system. That’s why Kantata created a…