The Professional Services Pursuit: Recent Episodes
Kantata
Our goal is simple: to give professional services leaders a place to go to be inspired and tap into expert advice, trends and best practices in our collective pursuit of excellence. From agencies to IT services and every PS organization in between, our hosts and guests will provide the insights you need to drive a resource first organization and do what you do best, only better.
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In this episode of the Professional Services Pursuit, Brent sits down with Anthony Gindin, founder and CEO of Agency Different. Anthony, humorously dubbed the Canadian Don Draper, brings over 23 years of experience in the agency world, having built six companies, sold four, and taken two public. His international bestseller, The Agency Secret, encapsulates his vast experience in fostering profitable growth in agencies. Listen in as they discuss the importance of differentiation, market specificity, and the necessity of continual transformation in the ever-evolving agency landscape.
Other key topics discussed include:
- The current state of the agency industry and the cautious optimism looking forward
- The top three challenges the majority of agencies face today
- Insights from Anthony’s book on engineering value and systematizing repeatable growth
- How agencies should approach and master AI to enhance efficiency without relying on it as a differentiator
To learn more about Anthony and the services that he offers go check out his website. To win a copy of his book email us at podcast@kantata.com and we will send the first 5 listeners a free copy.
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In this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, Banoo talks with Tessa Misiaszek, head of research at the Korn Ferry Institute and host of The Happy at Work Podcast. They dive into the unique characteristics and values of Gen Z employees, discussing effective strategies to attract, retain, and engage this dynamic cohort within the professional services industry. With first-hand experience as a parent of Gen Z children and extensive research, Tessa offers actionable insights into building a work environment that resonates with younger employees.
Other key topics covered include:
- Comparing generations - parallels between Gen Z and the Greatest Generation
- What Gen Z employees value and why traditional compensation and benefits packages might not suffice for retaining their talents
- The importance of authentic company values and actions
- Strategies for managers to effectively engage Gen Z employees
- The significance of understanding team dynamics, promoting inclusivity, and leveraging diverse skill sets
To learn more about Tessa, sign up for her newsletter or check out her book visit her website.
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In this episode of the Professional Services Pursuit Podcast, we revisit our April webinar with TSIA. In the ever-evolving world of professional services, outstanding client experiences are the benchmark of success. Achieving this requires a holistic, real-time perspective on project health and performance. Jared Haleck, Kantata's Chief Product Officer, joins John Ragsdale, Distinguished Researcher and Vice President of Technology Ecosystems at TSIA, to discuss Kantata Pulse. Jared shares how this innovative solution aims to revolutionize PS technology by natively gathering client and employee feedback, leveraging AI-driven insights to enhance project outcomes.
Other topics covered in this episode include:
- Limitations of legacy professional services automation tools
- Why cost and schedule are no longer enough
- The crucial role of proactive project sentiment and client satisfaction
- The role of AI in the future of PS technology
Watch the full webinar recording here
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Welcome to another episode of the Professional Services Pursuit! This week Brent sits down with Jacob Parks, the president of Profitable Ideas Exchange (PIE) and co-author of the renowned book Never Say Sell: How the World’s Best Consulting and Professional Services Firms Expand Client Relationships. They discuss the importance of trust-building, effective cross-selling strategies, and how firms can leverage AI and other technologies to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of consulting and professional services.
Other topics covered in this conversation include:
- Practical tips and strategies to build trust and expanding client relationships
- How to effectively cross-sell services
- The importance of being at the center of solving your clients problems
- What the biggest consulting firms do differently
- The role of AI in Professional Services - how technology is transforming business development
- How AI is impacting consulting businesses and their ability to land, expand, be stickier, and sell value to their clients
Find out more about Profitable Ideas Exchange by checking out their website and be sure to pick up a copy of Jacob’s book, at your local book retailer or here.
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In this episode, Brent talks to Matthew Kasindorf, SVP of Business Intelligence and Insights at the 4A's. Matt brings a wealth of knowledge from his agency experience in account management, business development, and his current role at 4A's. They discuss the crucial topic of agency transformation, delving into the obstacles many agencies face, the significance of evolving in the current economic landscape, and the role of AI in the industry's future.
Additional topics covered in the conversation include:
- The cost of inaction for agencies in today's rapidly changing environment
- The transition from billable hours to alternative compensation models such as fixed fees and value-based pricing
- Practical applications of AI in the agency setting
- The critical importance of operational rigor and technology in fostering agency growth and sustainability
- Ethical considerations and consumer trust in AI-generated content
To access more information and resources visit the 4A’s website. To learn more about the two research reports mentioned during the podcast click the links below:
Decoding Compensation Models & Implementing the Right Model
Preserving Agency Value in the Era of GenAI Transformation
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This episode of the Professional Services Pursuit is a recording from a recent TSIA webinar hosted by John Ragsdale, Distinguished Researcher, Vice President, Technology Ecosystems at TSIA. In it we discuss the hidden costs associated with technical debt—the cumulative consequences of using outdated or overly customized technology— and how it blocks predictable value delivery across the professional services lifecycle.
Other topics discussed include:
- Understanding technical debt
- The cost of outdated technology and the impact it has on employee and customer experience
- How to identify technical debt within your organization
- Strategies for prioritizing and addressing these challenges
- How to leverage AI and other emerging technologies to enhance forecasting, resource management, and decision-making processes
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In this episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast, Banoo is joined by Doug Baxter, founder of Consultant Academy. The conversation explores the critical importance of talent development and systematic training within IT services companies, the pitfalls of current industry practices, and the powerful role of strategic methodologies in enhancing service delivery and achieving business growth.
Other topics covered include:
- Compelling industry data from the SPI Maturity Benchmark
- Common mistakes made by IT consulting firms
- Actionable strategies for building a more robust and resilient consulting practice
- The evolving landscape of professional services
- The role of AI and automation in refining service delivery and client relationships
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Ken Ringdahl, Chief Technology Officer at Kantata, joins Banoo on the podcast to discuss AI and its impact on professional services. They dive deep into the benefits and key opportunities that GenAI is creating for PS firms through operational efficiency, how to get started using a phased approach, and how to ultimately use AI to enhance customer and employee experiences.
