By Randy Cole, Senior Vice President of Professional
Services, NeoSystems
Professional
services are multifaceted. They help integrate systems, build new processes,
introduce modern technology to operations, and reinvent and improve technology
that is already enabling operations.
The
enterprise consists of many moving parts. Each day numerous transactions, both
financial and non-financial take place. These transactions rely on people,
processes, and resources that act in unison to drive and shape business operations.
The
conundrum, however, is that business leaders are ensconced in such operations
and do not always have the time, knowledge, and insight to expand and improve
their business. This inhibits their
ability make it fully compliant, efficient, and at acceptable standards of quality
that meet customer expectations.
To achieve
success in a business means adapting well to the environment in which you
operate, and managing the processes and requirements imposed by the environment
and your customers.
Professional
services provided by a third party can assist in unraveling this challenge and
help the many moving parts to operate efficiently. They bring an "outsider"
perspective that is often missing inside an organization.
Here are
four ways that professional services can provide you and your business with the
necessary tools for companies to efficiently and effectively manage your business
processes:
1. Regulatory
Compliance - Depending on your business, the regulatory landscape can be
overwhelming. This can be proliferated by industries that are highly regulated
such as those in the public sector - especially those with federal systems and
clients. Other industries such as banking and finance, transportation,
construction, and healthcare - all have austere regulatory compliance standards
to which they must adhere.
Such
compliance can be daunting and overwhelming. The litany of regulatory
requirements - for example in federal acquisition - often require a dedicated
focus and insight to achieve and maintain compliance. Add to this, the fact
that the regulatory requirements change often, have new regulations frequently added,
and often require definitive actions within a tight timeframe. Failure to
comply can have dire consequences.
Working
with a professional services firm (who has expert knowledge and experience into
your regulatory environment) adds notable value that would be unachievable
should you approach compliance alone.
2. Improve
Efficiency - Inefficiencies within a business process, in a demanding
business environment, can be the Achilles heel that prevents a firm from
achieving its goals and objectives.
Consider
efficiency to be output relative to input. When the input becomes clouded and
obfuscated with clunky processes that absorb time, cost, and labor, the outputs
will never meet the mark. The problem becomes more pronounced when an
enterprise strives to find the inefficiencies from their own vantage point.
An outside
third-party professional service firm not only brings fresh insight to an
operation, but also industry leading practices they have refined and built from
approaching efficiency in numerous scenarios, across many different businesses,
in different industries and operations.
3. Boost
Quality - Quality is king. A business may operate, but if the product or
service produced is of inferior quality, they will face grave consequences as
customers will not stand for quality that does not meet your standards or
theirs.
Again,
firms miss quality glitches, and become nearsighted to inferior quality because
they are accustomed to outputs that may hide quality deficiencies; day-to-day
glitches become opaque.
Enter a
third-party professional services firm and you add a new set of skills and
perspectives with a sharp eye for detail and factors that influence quality or
serve to degrade it. As with efficiency, a professional services firm brings
knowledge of leading practices, common quality glitches, and a heap of
experience that can bring the insight regarding quality that just cannot be
conjured from within the organization itself.
4. Add Fidelity
to Reporting Capabilities - Accountability has become a staple of modern
business operations. Such accountability is often heightened in certain
industries and business environments that demand it by requiring business
reporting.
This may
entail reporting on metrics and measures related to compliance. Or it may be
financial and accounting reporting - or for that matter, any established
standard that incorporates and requires regular reporting for internal or
regulatory purposes.
Simple
reporting is seldom enough. The reporting must have accuracy and fidelity that
provides credence to the report. Such credence means extracting the proper
information, from the proper place, and with integrity.
A business
that is self-reliant on building such reporting integrity stands at a
disadvantage as many things can go wrong; improper data and data sources make
reporting prone to error. Add to this the fact that ordinarily there is little
to no tolerance for mishaps - and not much margin of error.
Conversely,
commissioning a professional services firm to assist in establishing and
implementing reporting capabilities, affords the benefit of lessons learned
from like-kind organizations, and brings the experience needed to uplift the
reporting to be reliable and trustworthy.
Summarily,
a professional services firm brings the acuity of an outside agent, with
experience, insight and expertise, to help you help your customers,
constituents, and those you serve, rise to a new level that meets the success
you strive to achieve.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Randy Cole is Senior Vice President of Professional Services for NeoSystems, a full-service IT integrator, managed services and cloud provider. He has more than 30 years of multi-faceted experience providing a strong financial and technical perspective. As the Professional Services lead for NeoSystems, Randy works to deliver services including system design and implementation, integration, and optimization of ERP software solutions. Previous to joining NeoSystems, Randy held a wide range of roles at Deltek during his 15-year tenure including Vice President in the Software Engineering organization as well as Managing Director for Sales, Services, and Account Management. Randy holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree in Finance from East Carolina University.