The Professional Services Pursuit

The business guru John Harvey-Jones said: “No-one goes to work wanting to do a bad job we just put so much red tape in their way that they give up trying.” Kimble co-founder and CMO Mark Robinson draws on extensive experience of building successful professional services organizations to discuss this question.

Useful business processes help to drive consistent outcomes – but a process that is there for the sake of it becomes red tape. If you can’t easily explain what the process is helping to achieve, it isn’t worthwhile, Mark suggests. Hear his thoughts on this important subject by downloading the podcast.

Is the customer always right? Not in the view of Shane Anastasi. In the latest Kimble-sponsored PS insights podcast, the consulting services thought leader and entrepreneur argues that service professionals are often too eager to keep customers happy.

How has technology changed the ways resources are allocated in top-performing services businesses? What are the processes that support this change? How can resource management techniques drive increased operational efficiency and revenue?

Randy Mysliviec discusses resource management disruption in this illuminating podcast, published in advance of the Resource Management Global Symposium in Dallas, Texas on October 3-4.

Kimble co-founder and CMO Mark Robinson has plenty of experience of marketing professional services, having successfully built and sold two consulting businesses. In the latest PS Insights podcast sponsored by Kimble, Mark discusses his approach to building a services brand.

For Mark, a key strategy is to focus energy on a specific area – “what you are famous for” – and to establish trust and expertise in this area. Productizing the services you have on offer is an important part of building your brand, as is ‘tuning to the market’ – understanding the problems your clients face and how they change over time.

Recognized as one of the most influential women in the technology industry in the UK, Jacqueline de Rojas is the guest on the latest in Kimble’s series of Professional Services Insights podcasts. Diversity is not always comfortable, argues de Rojas, citing some guests’ reactions to the sermon at the recent Royal Wedding. But it is a basis for building stronger teams – a message borne out by the diverse French side which won the World Cup!

How are US-based businesses likely to be impacted by the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force in the European Union on May 25? What are the implications for professional services businesses which process data for clients? How will data chains be affected and who will manage them?

Founder of aQetas, Dr. Paul Howard is an expert on growing a professional services business. In this fascinating podcast, he looks at how measurement can be used to drive success. But, he also argues, at the end of the day “business aren’t about numbers – they are about people.” The most important thing is having (read more...)

Veteran consulting leader Chris DeBrusk reveals the metrics consulting businesses can use to get a true forward-looking view of the business, and how to pinpoint the projects where the risks and opportunities lie.

Veteran consulting leader Chris DeBrusk reveals the metrics consulting businesses can use to get a true forward-looking view of the business, and how to pinpoint the projects where the risks and opportunities lie.

Reducing the human effort needed to deliver better results will create new opportunities to innovate, argues consulting entrepreneur Michael Taylor. He sees augmented intelligence as enabling the “creativity, imagination and innovation” of the human consultant and helping them to operate at their best every hour of the day.