Sagacious Partners - Technology Management

Professional Services

Professional services firms rely on technology to enhance collaboration and communication with clients and internal teams. As the services sector continues to grow faster than traditional areas of the economy, knowledge workers and their management teams will be faced with many decisions on how best to invest IT dollars to improve margins, increase employee utilization, and strengthen client account management.

Case Study

When Sagacious Partners was brought in as CIO for a 70-person marketing communications firm, the Vice Chairman of the firm had already been investing for several years in the company's software and technology. However, the firm's management team was not convinced that it was maximizing potential ROI for its technology investment. Key issues included:

Discomfort and miscommunication with the vendor that was providing network and desktop services for the firm.
Data coming out the enterprise system used for time reporting, estimating and accounting was inaccurate and hindered key management decisions.
The freewheeling and creative culture of the firm, key elements in what made it successful in the first place, made adoption of the process and policy required to leverage its IT investment difficult.

Sagacious Partners interviewed key staff throughout the company, inventoried all technology assets, and worked with the management team to assess how technology could help drive the firm's vision. The outcome was a prioritized plan for IT, and included the following initial actions:

Negotiation of a Service Level Agreement with the network and desktop services vendor that clarified: data security and integrity of data backups, process for prioritization and tracking of services requests, and monthly reporting of critical IT activities.
Worked with the firm's enterprise system provider to clarify capabilities of the system, conducted a gap analysis, and made changes to processes within the firm to better leverage the system.
Training and awareness programs for the staff that highlight integrating people, process and technology with a focus on how the Internet and the firm's enterprise system provide value for clients.

Weekly meetings between the management team and our Project Manager keep the client's IT initiatives focused and on track. The network and desktop services vendor provides positive reporting on all IT activity, increasing communication and confidence between both parties. Finally, improved management data is driving improvements in margin, utilization and client estimates and communications.

Find out more by speaking with our Managing Partner, Neil McLean, at 803-783-1507.