Other topics include:
- The Gartner GenAI hype cycle and how AI can benefit PS organizations
- The primary focus areas for development and planning in PS
- The impact on employee and talent experience
- The risk associated with not adopting an AI forward strategy
- The importance of clean data sources to maximize AI effectiveness
- How Kantata is utilizing AI to help our customers to be more efficient
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On this episode Brent is joined by Matt O’Dette, Vice President of Operations and Talent Management at Cramer. They discuss how Cramer puts their people and values first in everything they do in order to build a culture that encourages collaboration, creativity, trust and financial responsibility. They also discuss how they have built and fostered that culture over time and the steps and tools they used to get there.
Other topics include:
- The importance of transparent leadership
- Finding balance between doing the right thing for your employees, clients and business
- Empowering teams to make decisions autonomously
- Utilizing “healthy conflict” and post mortems to collectively understand successes and failures
- How they use data and technology to enhance their culture of transparency and collaboration
- Why it's critical to never lose sight of the people doing the work, listen to their needs and make sure they understand what success looks like
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In the latest episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, Banoo talks to Eisha Armstrong, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Vecteris. They dive into Eisha's book, her insights on the rapidly changing professional services industry, including the pivotal role of AI and the importance of integrating technology with strategic planning for success.
This episode also explores:
- AI automation statistics in the professional services industry
- The challenges faced by professional services firms and four ways AI can mitigate these issues
- Critical aspects of workforce transformation and other considerations for effective change management
- The top seven mistakes in productizing services
- An exclusive book giveaway for our audience!
The first 10 listeners to submit their information through this form will be sent a complimentary copy of Eisha's book, Productize, a hands-on guide for transforming professional services into scalable products.
Discover more about Vecteris here.
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On this episode Brent is joined by the Co-Founder of The Business Model Company, Caroline Johnson. They discuss why 2024 is the year to change your businesses belief system and move towards a revenue and pricing model that provides more efficient, transparent engagements that utilize repeatable products and provide maximum value.
Topics covered in this episode include:
- The shift towards selling value and the need for change
- Why disruption is a friend, not a foe, and how AI plays a role
- The importance in shifting your belief system in order to change
- Top-down program development and productization
- The hybrid revenue model and its impact on the client engagement model
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On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, Banoo talks with Greg Daines. Greg is the CEO of ChurnRX, the premier retention analysis and coaching platform that helps organizations to diagnose and solve churn within their customer base. They discuss data-backed customer retention strategies and the secret sauce to identifying and measuring the right results.
Other topics in this episode include
- The lack of correlation between customer satisfaction and retention
- The importance of getting results and measuring them
- The 3 laws of customer retention
- Greg’s take on value-based commercial models and how to rethink that approach
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This episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast features Tom Rodenhauser, Managing Partner of Kennedy Research Reports LLC. Tom offers expert insights on the trends shaping the consulting industry, with a particular focus on the move towards productization and the challenges and opportunities it presents.
Topics in this episode include:
- The shift away from traditional time-based billing models
- The changing demographics of the workforce and how it's impacting consulting
- Cultural and organizational changes needed to transition to a product-based model
- The 4 mega trends impacting consulting services
- Examples of firms that are successfully adapting to the evolving landscape
- Tips for consultants and firms looking to embrace the move towards productization
Learn more about Kennedy Research Reports and read some their great content at https://www.kennedyresearchreports.com/
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**Sarah Edwards and Jared Haleck, Chief Product Officers at Kantata, join us to talk about the role of professional services technology in our current market and how it has become so much more than just a way to track margins and operating process.
Other topics in this episode include:
* Why vertical SaaS has become critical to success in modern services businesses
* How the staffing manager model has changed and the demands shaping the industry
* How technology is impacting, transforming, and keeping pace with the PS value chain
* The pitfalls of legacy PSA tools and the cost of continuing to use outdated technology to run your business
* Key technical innovations in the PS industry and what Kantata is working on to help firms deliver value to clients**
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**Welcome back for part 2 of our SoDA webinar recording with Brian Williams - Founder and CEO at Viget, and Andrew Howlett - Partner and CEO at Struck. In the second part of this conversation we took a look at areas of agency business that are seeing some positive indicators for 2024 and where Brian and Andrew are cautiously optimistic for the year ahead.
Other topics covered in this episode include:**
- The affect interest rates will have on business uncertainty
- How return to office mandates will impact recruiting and hiring
- Indicators for a strong 2nd half of 2024
- Where Viget and Struck are placing their Ai bets
Be sure to read the State of Agency Operations Survey referenced in this episode for additional agency trends and priorities in 2024.
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Ep. 58 - (Part 1) 2023 in Review and Operating Priorities for the Year Ahead w/ Brian Williams and Andrew Howlett
**This episode of The Professional Services Pursuit is part one of a two-part series taken from a recent SoDA (Society of Digital Agencies) webinar. Brent interviews agency leaders Brian Williams - Founder and CEO at Viget, and Andrew Howlett - Partner and CEO at Struck. They provide some great insights on how their agencies fared in 2023 and where they plan to focus their efforts in 2024 from an operations standpoint and beyond.
Other topics covered in this episode include:**
- The unique challenges faced in 2023
- How each agency handled uncertainty
- The impact big tech had on the agency space
- Balancing staff against profitability
- Striking the right balance of hybrid work for optimal creativity and productivity
- The critical importance of revenue forecasting and utilization in 2024
Be sure to read the State of Agency Operations Survey referenced in this episode for additional agency trends and priorities in 2024.
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**Happy Holidays everyone! As 2023 comes to a close we wanted to revisit some of our favorite episodes and moments from the year. These 3 clips offer some great tangible advice for PS leaders on how to best run projects and manage a skills database for improved forecasting. Enjoy. We’ll see you in the new year!
