Strategies Required for Services Success in 2023 and Beyond: Double-Down on Client Success
Challenges, Trends & Best Practices from Our Recent Webinar With TSIA
As the end of the year quickly approaches, many business leaders are taking a moment to prepare themselves for some of the unique challenges that seem to be surfacing as businesses head into 2023. This exact theme drove a recent TSIA webinar, where TSIA’s VP of Technology Services, John Ragsdale, sat down with Kantata’s VP of Global Advisory Services, Uriah Hakala, to discuss what can be done to set professional services organizations up for success in the coming year – and beyond.
The blog below, the first in a three part series, summarizes the highlights of their conversation, including the first of three key opportunities they outlined and four action items businesses can deploy to ensure they’re positioned to take advantage of those opportunities. If you’d like to dive deeper into the topic, follow this link to watch the entire webinar.
Strategy #1: Double-Down on Client Success
According to John Ragsdale, professional services has historically focused on revenue, margin and profitability as key charters and measures of success. However, there is a shift occurring where services organizations are realizing the importance of customer success — customer adoption and customer value are proving to be an equally, if not more important charter for services-centric businesses.
Action Item: Adapt to the Changing Economic Climate
Amidst the uncertainty of 2023, Uriah Hakala believes the key to success is realizing “your customers are your business, [so] deliver truly remarkable experiences, double down on customer success, add a personal touch to every engagement.” Uriah reminds everyone that as the economy is shifting, so should our practices: “Customer experience may not have been the top priority in the last 10-12 years when the economy has been good and projects have been flowing, but it needs to be the priority today. Take the extra step to ensure the customer is having a great experience and customers are happy.” Part of accomplishing this will mean understanding that every project and client is different and unique. You cannot measure success the same from one to the next. Ensure what you are delivering to each client actually provides clear value dependent on the capabilities and maturity level of each client and project.
Action Item: Sync Professional Services Goals with Customer Success Goals
It is crucial to better connect your professional services team with the customer success team — only by working together can they monetize customer success by consistently delivering the outcomes that customers expect. Customer success teams have relationships with clients that help them understand why the business is using the technology in the first place, the outcomes they want to see, and what methodologies are best-suited to increase time to value and adoption.
Action Item: Focus on Outcome-Based Delivery Models
Delivering professional services successfully today requires a focus on outcomes — with the customer experience at the core of every project. What does this mean? According to Uriah, “this means being more prescriptive about outcomes. Outcomes are an entirely new client engagement model, a pathway aligning expectations to predictably reach the desired end goal.”
Action Item: Build Personal Relationships That Transcend Remote Working Conditions
John explains how the shift to remote work has reduced the opportunity to build a personal relationship with clients – “Being on Zoom, you need to find unique ways to bond with the customer and provide a personalized experience to show you are truly invested in their success and want to get to know them. You now need to find new ways to show you are part of their team, an extension to their department, and the main goal is to make them successful.”
Learn More
This is only the first of three key strategies outlined in the conversation with John and Uriah. To learn more about how to double-down on client success follow this link to watch the entire webinar. Keep an eye out for the second and third installments of this series to learn the next two strategies and action items that will set professional services organizations up for success in 2023 and beyond.