Kantata Turns One: Lessons Learned in 2022 & What to Expect in 2023
The latest episode of Kantata’s Professional Services Pursuit Podcast celebrates one year since the merger between Kimble and Mavenlink and the launch of the company now known as Kantata. Brent Trimble hosts the episode, with special guest Michael Speranza, CEO of Kantata. The discussion focuses on what Michael has learned as a CEO in the first year, and the insight he has gleaned from speaking directly with Kantata clients. Most notably, he shares some of the most common challenges faced by businesses in the professional services industry and how Kantata is uniquely positioned to help clients overcome these hurdles.
The blog below focuses on the priorities and lessons learned in Kantata’s first year, as well as some of the predictions and best practices for how to solve the emerging challenges of 2023. To hear the entire discussion, listen to the entire episode here.
Looking Back at Priorities From 2022
- Evangelizing the Kantata Brand
As Kantata emerged as an organization this time last year, the initial focus was to align the two companies, cultures, and products with as little friction as possible. Michael recalls, “the first half of the year was really focused on moving quickly to unite these companies… and really start to position ourselves to unlock the value that’s nestled within these two companies at a greater scale.”
After establishing the Kantata brand, it was all about getting buy-in from customers and providing a clear vision of the potential value of the company. According to Michael, “we really made sure that we were evangelizing the Kantata brand to our customers in every form that we had.” - Hyper-Focus on the Customer
As Michael stepped into the role of CEO he wanted to build personal relationships with as many customers as he could so he could truly understand not only the problems they were facing, but how Kantata could solve them.
According to Michael, “For me, the first hundred days were trying to get out to as many clients to inform my perspective… I’ve been doing that all year and really making sure that I’m building a 360 degree view of not just how they’re receiving our products today, but where they think the vision is for the industry, what their pain points are, and then making sure that all of that is factored back into our strategies, our product roadmaps, and how we’re building this company for the future.”
Lessons Learned in 2022
- Pain Was Greater Than Expected
Michael knew professional services organizations had been historically underserved by technology, but as he says, “it was really at a crescendo that was even greater than I expected.” Businesses in the industry were really being impacted by the lack of available products to help them run their businesses. He recognized the enormous opportunity for Kantata to step in, evolve, and provide the guidance that these businesses had been yearning for. Michael recalls, “despite us really offering a great solution for them, which, according to clients, has a massive ROI and provides a tremendous value to the business, there’s still so much more that we can do for them.”
Prior to the merger, Kimble and Mavenlink were solving many of the challenges and pain points common across the industry, but it was clear that Kantata had the opportunity to evolve and grow to truly deliver next-level functionality to its clients. Michael was excited to learn that the pain points were real and according to him, “there’s a tangible, quantifiable value to provide when they take the journey with us and deploy our products.” - Organizations Have Failed To Realize the Value of Technology
In building these personal relationships with clients, Michael asked the questions to understand why many services organizations are struggling. According to Michael, “My favorite question to ask when I meet with a prospective or even current client is: what do you use to run your services business? The response that comes back most often from a C-level executive is, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ They almost don’t know how to answer. And to me, that’s such a telling response. A lot of these executives are just not thinking critically enough.”
The fact that C-level executives are in the dark about how technology can help fuel success at their business revealed the immense opportunity for Kantata to step in and lend a helping hand. Oftentimes, leaders are running these businesses with a stack of various software systems, or as Michael puts it, “a hodgepodge of different solutions.” - Leaders Are Hesitant To Move to Vertical Purpose-Built Software
Oftentimes, in services, the technology in place tends to be poorly integrated or is simply not being used in the right way. Software isn’t being leveraged to inform key business decisions that not only drive revenue but overall business scalability and success. Michael says, “when it comes down to it you still see multi-billion dollar organizations that are using their gut, that are running this business on a spreadsheet. They simply just don’t understand what tools and processes they have in place to actually run this business.”
