WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AUTOMATION (PSA) SOFTWARE?
PSA software is, unsurprisingly, a tool that automates service delivery which is becoming increasingly popular, especially for software as a service (SaaS) companies.
Professional Services Automation tools, at a high level, is an organizational system that allows SaaS companies to streamline and strengthen their business processes. PSA software enables companies to have a single, real-time view of critical information relating to a services delivery project. A fully functioning tool can give users a view of the project, starting at its inception in the sales cycle, through to resource allocation, completion, and billing.
In the most part, PSA tools will empower the user to utilize features such as PSA project management, time-sheeting which will include the ability to measure associated professional services metrics such as over and under utilization, project financials including billing and project budgeting metrics. Therefore a key benefit of implementing PSA software is that it will provide an all-encompassing alternative to using multiple different systems throughout your professional services project cycle. This is especially powerful if also integrated with your CRM system, for example, Salesforce.
But how does this solve the challenges commonly faced by SaaS companies?
COMMON SaaS CHALLENGES SOLVED BY PSA SOFTWARE:
Lack of process automation PSA software will enable SaaS users to automate many of the manual tasks associated with onboarding of a new services project. The tool shows the progress of each new project starting before deal closure within the sales cycle, automatically creating resource requests at designated points of the journey, creating tasks for team members and highlighting milestones to customers.
Low levels of customer engagement and collaboration Customer onboarding is an increasing presence within SaaS companies and as a result, PSA project management is a key feature of PSA software and allows both external and internal stakeholders to track the progress of their projects in real-time. This real-time update will both increase your customer collaboration and engagement as it will enable updates to be self-served.
Low data confidence and access to metrics It is common for SaaS professionals among both Professional Services and Onboarding to be asked to report on the utilization of their teams and project milestones.
In addition to providing a single source of real-time data, PSA software will give users access to additional metrics perfect for this kind of data interrogation. Metrics commonly available within PSA software include, over and under utilization, gross margin per resource and time to value. These metrics can be invaluable to a company, often informing business strategy and budget allocation decisions.
