Redefining success for your Professional Services organizations starts with redefining what success means to your clients. The services engineering functions within a professional services organization have been no exception, as they focus primarily on product-attached and product deployment-oriented services. If you believe you are seeing this message in error,
In addition to their subject matter expertise, often what … Doing so will help secure profits both in the immediate future and years down the road. An essential requirement for any such enterprise software solution is the implementation and professional services that come with such a complex, costly solution. Come up with a mission statement that broadly communicates the purpose of your organization. Making sure customers are effectively using the technology solutions they have bought is known as “adoption services.” Every tech firm will need to provide them in one form or another if they’re to successfully adapt to this shift in the customer-supplier relationship. The PSOs who are doing it right are the ones who have a formal link into product engineering, which enables them to stay out in front of new products that require implementation services and bug fixes. During each phase, the hiring priority for these four types of skills is different. This is vital when it comes to organization and the execution of its services. At TSIA, we will periodically conduct a comprehensive Professional Services (PS) Compensation Study, which also doubles as a benchmark for how PS businesses are staffed with various skill sets and levels. Enter professional services organizations (PSOs). The Technology & Services Industry Association (TSIA) is dedicated to helping technology and services organizations large and small grow and advance in the technology industry. Use services teams to grow revenue with existing customers. While the technology services industry is moving toward outcome-based services, most professional services organizations have to be able to adapt and transform even as they defend, protect, and improve their Level 2 capabilities. The Balance Small Business ... You can expand services easily or offer retainer services. This blog is my contribution to those folks who struggle to start and grow a professional IT services organization. Your business has to keep up the pace, which means delegating responsibilities and project management to a reputable third-party organization. According to the results of TSIA’s most recent PS Market Rates Study, the compensation rates for industry experts are typically on the high end, while discounting is typically on the low end, even for product-oriented, classic professional services. Located in Pittsburgh, Chris Miksen has been writing instructional articles on a wide range of topics for online publications since 2007. Technology hardware companies are no longer achieving the same margins they once did, and this trend is rapidly expanding to software, as low-priced SaaS offers reset customer expectations. defend, protect, and improve their Level 2 capabilities, Optimizing Professional Services for LAER, TSIA Professional Services Advisory Board, Tips for a Successful Professional Services Organization. Because a professional services organization’s business model relies on the effectiveness and efficiency of its services, the organization’s employees largely affect its ability to strike a deal with clients. B2B brand and product positioning will only continue to become more important with the rise of the End User Era. The platform will be just as operational either way, but implementation services is a Level 2 play, while engaging with the customer to direct the adoption activities of both the supplier and the customer is at Level 3. Cons. Much of the client’s technology infrastructures still reside in the client’s data center, behind the firewall, and, besides, when it comes to getting users familiar with new software interfaces, nothing beats person-to-person training and coaching. Now that customers are pursuing new consumption models that no longer require a large up-front purchase, it’s forcing tech firms to develop offers where the customer pays as they consume. Technology Consumption and Data Analytics. Many companies become dependent on the professional services organization to get into major enterprise customers by offering “strategic services” or “pilot implementation” at deeply discounted rates. Evolve your channel and partner model to drive as-a-service revenue growth. For software companies selling to business, selling into increasingly larger and more sophisticated customers is one of the key strategies to get rapid, scalable growth. One of the most important attributes of a professional services organization is its vision. Here’s What NOT to Do. The Mind Tools website explains that attrition is largely responsible for a professional services organization’s lack of profit. encroaching into the domain of big-pocketed competitors. Here’s a short overview of the kinds of adoption services you can offer: Consumption monitoring is an annuity service offered by the customer support organization designed to report to the customer on current adoption or utilization levels. A project-based service offering by professional services designed to plan the optimal adoption of a new technology deployment. Outline your vision. This service should report on end-user adoption (EUA) levels, feature or capability adoption, and volumes. A thorough review of the services you provide, how you provide them and what lead to past success and failure is important so that you can determine what works and what doesn’t.