How to choose the right financial management software for Professional Services firms
It’s no secret that the corporate world is constantly changing, presenting ongoing challenges for many industries. For those working in professional services, advances in technology, accurate, real-time reporting, and managing cash flow are real representations of challenges and opportunities.
Read on to find out how a compliant and fit-for-purpose financial management system can provide maximum visibility over their operational data - fundamental insights that they need to fine-tune their decision-making and also identify opportunities for diversification and growth to stay profitable long into the future.
When paired with an equally as safe and secure operational processes, professional services firms can fully focus on propelling their business forward and into future revenues. This trend can also be further accelerated, if you know what to look for and how to fully leverage on data metrics that can help with decision-making.
Data is key to the success of any modern business. The Deloitte Insights Driven Organisation survey shared how a whopping 45% of respondents said that they are re-developing their analytics strategy to enable better decision-making. With statistics like this, no business wants to be wasting time worrying about manual data input or lost paperwork when they should be concentrating on servicing their clients.
Once a financial management software is fully deployed, your employees and other stakeholders will be able to stop wasting valuable time, money, and resources on repetitive manual tasks, and instead focus their skills on higher value tasks like attracting new clients to your business.
There are many factors to consider when evaluating financial management solutions and the options can seem overwhelming if you’re unclear on what to look for.
According to Deloitte, “Software companies have traditionally focused their professional services offerings on deploying, customising, and optimising on-premise products. As companies shift to SaaS- and consumption-based models, they have an opportunity to evolve the role professional services plays to meet emerging customer needs.”
So, what really matters for professional services when it comes to choosing a financial management solution? What requirements does your system need to meet? And what are the key questions you need to ask vendors to ensure you’re getting a system that will equip you now, and in the future?
Having a future-facing financial management system will support the day-to-day running of your business, while also creating opportunities by:
- Ensuring the ongoing integrity of financial information
- Giving you control and visibility over income and costings
- Increasing the speed at which you can access reports, analytics and other insightful information, driving your decision-making capabilities further
- Identifying opportunities for diversification and growth
- Freeing up your people to focus on higher value tasks.