Clips in this episode include: * Ep. 40 with Shane Anastasi - advice on how to deliver the most successful project outcomes * Ep. 42 with Peter Taylor - discussing the impact of AI on project management * Ep. 33 with Marc Lacroix - do’s and don'ts for managing a skills database**
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On this episode Banoo interviews Tim Tutt, CEO and Cofounder of Night Shift Development, Inc. They discuss how Tim created “Analytics for Humans”, his 7 key data strategies, and how to leverage predictive analytics to better serve your clients.
Other topics covered in this episode include:
- The importance of data quality and managing your dataset cohesively
- Defining your outcomes to understand what is needed from your data and making it more accurate
- How PS orgs can use predictive analytics to improve their understanding of their own business to better serve their clients
- Tim’s 7 key data strategies
- The problem with dashboards
You can follow Tim’s blog here:
https://timtutt.com/
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**On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, Orrin Klopper, CEO of Netsurit, joins us to talk about his company’s unique approach to creating a people-centric culture that ensures employees and clients are engaged, happy and productive. Their Dreams Program helps team members identify their top 10 personal and professional goals each year – and helps to turn them into a reality. We discuss what a ‘Dream Book’ is, and Orrin shares how this concept changed, not only his business, but his life as well.
Other topics discussed in this episode include:
* The inspiration behind Netsurit’s driving force - supporting the dreams of the doers
* Why good leaders need to be good coaches and know what their teams aspirations are
* The importance of aligning your cultures when going through mergers and acquisitions
* Why it is critical to make connecting (in-person or virtually) a priority for your teams
* How the authenticity of your culture improves your customer experience**
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**On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit Banoo is joined by Kantata’s CEO, Michael Speranza. They discuss the dramatic shifts that have taken place in the professional services industry over the past 12 months and the pressure that's placed on businesses. They also dive into how vertical SaaS solutions are reshaping the future of PS and helping organizations to overcome the arduous task of achieving more with less.
Other key topics include: *The trends and rate of change the industry has experienced in the last 12 months * Technologies role in adapting to major changes * The fundamental difference between the PS Cloud and legacy PSA tools * How PS Cloud technology goes beyond project success and financials * The cost of avoiding change
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**On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit Brent talks to Ingo Roemer, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Solution Architect at Solvit. They dig into the topic of merger and acquisition change management and discuss best practices, common pitfalls, and where to focus your efforts for the best outcomes.
Other topics discussed in this episode include: *The right time to engage with an implementation partner when going through the M&A process * A sequence of actions for merged companies to optimize their operations * 6 best practices to follow and pitfalls to avoid * The importance of involving the right people at the right times * Implementing a phased approach to get the most out of your systems and process
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**Welcome back to another exciting podcast episode of Professional Services Pursuit! In this episode, Andrew Cohen, Managing Director at Netsurit, joins us to talk about their value based go-to-market commercial delivery model and how they are bringing innovation into the world of IT services and digital transformation.
Other topics discussed in this episode include:**
- Project-based work vs. services-based work
- Defining automation and innovation opportunities within companies
- The benefits of productizing services
- Digital transformation and perpetual innovation
Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-cohen-91945a4/ Learn more about Netsurit:https://netsurit.com/en-us/
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**In this episode Banoo and Kristi Faltorusso, CCO at ClientSuccess, dig into the importance of trust and how we can all be better at building and establishing trust for better business outcomes. Kristi also provides her top tips for optimizing cross-functional relationships to improve your corporate culture and customer success.
Other topics discussed in this episode include:**
- The 5 elements to building trust and credibility
- Competence vs. confidence and understanding your own limitations
- The implications of trust betrayal and how to recover
- Nurturing trust for better corporate culture
- The importance of failing forward
- Reducing friction among services teams
Learn more about Kristi and access more insights here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiserrano/
https://www.kristifaltorusso.com/
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Welcome back, to another exciting episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast! On this episode business transformation expert Niels Haagsman joins us to talk about current trends in mergers and acquisitions and how service organizations can mitigate common headwinds when accessing and adopting new technology.
Other topics included in this podcast include:
- The 4 biggest post-acquisition challenges and how to solve for them
- How to rationalize and standardize your tech stack
- Decision factors that go into selecting new technology after a merger
- Beyond ROI, assessing the impact technology selection has on retention, adoption and overall business performance
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**On this latest episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, we are joined by the President of Koehn Consulting, Brad Koehn. Brad takes us through the tools and frameworks he coaches leaders on so they can better tackle management and technology challenges in their business.
Other topics we also discussed on this episode include:**
- How the downturn is impacting employees in their mid 30’s who might be experiencing this type of downturn for the first time
- Embracing the right level of change
- The framework for change - the 4 R’s
- Balancing the human dynamics of change management
Download a copy of ‘The 4 R’s’ here: https://leadership-engineering.com/kantata
On this episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast we bring you a special recording from a recent webinar with Michael Farmer, Management Consultant and owner of Farmer & Company. Join us as we dive into Michael’s book, Madison Avenue Makeover: The Transformation of Huge and the Redefinition of the Ad Agency Business, which provides unique insight into how one company changed in order to survive, and at the same time, redefined the advertising agency business.
Other topics covered in this episode include:
- The key to long term agency success despite pressures from holding companies
- AI’s impact on agency SOW’s and revenue
- Pivoting from labor based billable work
- Improving client performance and how Huge productized their agency offerings
- The importance of improving the dialogue during the scope setting process
For more information, you can find an article about Michael’s book here:
https://lnkd.in/eHVHTm2P
Grab a copy of Michael’s book here:
https://amzn.to/3FIkAjW
Welcome back for part two of our episode with Simon England, Partner at the specialist advisory firm Garwood Solutions. The conversation continues between Simon and our host Banoo Behboodi as they discuss how new technologies are impacting business processes. Simon also touches on some important factors to consider during the selection and implementation stages of software buying.
