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 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 specific needs. This will often result in businesses cobbling together multiple software solutions and asking technology that isn’t designed for professional services work to do things it wasn’t built to do. This may work in the short run, but the unnecessary complications and errors that are created will only stack up over time.
What today’s organizations need is purpose-built technology designed for the professional services world.
What Is Purpose-Built Technology?
The general term “purpose-built technology” is defined as a software solution that is specifically designed for the purpose its users are using it for. When it comes to professional services companies, purpose-built technology will be designed specifically to support the needs of organizations doing billable services work for clients such as agencies, IT services businesses, consulting firms, and software companies with embedded services teams. This technology will include support for client-inclusive project work, resource management capabilities that allow for juggling multiple ongoing projects and multiple managers, and the flexibility to track cost and revenue across multiple different service models.
The technology a professional services business runs on must be able to handle a wide variety of project types, timelines, requirements, tasks, and resource skills. When companies depend on jerry-rigged technology for day to day work, there are limitations on the number of ways that projects can be run, leading to major setbacks when the parameters of a project change.
Purpose-built professional services software doesn’t create the same issues that come from using software that was never designed for the kinds of projects professional services organizations run or from cobbling together multiple pieces of technology to create a project management process not offered by any single piece of tech. While these improvised solutions can temporarily support the needs of small businesses, any real growth in business size or client pool can easily overburden the system, leading to complications.
The Benefits of Purpose-Built Technology in Professional Services
The biggest benefit of using purpose-built technology as a professional services organization is having true support for daily operations. Instead of having to continually export data to spreadsheets and cobble together project plans between multiple software solutions, purpose-built tech is designed to provide everything that a business needs to run smoothly. Time entry, team member skills databases, task assignments, detailed project management data, all found in a single cloud solution that surfaces the insights people across the business need to consistently deliver outcomes to their clients.
Time isn’t just money for a business, it’s always in short supply. By using software that doesn’t force its users to manually manage data or jump between multiple solutions, hours and hours of valuable time is automatically saved. Add in automated tasks that free up team members to tackle billable work and your resource utilization rates can be maximized without burning them out. Instead, they can be used to the best of their abilities through insightful, informed management tactics.
When looking for new software for professional services, managers would benefit from looking for a purpose-built solution that has proven paths to success for companies like theirs. When paired with skilled managers, the results can truly change the future of an organization.
Unleash the Power of Purpose-Built Technology
Kantata is purpose-built technology for clarity, control and confidence. Learn how you can serve your clients like never before with the power of The Kantata Professional Services Cloud.