“We know which providers move faster or slower. It doesn’t really show up on any formal selection criteria, but some providers aren’t even going to hear from us because we know it will take them too long to respond.”
No professional services provider wants to be on the “slow” list. And what’s more, the firms that do make this list may be oblivious to the reputation they’ve developed.
In our recent pulse survey, Winning Deals and Improving Margins, conducted among both professional services providers and their clients in the IT industry, we uncovered eye-opening opinions — like the one above from the business leader at a Fortune 100 financial institution. This respondent was one of many clients rating “faster decision making” as one of the most important considerations in choosing a provider and maintaining a trusted relationship.
Contracting speed was noted as a specific activity where professional services firms often fall short, causing them to lose winnable deals, or not even make the short list. Client respondents also agreed that day-to-day interactions over the course of delivery — and the speed of issue resolution and adapting to business changes can make or break a provider’s reputation and impact their future ability to win a deal.
How can professional services firms be more nimble? I’ve identified three key initiatives providers must take to make agility part of their DNA.
- Build decision infrastructure — Providers need a streamlined decision-making process including elements such as deal segmentation, routing protocols, and empowered delegates — to reduce the number of “cooks in the kitchen” and overall internal negotiation time. This is especially important when pursuing transformation projects where the firm will be faced with many new and unexplored questions.
- Enhance risk management — Decision-making processes needs to be supported by a cross-functionally aligned, data driven, portfolio risk management framework to preempt lengthy debates over the acceptability of real and hypothetical risks.
- Manage cultural change — These changes (e.g., some stakeholders giving up direct control) can be uncomfortable and will also require active management and coaching to succeed.
Of course, speed should not be recklessly prioritized at the expense of quality. Building the elements above into your business development, proposal, and delivery processes have helped organizations move quickly while maintaining the robustness of their decisions and deliverables — a reputation that is bound to elevate any professional service firm to the top of the “preferred” list.
About the Report
“Winning Deals and Improving Margins” — an IT market report based on a cross-industry study of deals greater than $5M annual contract value with 163 executive leaders, directors, and managers at firms with greater than $250M annual revenue (125 Clients and 38 Providers).
To download your complimentary copy of the full survey report, click here.
To learn more about the Vantage Partners Professional Services practice, click here.
To learn more about the Vantage Partners Technology practice, click here.
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