Other topics covered in this episode include:
- The benefit of utilizing technology to manage talent pools and resources
- Important considerations when optimizing an organization’s tech stack
- Complexities of software implementation and the need to adapt
**In the first of this two-part episode, Simon England, Partner at the specialist advisory firm, Garwood Solutions, joins us to dig into the fundamentals of consulting. Alongside our host Banoo Behboodi, Simon spotlights the unique operational challenges and business needs of consultancies. With a wide variety of experiences, Simon has some great insights to share with anyone in the consulting field.
Other topics discussed in this podcast include:**
- Best practices to optimize operations and processes in a consultancy
- The criticality of effectively managing resources
- How enterprise technology enables company transformation
**Michael Burton, CEO of the martech consulting company Stitch, joins this podcast episode to discuss best practices to use in today’s environment of “boutique consultancy.” The conversation answers a number of questions, including but not limited to: How do you grow your consultancy without adding more clients? What should your main focus be when consulting for a technology company? How do you help clients get the most out of their technology? How do you drive customer engagement?
Other topics discussed in this episode include:**
- The connection between embedded services and a boutique consultancy
- Criteria for selecting the right business partners
- The importance of building up consultants within your organization
- How to make sure your partners are growing alongside your firm
- The three paths to focus on when growing your consultancy
- What services look like on an ongoing basis as opposed to initial implementation
Learn more about Michael and Stitch here: https://www.stitch.cx/
Michael Burton, CEO of the martech consulting company Stitch, joins this podcast episode to discuss best practices to use in today’s environment of “boutique consultancy.” The conversation answers a number of questions, including but not limited to: How do you grow your consultancy without adding more clients? What should your main focus be when consulting for a technology company? How do you help clients get the most out of their technology? How do you drive customer engagement?
Other topics discussed in this episode include:
- The connection between embedded services and a boutique consultancy
- Criteria for selecting the right business partners
- The importance of building up consultants within your organization
- How to make sure your partners are growing alongside your firm
- The three paths to focus on when growing your consultancy
- What services look like on an ongoing basis as opposed to initial implementation
Learn more about Michael and Stitch here: https://www.stitch.cx/
On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, we are joined by Blair Enns, esteemed author and founder of Win Without Pitching. Our host Brent Tremble joins Blair to discuss the art of winning deals without the need to pitch for a client. The conversation includes valuable insights from his book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, **which has sold over 80,000 copies and garnered more than 1,500 5-star reviews on Amazon.
Other topics also discussed in this episode include:**
- Where winning without pitching is applicable to a firm
- An “advantaged player” and how that influences a relationship
- The new value-based approach to agency pricing
- A special giveaway opportunity for those who listen through the entire episode!
For more information about the podcast or to enter the giveaway, please contact podcast@kantata.com.
Click here to learn more about Blair’s company – Win Without Pitching
Click here to learn more about Blair’s marketing podcast – 20% – The Marketing Procurement Podcast
Click here to learn more about Blair’s entrepreneurship podcast – 2Bobs: Conversations on the Art of Creative Entrepreneurship
We are excited to welcome Peter Taylor, who brings over 30 years of experience in strategic project planning and transformational change management to the podcast! Banoo and Peter dig into the utilization of AI tools and how they can influence the project management process. With the continuous development of AI, business leaders are innovating their processes to best deliver projects. Here is how Peter is seeing it all unfold.
Other topics discussed in this episode include:
- The impact of AI on the industry
- How AI can improve the client experience
- The right and the wrong applications for AI
- A special giveaway at the end of the episode!
Welcome back to part 2 of our two part podcast with Shane Anastasi of PS Principles. In this episode, Banoo and Shane dive into some of the biggest downfalls of traditional project success measurements, how to properly coach your clients to manage change, and a sneak peak into Shane’s new book and training, Project Dynamics.Other topics covered in this episode include:
- How to align the client with necessary change
- The downfall of traditional success measurements
- Defining achievable success beyond on-scope, on-time, on-budget
- How and when to implement change - project dynamics
- How to create leverage through receivers advantage
- The value of proactive leadership
- Shane’s top tip for negotiating change orders
Learn more about PS Principles and sign up for their newsletter to stay ahead of the professional services industry curve: https://www.psprinciples.com/home
Welcome to part 1 of a two part episode with author, speaker, entrepreneur, and professional services strategic advisor, Shane Anastasi. Shane is currently the CEO and founder of PS Principles and joins us to discuss the biggest challenges professional services teams face and his key philosophies for being a better project leader and driving better client outcomes.
Other topics also discussed in this episode include:
- The downfalls of traditional PMI training and the importance of defining professional services within your organization
- Moving away from order taking to celebrating services and its impact
- How to become more consulting oriented towards customers and improve the customers desired long-term outcomes
- Embracing the idea of proactive escalations instead of reactive escalations
Our hosts come together again for the final session in our 4-part Linkedin Live series to talk with Kantata’s Chief Product Officer, Jared Haleck. In this episode they dive into the importance of employee experience, how technology plays into that, and how the creation and adoption of technology is shifting to be more vertical specific.
