Large professional services firms are facing rapid transformation by digitisation. New technologies, new service delivery models and new, smaller and more agile challengers are causing them to reinvent the services they offer.
Law firms are now offering legal services software licenses alongside advice. Global accounting and consulting firms are taking some services, like regulatory compliance, in the same direction.
Before the pandemic, professional services were increasingly delivered digitally, which meant that, to some degree at least, firms have been able to continue working during lockdown.
But where consultants would previously be co-located in client premises, becoming a virtual part of their organisation for many months, it’s unlikely in the short-term that this co-location can start again. As such, the challenge is enabling consultants to connect into the secure systems and processes they would normally use before we went into lockdown.
As the economy reopens, it seems there’s never been a better opportunity for these firms to tackle this by accelerating their digital workplace adoption, which is likely to have a positive effect on their recruitment. Top talent will inevitably gravitate towards the companies that equip them to work the way they want and expect to.
Making work more interesting
New technologies like cloud computing, big data, machine learning and AI are already making work much more stimulating for the professional services workforce. Thanks to big data, staff are no longer spending as much time on routine and repetitive tasks, like mining historical data to produce annual reports. Machines can do that.
Instead, they’re focussing their energies on the parts machines can’t do – building profitable relationships with colleagues and clients and pushing forward the corporate growth strategy. If they’re mining big data – it’s because they’re searching for the insight that helps them give better business advice.
However, the information and knowledge generated by digital technologies is only useful if the people who need it can actually get their hands on it.
This is where cloud-based unified communications come in.
Spreading the word
Global professional services firms are generally spread far and wide geographically, often in developing countries. Every organisation is different, but they often grow organically from mergers and acquisitions and have separate member firms. This leads to complex and fragmented legacy IT environments.
Staff at professional services firms also tend to be a lot more tech-savvy than in other industries. This is because they tend to employ a lot more millennials than other sectors. Graduates come into organisations with high expectations and churn rates are high. At university, they often have the latest and greatest tech. Then they move to the business world and expect the same. The better experience you offer, the better the talent you attract and retain.
This mix of technologies, mergers and acquisitions and member firms can present real challenges with integration, data management and collaboration, especially when countries are at different stages of dealing with the impact of the global pandemic.
There’s no doubt that larger firms, made up as they are of multiple smaller businesses in a single group, need a simpler solution. They need systems and processes that integrate and collaborate with each other, seamlessly and securely, across the globe.
Flexibility and choice, without disruption and risk
Our approach to migration means that multiple technologies, legacy systems, and varied infrastructure can be easily managed to create a single, seamless, secure global structure that optimises your operations.
We can help you connect smoothly and securely to the collaboration applications, data and third party cloud providers you need globally, including Microsoft and Cisco. And we’ve got a wealth of knowledge and expertise from defending our own network and corporate assets to help you secure yours.
It’s only as good as your people think it is
One of the major keys to success is actively helping your people make the most of collaboration and digital services.
Our adoption management approach uses a persona methodology to make sure each member of your workforce gets the tools they need to be as productive as possible. And the support they need to use them effectively. It’s how we’ve previously helped large corporations deliver 70% adoption globally within three months.
Another key component is keeping the user experience consistent across the entire platform, with a choice of vendors as part of your ecosystem. This means you can tailor the experience for each user. And by using standard APIs, you don’t have to waste time on integration.
Helping you create a compelling business case
Unified comms should help you work smarter, not harder. And it should cut costs, not increase them.
Our innovative commercial models mean you can manage your costs as users migrate to new platforms. A single global price per user allows you to predict costs and you can flex up and down on users, so you only pay for what you use. For CFOs, this means being able to realise and demonstrate return on investment more quickly, allowing a clearer view of the value and a stronger business case for future transformation.
The real value comes from your end user experience
In short, global professional services firms need to be able to flawlessly migrate to a digital workplace, get rapid uptake from their users and demonstrate the value of the investment as quickly as possible. These are all things we can help you with.
Wherever you are on the road to digital workplace transformation, we can get you there faster. If you’d like to know more, we’re here to help.
