News & Views

Written recently by Michael Burns and sponsored by Deltek – “Business software systems are similar when it comes to basic functionality, but you need to look under the hood for the functionality specific to project–focused businesses (PFBs).This white paper will discuss the major functional differentiators of a PFB system as well as other criteria to consider when making a vendor selection decision…”

October 2008 from Service Performance Insight – “…Running a Professional Services Organization (PSO) is very complex – it is a game which must be won with “singles and doubles”, not homeruns; so it is imperative to know which KPI’s are “essential”, ones PSOs must continually measure, and ones that are “nice to have” but not essential. The challenge for all Services executives is how to balance Customers, Employees, Partners and Operations…”

180 View – I became aware of this article through Computer Business Review’s June 22, 2010 newsletter. This is a must read if you work or consult for a PSO.

June 3, 2010 from Forrester – “Deltek’s announcement today of its intent to acquire Maconomy has the potential to vault the vendor’s position as a potential leader in the project-based solutions (PBS) space. For midmarket organizations that deliver projects as a crucial part of their revenue generation, this is a good move…”

180 View – Seems like a brilliant move by Deltek to acquire a large customer base and open up new industries and geographies.

January 2009 from NetSuite – “In this whitepaper we are publishing for the first time the “Killer KPI’s” (Key Performance Indicators) for leadership. We think you will be as astounded as we were to discover that great…or poor leadership permeates every facet of professional service organizational performance…”

180 View – The white paper is worth a read to see the importance of leadership but also for “In best-case scenarios, the Executive Leadership team of the company creates an overall “Business Blueprint” based on a finite set of measurable goals and develops mutually supportive measurements and key performance targets to drive functional alignment. In this representative “Business Blueprint”, the organization created a primary set of four key operating goals to support and drive the mission and vision:
• Delight our customers
• Provide a great place to work
• Deliver shareholder value
• Focus on precision execution…”
Check this out for examples of mission, goals, objectives and strategic initiatives.

June 2, 2008 from ZDNet – “NetSuite said Monday that it has acquired OpenAir, which provides on-demand professional services automation software, for $26 million in cash.

All 56 OpenAir employees will continue to work at NetSuite–will give the company a Boston beachhead and an avenue to target the professional services vertical. NetSuite said in a statement that it will integrate OpenAir’s software to target services companies including IT consultants, legal and accounting firms and government contractors.”

180 View – Smart move for both OpenAir and NetSuite. The deal will give OpenAir much higher visibility and more opportunities. As well, NetSuite will provide missing OpenAir functionality in financials and CRM. NetSuite gets a new/big market opportunity for professional service based companies.

September 2007 from CAmagazine and written by Michael Burns – “Our annual CAmagazine software survey is back and this year it’s bigger than ever. We combined all our surveys — accounting/ERP, customer relationship management, business intelligence/corporate performance management and professional services automation — into this issue…”

April 26, 2007 – based on an interview conducted by Michael Burns of 180 Systems – Deltek is one of the leading providers of Enterprise Applications Software for project-focused organizations. They have acquired many competitors over the years including Wind2, Sema4 and Harper and Shuman. They have been very successful in the US public service sector with their own Costpoint system. A few years ago, they released their Vision system, which, along with Costpoint, GCS Premier and Enterprise Product Management, is one of Deltek’s four product lines. Vision is one of the few Professional Services Automation solutions that not only includes all the operational functionality required by professional service-based organizations (project management, time and expense management, client billing…), but also includes financials.

Vision is targeted to companies with 50-5,000+ employees. There is also a Vision Small Business system that contains the same code but preconfigured for smaller firms. Deltek has about 12,000 customers worldwide (1,200+ on Vision), with aggressive plans to expand. They recently opened up a new Canadian office and now have 5 employees. Deltek will provide implementation services direct for their larger clients and their business partners will provide implementation services for the smaller clients.

Whitepaper from QuickArrow – “Billable Services Organizations can benefit greatly from the use of a Professional Services Automation (PSA) solution. Choosing the correct PSA application is one of the most important decisions a services organization can make; as such, it can also be a daunting challenge. Many factors should be taken into account when comparing PSA solutions – some related to technology and others based on functionality. The goal is to select a solution that is compatible with your business goals and is easy to use.”

180 View – Although this article is written by one of the PSA vendors, you will find useful information that is written without the typical marketing spin.

May 2006 from CAmagazine written by Michael Burns – Check out our survey that includes Abak, Adagio, BalaBoss, BST, Business First, CaseWare, Corecon, Envision, Epicor, Exact Globe. Jovaco, Maconomy, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, OpenAir, OroTimesheet, Project InVision, Projector, ResQ, QuickArrow, Sage, SunSystems, Tenrox, and TPS.