Other Topics covered in this episode include:
- Why ROI is no longer the number 1 reason to buy technology
- Optimizing user experience to match generational expectations
- How to make the right technology investments for your specific industry
- The shift to vertical SaaS
- Service Performance Insight ROI data regarding the value of purpose-built solutions
- The importance of a phased approach when implementing new technologies
- Approaching Ai as a solution instead of a problem
Welcome back for the 3rd recording from our 4-part Linkedin Live series that Kantata is hosting. In this episode, we talk with Tom Beck, the Executive Director of SoDA (Society of Digital Agencies). Tom talks about the 2023 Digital Outlook Study – an annual study by Forrester and SoDA that delves into spending plans, strategic priorities, and key industry issues from the perspective of marketing and technology leaders. Brent, Banoo and Tom dig into some of highlights from the report and provide an overview of what to expect in 2023 and beyond:
- Indicators of how concerned agencies and marketing firms should be about the economy
- How client-side spending is impacting key agency initiatives
- Client-side strategic priorities around organizational growth and how that’s that impacting agencies
- Accelerated investments in digital marketing and tech
- How talent struggles are shaping the agency space and shifting them to be more specialized
To learn more download the 2023 Digital Outlook Study on the SoDA website:
https://www.sodaspeaks.com/research
On this episode of the podcast we bring you another live session from our LinkedIn Live series that is tackling the key trends shaping 2023. From the “Great Resignation” of 2021/2022 to the current situation in 2023, companies have had to swing from increased compensation to layoffs, despite still facing skills gaps and talent shortages. Kantata’s CPO, Gina Hartigan, joins Banoo to discuss these challenges and how to develop a more agile and valued workforce.
Other topics covered in this episode are:
- The multidimensional approach required to overcoming the hiring and skills gap
- The long term effects and how businesses will need to adapt to the current labor market
- The new labor currency - flexibility and career development
- How to optimize your hiring process and do more with your existing workforce
- The importance of streamlined processes and automation
On this episode of the podcast Brent and Banoo are the ones in the hot seat! This live recording from our LinkedIn Live series, “Navigating the Path Forward”, tackles the key trends shaping 2023 and how people, process and technology optimization can future-proof your professional services business. Brent and Banoo are joined by Charles Gustine, Kantata’s Brand Evangelist, who digs into some of the key analyst predictions and research for 2023 and asks them questions based on those insights.
Some of the topics covered include:
- The biggest challenges PS firms are grappling with right now
- Adaptive leadership
- Optimizing the experience and lifetime value of customers and employees
- Find friction points, measure relentlessly, improve what you measure
- Aligning IT spending with business priorities
- Achieving healthy transparency
We are excited to bring you another episode of Professional Services Pursuit! This time, Christine Dunham, Senior Director of People Development and Culture at Kantata, joins us to talk enthusiastically about managing company culture, what has been lost and gained in moving to remote work, how to create a collective culture and tools that company leaders can utilize to enhance employee experience.
Other topics include:
- Christine’s background and how she ended up in people development
- Some of the most critical elements we have lost in a remote work environment
- The importance of a “north star” (shared vision and goals) and how to guide your organization in a remote environment
- Tools leaders can use to drive employee engagement
- How to drive growth and development initiatives
- Developing a culture of feedback
Find out more information by visiting us at https://www.kantata.com/.
On this week's episode Brent is joined by the ‘Father of PSA’ and Managing Director at Service Performance Insight (SPI), Dave Hofferberth. They dive into some of the professional services performance trends uncovered by the SPI PS Maturity Benchmark survey and PS End User survey and how organizations can use this research to improve their business.
Other topics covered include:
- The dimensions of SPI’s research
- How to determine where to focus to see the biggest returns
- Labor and revenue metrics
- The impact of involuntary attrition
- The remote service delivery trend and how to streamline the hiring process
- How technology impacts your people, process and bottom line
For more information on the surveys visit the SPI website. The 2023 Maturity Benchmark survey will be released on February 8th.
Click here to download the 2022 Professional Services End User Survey
Click here to download the 2022 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark
Joining us on this week's podcast is Marc Lacroix from RTM Consulting. Banoo and Marc dive into some of the biggest issues holding companies back from effective forecasting, skills management and the root cause of ineffective data? Find out more on this episode of Professional Services Pursuit!
The key topics covered include:
- The biggest factors holding companies back from doing effective forecasting
- How to set PM’s up for success with improved data quality
- The importance of a skills databases that ties to your sales process
- Marc’s do’s and don'ts for maintaining an effective skills database
- Macro trends in resource management
- Moving less from custom services to more packaged and templated services
- Key results of the 2023 RMI Forecasting survey
The Resource Management Institute's first research survey on forecasting can be found at www.resourcemanagementinstitute.com. To access it for free, you just have to register to be part of the RMI community which provides newsletters, research, events and more.
On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, we celebrate the one year anniversary of Kantata by having our CEO, Michael Speranza, back on the show. Brent and Michael discuss his experiences over the past year, the challenges he's seen the industry face and the trends and predictions he's seeing moving into 2023.
Other topics include:
- Insight into what clients are struggling with on a daily basis
- Some assumptions Michael had going into the role of CEO about the industry and market that were either confirmed or surprised him
- The opposing forces, challenges and trends Michael predicts for 2023
- The critical changes to business fundamentals that will lead to success in 2023
- Rebalancing and refocusing revenue vs. cost
- Michaels top 3 tips to leading an organization during challenging times
**In the professional services industry, Gainsight is one of the leaders in customer success and satisfaction. In this episode, we take a look at how they structure their team for the best results, what goals they focus on, and how they manage their processes. Join us for this discussion as Gainsight’s Senior Vice President of Professional Services and upgrades, Peter Wride, pulls the curtain back on how he finds success within his team.
Other Topics covered include:**
- How to create an excellent journey and why relying on “hero’s” is not sustainable
- The importance of flexibility within repeatable processes
- Considerations in designing processes and methodologies
- The formula for customer success and the importance of recognition within your team
- How to use NPS in effective, proactive ways
- Solving measurement and change management challenges in customer success
- Customer success lessons to live by
**On this episode we welcome Sunday Dinner Founder, Ad Age 40 under 40 recipient and brand strategy thought leader, Lindsey Slaby, to the show. Brent and Lindsey discuss how the marketing and advertising industries have evolved over the years and the growing challenges they face. Lindsey is one of the top consultants in the space and pulls the curtain back on the changes big brands need to see from agencies and gives some insight on how to be an essential partner in 2023 and beyond.
