What can services teams do to boost profits in 2018?
In the new services economy, professional services has evolved from a “nice to have” to a major revenue generator. Have you made the right adjustments to ensure your services organization plays a key role in the customer journey? Below are three tips that will help you optimize your services delivery processes and get more customer-centric in 2018.
Tip #1 — Connect your CRM and Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions
Studies from Aberdeen Group and SPI Research prove that the most successful services organizations integrate a cloud PSA solution with their CRM, establishing a master customer record from which all teams and departments operate. Not only will you gain a 360° view of customers, projects, people, and financials, but you can also connect customer and project data to improve resource utilization, project health, and profitability.
Tip #2 — Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics
With services making a bigger impact on client satisfaction and revenue, an accurate, predictable forecast matters even more to the health of your business. In the past, most organizations would build a forecast that spreads the revenue evenly over a number of months after the close date. Forecasting for services, however, must match how those services will actually be delivered and realized, requiring a customer-centric PSA with embedded AI.
Tip #3 — Embrace social tools for true collaboration
The best services companies must effectively collaborate, share, and communicate with customers and partners. Leverage online community technology and social tools like Salesforce Chatter to provide all stakeholders—in or outside your firm—with access to the most real-time and relevant information, reports, and project plans. True collaboration tools make it easy to update, schedule, broadcast, motivate, document, and note anything and everything related to projects.
