Guidehouse Consulting Increases Efficiency to Drive Profitability
Industry
Company
What Kantata Replaced
Headquarters
The Challenge
Over the years, Guidehouse (formerly Navigant) developed homegrown systems and sophisticated spreadsheets to help run their business. However, information needed to be extracted from multiple systems and input into an Excel file, which could only be done once daily. As the company and number of projects grew and became more complex in nature, their needs outgrew the capabilities of their existing systems. Facing tremendous growth and an increasingly global and cross-functional workforce, silos of information made it increasingly difficult for Guidehouse to:
Scale an expertise-based, global practice
To successfully deliver client work, the Guidehouse team needed access to real-time information about consultants. This process only became more complicated and less efficient as the team grew, and the search and coordination costs of staffing projects were eating up valuable, non-billable time.
Efficiently deploy resources
Consultants were either being under or over utilized because there was no way to see the global resource pool, which was impacting the firm’s profitability.
Capitalize on expertise
The team found that they were wasting time and money on repeatable tasks. For example, re-creating proposals for similar projects because team members in different offices didn’t know who to ask or where to look.
Guidehouse is a publicly held global professional services firm that combines deep industry knowledge with technical expertise to enable companies to defend, protect and create value. The firm serves clients primarily in the healthcare, energy, and financial services sectors which represent highly complex market and regulatory environments.
“As a professional services firm, you need to have immediate access to the right information about your salable resources; things like skills, expertise and interests allow us to create the right team to tackle every client challenge.”
Managing Director, Guidehouse
The Solution
Guidehouse wanted to switch to an innovative, modern technology solution that would help them be more predictable in how they managed their business. “We didn’t want to feel like we were going backwards. We needed a solution for 5 years down the road.” They declared the mission for the search to “deliver a transformational change in our operating model that optimizes skills and collective knowledge through a real-time resource, knowledge, and project management system.”
The Guidehouse team began the search for a modern technology solution that would enhance collaboration and therefore drive better business outcomes. The new platform had to more than facilitate communication, it had to inherently change the way their employees were able to work together to enable growth, while retaining strengths as a boutique consultancy. They started the selection process by evaluating 30 different solutions, and narrowed those down to a few applications that they put into active tests.
In the end, it was Kantata’s modern and intuitive UI, unique product capabilities for professional services organizations, and vision for the future that beat the competition. In Kantata they found:
- A cloud-based solution to centralize knowledge
- A platform for contextualized collaboration
- Access to real-time information about distributed resources
- Insights to help drive professional development
“As we grew, we needed more sophisticated tools to measure and monitor our business in real-time so we can more effectively manage everything from utilization to forecasted revenue.”
Associate Director, Guidehouse
Benefits
- Improved global collaboration
- Increased billable utilization
- Greater resource visibility and planning agility
- Improved predictability of project success
Real-time access to resource availability
Satisfied clients fueling incredible growth
The Results
In the past year, the Life Sciences practice at Guidehouse has experienced significant growth and expansion. Embedding Kantata into core business processes has helped the firm effectively leverage their team, work together efficiently, and grow with confidence.
Reduced Non-Billable Time Staffing Projects from Days to Minutes
Before Kantata, Guidehouse would have to send emails and wait to hear back from people about availability and relevant expertise when putting together a proposal and staffing projects. Now, Kantata has automated this information in real-time, reducing the time required to collaborate on projects from days to minutes.
Improved Strategic Deployment of Resources
The team can look historically, as well as into the future, to determine if they are applying the right skill sets to the right projects. There is a significant difference between strategically deploying resources to projects and simply deploying people who are available, and they have shifted to the former.
More Informed Hiring Decisions
With Kantata’s robust resource management capabilities, Guidehouse is able to make more strategic hiring decisions. They can forecast where resources are needed, what types of skills are required, and at what level. This ensures an optimal resource mix and improves profitability.
“Integrating resource and project management in one solution is hugely important for our business. I can’t emphasize that enough. It aligns the way we deliver our work, with the way that we manage our resources.”
Associate Director, Guidehouse