Some of the other topics we cover in this interview are:**
- Lindsey’s journey and founding of Sunday Dinner
- The power of great work and trends happening in the industry
- How to model your agency and practices to be an essential partner in the future
- How to market your agency and sell yourself successfully
- Pitch fundamentals
- 2023 / 2024 necessities - creative production tools
- The most in-demand skills and where to go to upskill
**What does professional services look like at Gainsight, THE customer success company? How does customer experience influence customer success? How do you get the best customer outcomes? On the latest episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast, we tackle all these questions and more as we talk with Gainsight’s Senior Vice President of Professional Services and Upgrades, Peter Wride.
Other topics covered include:**
- Peter’s journey to his current role and the most compelling reason why he joined a customer success company
- Some of Gainsight’s best practices for customer success
- Aligning teams with the customer journey for a more cohesive experience
- The importance of the sales to service handoff
- What KPI’s Gainsight is measuring their services and deliveries by
- The professional services onboarding process at Gainsight
Welcome to another episode of the Professional Services Pursuit Podcast! In this episode we welcome Bruno Gralpois to the show. Bruno is an author and the industry expert on optimizing agency/client relationships and bringing these best practices to life through technology. Bruno and Brent discuss the evolution of his business, Agency Mania Solutions, and some critical tactics agencies and clients can implement to enhance their relationships and collaborate better.
Other topics covered include:
- Bruno’s journey to an agency relations role and how it led to him writing his book, Agency Mania
- The importance of clarity, partnership principles and cultural alignment
- The key inflection points that drove the need for better management of agency/client relationships
- Simple tactics to help get optimal value from the agency/client relationship
Be sure to stick around to the end of the episode for a special giveaway just for our listeners! Email us at podcast@kantata.com to enter.
On this episode of the Professional Services Pursuit Podcast, we invite back the Head of Strategy and Managing Partner at Magnetic Customer Experience, Jessica Noble! In this continuation of our conversation with Jessica, Banoo dives into Jessica's book, 'The Five Customer Experience Mistakes you don't know you're making that are causing profit erosion.'
Other topics covered include:
- The five critical mistakes that are made by high-growth companies
- Tactics and strategies to expand your customer base in a healthy way
- Analyzing the impact and solution for each customer experience mistake
- The importance of action and continuous improvement
Be sure to stick around to the end of the episode for a special giveaway just for our listeners! Email us at podcast@kantata.com to enter.
Welcome to another insightful episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast! In this episode, we were lucky enough to sit down with one of the foremost experts in customer experience, Jessica Noble. Jessica and Banoo discuss what improving the customer experience looks like today and how improving both your employee and customer experience can play a key role in improving margins. Some other topics covered include:
- Understanding the mechanics of good customer experience
- How to maintain your margins in an inflationary market
- The PAIR methodology and how it drives both customer and employee experience
- Incentivizing teams to help reduce waste through programs and think tanks
- How customer experience, employee experience and operational excellence are all inextricably linked
- Waste management, identifying margin leaks and the most efficient ways to take action
On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit Banoo is joined by Charles Gustine, Brand Evangelist at Kantata. They discuss the findings from a new Forrester research study commissioned by Kantata and Salesforce that helps explain the importance of vertical SaaS, how it is helping professional services organizations solve critical problems and how it is proving to be more effective at moving businesses through the maturity curve. Other talking points include:
· A review of the recently released Forester study to provide insights into vertical SaaS
· Trending challenges professional services organizations are facing
· The benefits of vertical SaaS and how it helps solve these challenges for PS companies
· How traditional PSA’s and horizontal SaaS differ from vertical SaaS solutions
· Prioritizing and optimizing client experience with proper resource management capabilities
· Charles’ thoughts on how vertical SaaS can solve future problems and what he expects to see from it going forward
If you would like to read the full research study you can download it here
To watch the webinar Charles did with guest speaker Margo Visitacion, Forrester’s Vice President and Principal Analyst, view here
In this episode Brent is joined by Randy Mysliviec, the President and CEO of RTM Consulting and Managing Director of the Resource Management Institute (RMI). They explore the top trends emerging in the industry based on the RMI’s latest research report and Randy’s predictions for the future around resource automation management:
- The latest survey series results around resource management automation
- Trends emerging around resource data management
- Driving down labor costs
- Employee engagement at scale
- Automated staffing plans
- Randy’s predictions for the next year in resource automation management
Visit the RMI website to learn more about the courses they offer, become a member and get access to their free reports - https://resourcemanagementinstitute.com/
Carrie Young, Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Cority, joins Banoo on the show to discuss how to most effectively utilize your employee base by implementing cross training and expanding the skill sets of your team. Carrie has extensive experience scaling PS organizations and managing demand against capacity and resource optimization. Additional topics discussed include:
- Understanding and mapping your employee base to identify gaps and synergies
- Documenting a clear career path for each employee
- People management is not for everyone
- The importance of allowing mistakes and providing the tools, time and training needed for employees to grow
- Incentivizing cross training and alignment with HR
- How to get constructive coaching
On this special episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, both of our hosts, Brent Trimble and Banoo Behboodi, sit down to discuss the different dimensions of the services industry as it pertains to talent and dive into some recent research on this topic. They also discuss why we are seeing more people taking a less traditional career path, and how services businesses need to adapt to retain their employees. Additional talking points include:
● The shifting talent pools
● Recent articles and research by Kantata and McKinsey & Company
● Strategies that businesses can use to retain good talent
● The future of business and getting in a position to optimize and scale
● Reasons why people are choosing to become their own boss
● How to source talent in this new climate
● Upcoming webinar with TSIA addressing the changing workforce dynamics
Check out the McKinsey & Company article referenced and keep your eyes peeled for Kantata’s upcoming report, “The Changing Dynamics of the Modern Workforce”, or read more about the research here.