This reveals a real gap that exists in the industry today, especially when an organization is hesitant to adopt purpose-built, modern software that is built to tackle the actual problems that exist — and will continue to exist — in the industry today. Michael recalls, “A lot of the clients that are in this space today are dealing with kind of legacy, on-premise solutions… many of them are just stuck in the past and a lot of the benefit and the value that they’ll see in taking the journey is moving to a solution that is purpose-built specifically for the needs of their industry.” Upon realizing many organizations were using outdated, incapable systems, Michael says “it was loud and clear that there’s just tremendous opportunity from customers to move to a focused, tailored provider.”
Challenges & Opportunities for 2023
Even prior to the great resignation that dominated the past few years, the greatest challenge faced by Kantata clients has always been employee retention and attrition. Michael recognizes that “the great resignation just really escalated that.” However, he notes that today, the demand for services from clients is largely surpassing capacity. These two forces are working against one another, and are driving the most significant challenge faced by clients today — they simply can’t recruit or hire at the rates to match demand.
The recessionary state of the economy is pushing business leaders to be extremely cautious as they enter the new year. However, clients are slightly less hesitant to continue business as usual. Through his conversations with clients, “they are incredibly reticent to pump the brakes because there’s an extreme cost to doing so…they know that doing so would just be putting themselves on their back foot.” Clients are aware that demand is increasing while leaders are reluctant to invest. This creates a major rift, and Michael suggests the three following best practices to overcome these two opposing forces in 2023.
Best Practices to Combat Opposing Forces in 2023
- Invest in Your Talent
According to Michael, “In any time of outstretched demand I think one of the elements that tends to suffer is making sure that you’re reinvesting in your staff…We need to really pause, go back, assess our talent pools and and make sure that we’re investing in the talent and that they’re growing alongside the business and that they themselves are acquiring and enriching new skills.” - Optimize Processes To Reduce Costs
Michael says, “when you have a buoyant business model… you’ll tend to focus on the revenue side of the business as opposed to the cost side of the business. You tend to be potentially a little bit less efficient, or you’re focusing on getting the revenue in as opposed to optimizing the way that you’re actually conducting your business and still maintaining that level of discipline on a continuous basis.” Michael predicts that technology will become a big part of optimizing processes and reducing costs in 2023.
He shares, “Certainly over the next six to twelve months, customers in the industry will be looking at technology and how it could provide better visibility, better efficiency, give them more control of the business, and allow them to manage it at a level of precision that’s quite honestly necessary.” - Resist the Urge To Overreact to Daily Crises
Michael shares, “I’ve seen a lot of leaders tend to be overly myopic on the news of the day or the crisis of what’s happening. In my view, it’s generally wasted energy. You need to understand the crisis, characterize it, make an assumption, and then understand how it’s going to impact the operation of your business.” Despite the unique challenges ahead, and increasing pressure being put on businesses due to the uncertainty of the time, Michael suggests that it’s important to “align your teams to respond to it in a positive way, ‘we’re going to ask more questions, we’re going to validate things multiple times… and we’re going to make sure that we’re really driving an ROI out of the investments that we’re making in the company.’”
This may seem like a straightforward business practice, but it enables an organization to use actual data, rather than gut instinct or emotion to inform decision making. “If you use data to inform those decisions and do it in an open and transparent manner, you find that everybody aligns and gets together and moves forward in a more constructive manner. Amplify your listening and ask the questions that you are potentially afraid of the answer. The sooner you seek out that information and understand it, the better equipped you are to respond to it.”
Final Thoughts
This blog is just a sneak peak into the entire conversation between Brent and Michael. If you’d like to learn more about Kantata’s first year in business, the lessons learned, and predictions for the future, listen to the entire podcast episode here. Subscribe to the The Professional Services Pursuit Podcast to stay up to date on the latest expert advice, trends, and best practices surrounding the professional services industry.