New Forrester data reveals why PSA solutions matter for services growth
Joe Thomas is Certinia’s Enterprise Solution Director and Global Analytics Evangelist. With years of experience helping organizations transform their services delivery, Joe is always on the lookout for fresh data and insights to help customers maximize their PSA investment. You can contact him at [email protected].
We recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct fresh primary research on how organizations use (or plan to use) Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions. The results appear in a new report titled “Improve Customer Centricity and Unlock Lifecycle Visibility with PSA Solutions” which you can download here.
If you’re looking to grow your services business—or are simply curious about the latest trends in PSA—this is worth the read. Of course, if growth isn’t your thing, feel free to skip it!
Let me give you a few reasons to check out this new report:
1. Robust Research Methodology
I’ve come across many “State of Professional Services” reports that rely on small, curated groups of existing customers, sometimes fewer than 100 participants. Unsurprisingly, the findings end up sounding like a vendor’s marketing pitch. Not so here. Forrester surveyed over 600 service delivery professionals, with 95% at the director level or above, across companies of various sizes and geographies. Eighty percent have more than 1,000 employees, and half have more than 5,000 employees. They share the details in the methodology section (page 22, Appendix A and B), so you can see just how comprehensive this study really is.
2. Surprising Data Points
Great research should reveal surprises—otherwise, why bother? One finding that jumped out is on page 4: nearly 80% believe PSA is critical to their organization’s future growth, but only 44% have a solid PSA solution in place. I expected a gap, but not a 36% shortfall between the desire to grow and the state of actual deployments.
3. Customer Lifecycle Visibility
Another surprise is how many “high maturity” organizations (those excelling at customer lifecycle visibility) still rely on two or more platforms for that visibility (page 17, figure 13). That’s not just two applications; it’s two platforms, each hosting dozens of apps. Meanwhile, key customer and project metrics often remain tracked manually, on an ad hoc basis (page 9, figure 5). So even among leaders, there’s a fair bit of “stitching” and “spreadsheeting” behind the scenes.
What wasn’t surprising? Forrester’s key recommendations. I’ll let you discover those inside the study. I’d love to hear your thoughts—what did you find surprising, spot-on, or missing? Feel free to email me at [email protected]. I’m already brainstorming topics for the next wave of research and would welcome your input.
Ready to dive in? Click here to download the full Forrester study.
Happy reading!