Joining us on the podcast is Dave Yusuf, Senior Vice President of Customer Success at Q2. With a successful background in CS and PS, along with many other roles in the services industry, Dave is well versed on the idea of a “customer for life”. Dave talks through the journey to success and the role implementation, support, customer success, and product teams play in this process; including:
● Creating a successful cross-team strategy
● Determining KPI’s that dictate success
● The importance of aligning client success with your company values
● Measuring your clients success using a balanced scorecard
● Potential roadblocks to look out for along the way
With his incredible experience in the professional services and recruiting industry, Sean Kogan, co-founder of Recruiting-In-Motion, has seen and heard it all. He shares his knowledge and the trends shaping the evolution of recruitment during this new work from home era. Some of the things discussed include:
- The impact of the pandemic on recruitment as a whole
- How AI has helped soften the blow to recruitment
- Balancing the human-AI interactions to get the best, most efficient results
- Social media recruitment on LinkedIn, indeed, and others and how it’s assisted the professional services industry
- The gig economy vs full-time workforce
- The challenges of working from home on a company’s culture
Ray Grainger is the co-founder of Mavenlink and Executive Chairman of Kantata. He’s also a professional services leader who is on a mission to reinvent the way businesses deliver work. In this episode Brent and Ray discuss the importance of the networked economy and how it is evolving into a critical element of the IT revolution; Including:
- The evolution and importance of communication
- Business conditions and pressures on the service business
- Access to talent networks to ensure client satisfaction
- Supply chain orientation of optimizing across a talent network
- Removing technological constraints
- How to scale without acquisition
With over 20 years of experience leading change on enterprise-wide transformations,Peter Hadas specializes in providing leaders with practical, measurable solutions to adoption and sustainability challenges. In this episode Peter shares his top tips for managing transformational change, including:
- Change leadership
- Setting success criteria early on
- The importance of celebrating key milestones
- Developing a change management network
- Making change management sustainable
- Follow through with a new process
- Archiving old processes and developing new habits
- Encouragement and performance based reviews
- Approaches to adoption and training
- Creativity is key to support adoption
- Openly communicating changes
- Understanding 10-15% will not be onboard
- Addressing cultural changes
- The benefits of remote training
Join us as we welcome in our newest co-host Banoo Behboodi to the Professional Services Pursuit podcast! Brent and Banoo sit down to discuss Banoo's business experience, her insights and what she is looking forward to most with her interviews. We also get to learn a bit more about her favorite books and why she is excited to ask her guests what they are reading right now.
Author, keynote speaker, and Managing Director of Mirren Business Development, Brent Hodgins, joins us on the show to discuss the resilience of agencies and the major growth shifts happening in the industry right now; including:
- The lasting impact of the Pandemic on the Industry:
- Historic levels of growth
- Navigating the changing market conditions
- The positive shift to organic growth
- Overcoming the new biz addiction
- Better allocating resources for good
- Understanding qualification in the RFP process…favorite or filler
- Client-side marketing vs Marketing Agencies
- DNA difference / overcoming the disconnect
- Balancing business impact and creativity
- Elevating the RFP brief to differentiate
To learn more about Mirren go to www.mirren.com
Tom Schoen, CEO and President of BTM Global, sat down with us to discuss some of the downfalls of the business requisition process and dealing with procurement, as well as the most overlooked aspect of the implementation process once the business has been won, change management and adoption. Topics included in this discussion are:
- The ups and downs of the RFP process
- The role of procurement for strategic enterprise
- Platform and in-strategy services acquisitions
- Properly gauging the commitment of new clients
- Enterprise software acquisitions
- Change Management and adoption
- How to prevent low adoption rates
- When to begin the change management stage
Brent sits down with the Co-founder and Executive VP of Strategy at Hero Digital, Owen Frivold. Owen shares what it takes to successfully productize services to better utilize your talent and differentiate where it really matters. Owen expands by discussing the importance of:
- Setting a North Star vision that aligns with your value system
- The benefits of productizing your agencies services to serve clients and employees better
- Defining the foundational elements in your toolbox
- Reinvesting in the people that helped guide your success
- Adapting in unforeseen situations
Joining Matt on this episode is Randy Mysliviec, the President and CEO of RTM Consulting and Managing Director of the Resource Management Institute (RMI). They explore top trends and how organizations can improve their utilization based on the data gathered for the RMI Research Report, including:
- Training to a standard
- Allowing your resources to grow and develop without negative influences
- Better increasing utilization in your organization
- The Just-in-Time Resourcing Process
- Getting on the 20-80 Standard
- The future with automation solutions
- How automating helped during a global pandemic
Head of Operations at ORM, Andrew “Bear” Forsyth, calls in from the UK to talk to Brent about his journey into operations and his approach to technology, data and change management in a modern agency, including:
- Bear’s journey from a resource manager at the Olympics to his current role
- His love/hate relationship with spreadsheets and the need for a more reliable solution
- Solving the problem of siloed, incomplete data
- The need for automation and how he approaches implementation of new tools
- The different metrics Bear uses to measure success
- Selling people on change
Senior Consulting Executive, Author and Founder/President of TechVentive, Brian Sommer, joins Matt Finch on the podcast. Brian has published over 600 articles on the technology space during his career and came on the show to share a countdown of the top 5 biggest IT trends that are shaping the Professional Services industry today, including:
- The value of legitimate Net Promoter Scores
- The “Age of the Global Service Firm”
- Why proprietary and standalone internal systems hinder scalability
- “The End of the Bespoke Era”
- How advanced technology changes service processes and outcomes
Brent sits down with former Neustar Sr. Director of Product Marketing (now VP of Product Marketing at Infosum) and podcast host, Devon DeBlasio. They take a deep dive into marketing, privacy, and the need for more data science unicorns to bring a human factor to data and automation! The conversation includes:
- Neustar and Devon’s previous role within the organization
- Privacy within marketing
- The big focus on consumer privacy by the government and news organizations
- Consumer expectations of advertisers
- The importance of transparency to create a better customer experience
- How Neustar approaches identity resolution, and the focus on the household
- Solving for the decline of the cookie
- Finding and retaining really specific talent
Check out Neustar
Listen to more of Devon on his podcasts No Hype and You’re On Mute
John Ragsdale, Distinguished Researcher and VP of Technology Ecosystems at TSIA, joins Matt once again to talk about the key elements every Professional Services Organization should be focusing on moving into the new year. The conversation includes:
- “Go Live” numbers and automation of the “Quote to Cash” cycle
- The shift from financial charters to driving customer adoption
- The new concept of customer success in cloud technology
- Progress on agencies adopting an end-to-end customer experience strategy
- The ongoing event of onboarding
- Chief Customer Officers
- The need to look at your technology and resource budgets
If you would like to explore this topic more, head over to the Mavenlink blog for a whole host of articles about client satisfaction.
