Industries
Professional Services
Competition in professional services and consulting remains high and the talent war remains, even in a recession. Pricing pressures, project delays and other factors are putting increased pressure on utilization and other efficiencies.
Employee Retention and Turnover
Professional services firms recognize that their people are their most valuable assets. Finding and retaining talent remains a challenge. The cost of turnover is too high and in the current market retention has a big impact on the bottom line. Firms must craft a culture of shared goals and values and they must build a structure of peer relationships that fosters governance and accountability for customer relationships.
Use of Technology to Reduce Delivery Costs
Professional service organizations are confronted with issues such as sustaining profitability and customer satisfaction. Execution is the principal driver to competitive differentiation. Organizations must provide the tools that allow professionals to collaborate, control and manage content and produce timely, high-quality deliverables for clients while maintaining sound security. When done correctly, the adoption of technology can reduce costs related to turnover, lost data, transportation, etc.
Outsourcing
While outsourcing begets competition in the professional services marketplace, it is also a viable means to reducing costs associated with non-core functions. As companies face an increasingly competitive marketplace outsourcing certain non-core operations such as payroll, billing, research, etc., can reduce costs. The global recession will likely accelerate adoption. However, while the promise of cost savings provides a strong incentive to explore options, there is risks and complexity that go along with these choices. Careful deal structuring, planning, service level agreements and other factors must be considered. Internal processes and controls to ensure quality of service must be established and maintained. Outsourcing can deliver significant benefits, but return on investment will only be realized with appropriate due diligence and planning.
Worforce Mobility
Businesses are recognizing the importance of allowing employees to do their jobs outside of the office; work is no longer linked to a physical location. As mobile technologies gain reliability and as standards develop, companies are rolling-out integrated, organization-wide solutions that factor mobility into their infrastructure and process in order to support business growth. The marketplace has experienced rapid growth in mobile software, including secure mobile e-mail, mobile instant messaging (IM), and mobilized corporate applications like customer relationship management (CRM) programs, which have made communication on-demand a reality. These applications are opening up channels of communication, access to corporate information, data synchronization, and document collaboration and sharing. However, while organizations have realized enhanced productivity through the deployment of this infrastructure, these technologies come with security risks that should not be ignored. Companies need to understand the security concerns emerging technologies carry in order to deliver, maintain and support applications and infrastructure without compromising business operations.
How Can MorganFranklin Help?
MorganFranklin provides a wide range of solutions to help the business services providers tackle some of the big challenges facing today’s market. From mobility and security to process improvement and internal controls, our professionals have the expertise to help you navigate many of the challenges you face.Explore our capabilities
