Let us start with a few preliminary but vital questions.
1. Do you undertake programs and projects?
2. More specifically, external customer or revenue generating programs and projects?
3. Are you not happy with the results or profitability of such external customer projects?
4. Do you want to transform the way you manage your external customer projects?
5. Don’t know where to look?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any or all the above questions, this article is just for you!
On a conciliatory note, do not feel dejected having answered ‘yes’ to any or all of the above questions. You have got company! You see, there are numerous enterprises worldwide that are in the same boat as you currently may be.
Is all hope lost?
Not yet!
Is there a way out?
For sure!
Should we get there right away?
Let us set up a broader context behind those five questions that you reviewed earlier.
We are living in a projectized world in which organizations are undertaking different types of projects at a furious pace in their journey of corporate success. Such projects include:
(a) Revenue Projects – delivered to external customers
(b) Product Development Projects and
(c) Internal Projects – productivity and efficiency enhancements.
This article focuses on revenue-generating external customer projects or Quote-To-CASH as they are popularly known.
External customer projects are the engine that drives organization growth and profitability; this is true for organizations delivering professional services. What is stopping these firms from being able to execute revenue and profits consistently?
We must look inwardly for any possible solutions.
Okay, where should we start?
Review your existing systems and the manner in which your functional departments operate from the time of customer inquiry generation until the time of successful project delivery. In spite of the best intentions of the management, ‘departmental collaboration’ is hard to come by and the reasons could be many. Let us not get into this issue for now.
Even if we assume that there is functional collaboration at an individual level, we realize that the systems and applications that support the business are not designed for collaboration. The multiplicity of systems mean that the business development teams create and manage customer inquiries, proposals, and contracts in one application, while project planning and delivery may be on another!
Throw in the dimensions of procurement, financials, risks, et al. and we see a rich cocktail of project disaster waiting to explode! Even if there were systems to manage the supply chain, financials, risks, and other dimensions remember that they may not be ‘designed for collaboration’ with one another.
Given this scenario, managing changes throughout the project lifecycle dynamically and seamlessly are the most significant burden that organizations and professionals find it extremely difficult to handle with relative ease.
With this backdrop, it is no wonder that customer proposal revisions do not automatically flow to the project teams or project level changes don’t flow back to their original proposals. Let us not even get into the other detailed aspects of project management!
The bomb for sure shall explode!
What is the way out?
Review if your existing systems need an overhaul or replacement. If yes, bring in a solution that can connect your application landscape comfortably and quickly.
Do we have something that could get us going?
TouchBase® is designed with a clear strategy to manage the end-to-end project lifecycle with dynamic integration. TouchBase® comes with solutions tailored for your industry and specifically for your organization.
Why don’t you take a sneak peek and decide for yourself?