Brent welcomes founder of Ignition Consulting Group, author, presenter, and “brand doctor for brand doctors”, Tim Williams to discuss his unique perspective on focused business strategies and transformative revenue models. The conversation includes:
- What it means to be “focused”
- Having a clear positioning/prospecting strategy and the 4 questions to determine your differentiation
- The problem of “unprofitable growth” and how it affects firms of all sizes
- Developing a pricing strategy and the importance of shifting from a bottom-up cost basis to pricing the value of expertise
- The issue with the hourly rate structure and the reason for the talent drain in agencies
- Creating a diversified pricing portfolio
For more great information on this subject check out Tim’s books or visit the Ignition Consulting Group website:
Positioning for Professionals
Take a Stand for your Brand
Special guest host and industry insider, John Ragsdale from TSIA sits down with Michael Speranza. It was announced on Wednesday that Michael will be the new CEO of the company formed by the Mavenlink and Kimble merger. In this special episode we explore Michael’s background and answer key questions regarding the merger and the competitive advantage that it will create in the industry. The conversation includes:
- Michael’s interesting technology background and the career path that lead him to this role
- What the merger means for ongoing and future product development plans
- The day 1 advantage and significant growth opportunity that this merger will facilitate
- How this helps expedite global business solutions and great customer experiences
- Michael’s top priorities and his positive feelings on the future of how the merger will impact customers
Melissa Korzun, the Managing Director of Client Transformation, Strategy and Operations at TeleTracking joins the show! Host Matt Finch uncovers insights from Melissa on her Professional Services strategy and operations role and the impact it has had on their business; including:
- Events that led to the development of the Strategy and Operations role
- The importance of balancing focus internally and on clients
- Taking stock of operational imperatives to define organizational direction
- Understanding what is traction vs. a distraction
- The importance of strategic internal communication
- Giving teams the visibility and sponsorship to take ownership of projects and solve problems where they exist
- A conversation on culture and not being afraid to fail
Connect with Melissa and check out TeleTracking
Brent Trimble sits down with the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Gorilla Group, Adam Brown, to explore the approaches they took to navigate exponential growth during a pandemic and how they adapted to successfully nurture client relationships and corporate culture remotely. The conversation includes:
- Adam’s unique dual role at Gorilla Group
- How Gorilla Group operates as a decentralized entity while utilizing the benefits of being part of the Wunderman Thompson/WPP network
- Gorilla Group’s focus on people and how that aligns with professional services
- The importance of adapting to new ways of driving culture within your organization
- Hiring from where the talent is
- The experience of the remote pitch
- Adam’s hope to regain informality
- How Gorilla Group approaches the increased usage of a contingent workforce and the compliance complications that come with it
Connect with Adam and check out Gorilla Group
Host Matt Finch sits down with Distinguished Researcher and Vice President of Technology Ecosystems at TSIA John Ragsdale to talk about current trends in the tech industry and the importance of a strong freelance culture. The conversation includes:
- John’s perspective and definition of the liquid workforce
- Trends shaping emerging digital talent platforms
- How COVID accelerated already established trends and behaviors of younger workers
- The shift to more fixed-price predefined projects
- How to remain a competitive employer in a tough hiring market
- How rising cost of living in coastal cities may be contributing to younger workers wanting to move to this new model
- Solutions to allow both distance work and in person collaboration
- The risks and rewards of using contract workers
- Why middle managers will be so important during this shift
- Project based hiring best practices
- John’s advice around challenging the traditional hiring and career mindset for young workers
To learn more about this topic download Mavenlink’s recent research report, The Changing Face of the Modern Workforce.
Host Brent Trimble and author of The Lazy Project Manager, Peter Taylor, get a moment to talk about the relationship between project managers and resource managers and the importance of taking a people-first approach to projects. The conversation includes:
- The inspiration behind Peter’s book;
- The natural tension between project managers and resource managers;
- How rapid digitalization is strengthening that tension and creating opportunity;
- The role authenticity plays in retention and “The War on Talent”;
- Peter’s favorite football analogy about building loyalty;
- The importance of a global view of resources and visibility into where there is strain;
- The top pressure points in services organizations with regards to people;
- Remembering that projects are all about people
Learn more about Peter and his work at https://thelazyprojectmanager.com/
To kick off the first episode, host Matt Finch sits down with the founders of Mavenlink, Ray Grainger, Roger Neel, and Sean Crafts, to discuss some of the current challenges and future trends in the services industry! Their conversation includes:
- The powerful forces reshaping the services industry
- Getting the right talent at the right place at the right time in order to meet client needs
- The emerging employee-first culture
- The current subcontractor landscape
- The pitfalls of tribal knowledge
- How digital transformation and technology are evolving the industry
- The role of Covid globalization and the appeal of a liquid workforce to both organizations and employees
- The importance of a centralized resource management function
- Applying a supply chain methodology to your services business
In the first episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, co-hosts Brent Trimble and Matt Finch welcome listeners to a brand new show aimed at giving professional services leaders a place to go to be inspired and tap into expert advice, trends and best practices in their pursuit of excellence. From agencies to IT services and every PS organization in between, every episode will provide the insights you need to drive a resource-first organization and do what you do best, only better.