Upgrade your professional service firm’s systems to improve time management
Business cliché’s like ‘The Friday Dash’, which remain an issue in the modern day, highlight that time management is an issue for many industries but particularly for professional service firms.
With back-office solutions like ERP, it’s become clear that poor management of time is often down to administrative or manual, often low-value, tasks such as data entry or consolidation.
In this blog we are going to explore how professional service firms can turn more profit by managing time better and the role that ERP process automation plays in this – read the blog to learn more!
The cost of poor time management
Time is money, as the old adage goes, but it remains true even in our modern operating environment.
In a firm with 200 fee earners, working 220 days a year, making $1000 per employee per day in billable revenue, with a 70% utilization rate and a 15% margin will see $30.8m in a year in revenue, and $4.62m in profit. Increase utilization to 73.5% (by only 3.5%) revenue jumps to $32.34m – an increase of around 5%.
However, because the firm’s costs haven’t changed, this additional $1.54m can be added directly to margin. This means that if we boost utilization by 3.5%, we can increase margin from 15% to 19% and total profit by 33%.
It’s clear that greater utilization, and thus bench time, are key metrics that professional firms should monitor and try to optimize. This requires not just project data but integration with employee data, and much more, to utilize your employees optimally.
Moreover, this isn’t just about numbers, your staff need to be supported by systems that breed productivity and make their working life easier, not harder.
Click to read How to win the service game with ERP Gated
The impact of systems on time management
Firstly, many firms may not even have succinct data methods to track their KPIs, such as utilization, so will struggle to even have visibility of the metrics that dictate profit. Without visibility of data, it’s not clear what needs to change, and where.
Systems that prioritize a data-led culture mean that even employees can get visibility of their own performance, which can drive them harder to address time management issues themselves.
This all boils down to the employee at the end of the day. Systems don’t just give them data, but enable them to automate processes that are manual and time-consuming.
With a Cloud ERP system that integrates with a CRM, when a client is onboarded, their data can be inputted and consolidated immediately, automating the process, leaving more time for analysis of client data and how it relates to project data. With this visibility of data, optimizing utilization, among other KPIs, is clear.
For example, Unit4 customer NRS managed to save 2500 hours annually by reducing time spent on HR admin tasks and saved 50 hours monthly in their finance workflow by automating certain tasks.
As operational complexity grows with increasingly tightening schedules and resource limitations, technology’s importance in improving efficiency, effectiveness, and resilience will be critical.
Not only is reducing manual tasks important for time management, but both have a natural effect on employee satisfaction, enabling modern employees to use modern tools that make them more productive. Naturally, prospective modern talent will expect modern tools and not manual tasks.
How can Unit4 help you improve time management in your firm?
We have deep knowledge of the professional services industry and its operational complexities. With the right technology supporting you, your firm can focus on People Experience to help free your professionals to do more of what matters: attracting, supporting, and retaining clients.
Unit4’s people-centric, project-focused solutions are purpose-built so firms can better manage their businesses with industry-leading software for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Capital Management (HCM), and Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A).
Our solutions are designed to help you track project KPIs, including estimated time-to-completion, time spent, and expenses, to manage time across projects. Advanced reporting capabilities enable ad hoc access to data, allowing employees to interrogate data easily and adapt operations through analysis of the KPIs driving profit.
To learn more, visit our product page dedicated to professional services, or talk to sales today.
