As a small business starting out, you likely got advice from a number of trusted friends and advisors. One of them probably directed you to QuickBooks for accounting software, another suggested Salesforce.com for Customer Relationship Management, still another recommended gmail or Outlook for email.
Each application worked autonomously, but because you were involved in every quote, work assignment and invoice that went out the door, you had all the information you needed to run your fledgling company – you had your finger on the pulse.
And then things started to get crazy. All of a sudden, your services and products were in demand, and you had more orders than you could handle. So you hired staff, expanded your footprint, and forged ahead, thrilled at the growth spurt and optimistic about the future.
Until one day you realized you were losing it – control, that is. The disparate systems that had served you well enough were not giving you the ability to connect people, processes and technology. Incapable of getting a 360-degree view of your company, you were now flying blind.
Interestingly, I was talking to one of our customers the other day, and he put it perfectly. He said, “When I started my company, it was like flying a Cessna. I was in the cockpit, all the gauges and levers in front of me, and I could control every move that little plane made. And then my business took off. But it flew faster and farther than I had anticipated, and before I knew it I was flying a jumbo jet – from the back seat!”
I know exactly what that CEO meant. As his company grew, he became further and further disconnected from the daily transactions – quotes, work assignments, invoices and customer issues – that were the levers and gauges that gave him the visibility and controls he needed to keep his business flying in the right direction (up), to the point where he started to feel like he was flying blind.
I love his analogy. That’s precisely what happens to small businesses when the legacy software they grew up on doesn’t fit anymore.
The impact on efficiencies, profitability, employee morale and customer satisfaction can be staggering, and that means you cannot possibly be competitive enough to survive and thrive in a tough market. Today, small companies won’t become medium or large companies if they can’t – or won’t – keep up. The days when business owners and managers could fly by the seat of their pants are long gone. Competition is too fierce and customers are too educated and demanding. Automated business processes, visibility across all departments, and seamless, instant communications are essential to growing your business successfully and profitably.
Sales, marketing, design, installation & deployment, help desk, project management, finance – they all need to be on the same page, all the time. If not, tasks are being delayed, replicated or – worse – falling through the cracks, wasting time and money and putting customer satisfaction at risk.
As your business becomes more complex and the day comes when you can’t immediately say with some degree of certainty what the current state of your business health is, that’s when you need to step back and take a good hard look at whether the disconnected systems that worked well for you when you were smaller are now actually limiting your growth , and then implement a solution that will give you back the visibility and controls you need to continue to grow your business.
PSA (Professional Services Automation) Will Help You Soar
PSA business software is the only way to ensure that your professional services company will continue to grow profitably. Integrating and automating all of your business processes (Sales, Service/Project Delivery, Help Desk) will result in better, faster performance and happier customers.
By the way, there are passengers on that jumbo jet we talked about earlier – employees and customers. Just as with the airlines, at the end of the day you want to ensure that they reach their destination feeling well-serviced and satisfied. Without them, you’re never going to get off the ground.
I joined the Promys team because the people that designed their PSA software had experienced the same problems first hand. They went on to build and deliver the Promys solution to fellow technology solution providers so others could solve their problems, too. And while Promys may not be the best-known PSA software, if you check out the review sites, you’ll see that we are one of the best!
Find out which is the best PSA software for your business. Download the PSA Software Buyers Guide Now.
