However, the lack of alignment in their processes and technology was inhibiting their ability to operate effectively as a cohesive organization.
The client faced challenges in generating reliable and actionable metrics that are necessary to assess performance across key areas, including pipeline, total sales, cross-sell, utilization, and resource planning. As the firm sought to operate, sell, and deliver services on a global scale, they turned to Cuesta to streamline operations and unlock critical KPIs for both internal leaders and their financial sponsors.
A framework centered around people, process and tech
With extensive experience in the professional services sector, Cuesta applied its proprietary framework, which focuses on aligning the sophistication of people, processes, and technology across a firm. We then worked with the client to apply this framework to their unique business model.
People
This firm had a sophisticated talent base spanning three global regions, organized in three practice areas across 14 distinct services. Its delivery model was also becoming more sophisticated, as the firm looked to sell across practice areas, borders, and regions and implement a global staffing model. Additionally, engagements could take a variety of forms, ranging from fixed-fee, time and materials, and retainer with a series of contingencies. Given that a firm’s people and delivery model are central to a firm’s operations, it was critical to center our analysis around aligning the firm’s processes and technology to the people and their delivery mechanisms.
Process
Rapid expansion through M&A had created process fragmentation across the firm’s 14 entities and 500 employees. The company grew from a small, localized firm to a full-service global entity, but each acquisition had brought its own processes, ranging from highly mature to nascent – some businesses had formal sales and staffing processes, while others relied on informal, tribal knowledge. Automation was also significantly lacking, resulting in a bloated back-office. A unified, streamlined operational approach was clearly needed.
Technology
The firm used market-leading technologies, including Salesforce for CRM and NetSuite for ERP. However, successive rounds of customizations and tweaks to align it to the firm’s fragmented processes had made the systems highly complex and challenging to use. This resulted in low user adoption, poor data quality and inconsistent reporting. Because each business unit used the tools differently, essential metrics lacked reliability and trustworthiness.
Driving alignment and simplification
Identifying these misalignments, Cuesta proposed a unique approach to elevate process sophistication and simplify technology. We sought to create alignment between the firm’s people, processes, and technology for effective global operations by targeting the fragmented workflows – streamlining operations and creating a standardized, scalable foundation that reduced back-office bloat and eliminated redundant manual work. By introducing automation, we enabled the client to significantly reduce the cost and size of their back-office operations.
Solution implementation to drive value creation
1. Creating a single end-to-end process
Recognizing that technology’s value is maximized by the processes it supports, Cuesta designed a unified, global opportunity-to-cash process. This single, standardized workflow addressed approval protocols and escalation paths, reducing operational errors and enabling firm-wide consistency.
2. Integrating technology to support the process
We developed a capability diagram to outline how each step in the opportunity-to-cash process would be supported across the existing tech stack. This included assessing whether existing systems could handle all requirements or if additional tools were needed.
For project management and staffing, Cuesta recommended adopting a dedicated Professional Services Automation (PSA) tool to replace the existing NetSuite SuiteProjects module. This additional PSA tool would enhance process alignment and sophistication across the firm. Cuesta defined a future state architecture and technology stack by clarifying the key capabilities by tool & domain (CRM, PSA, ERP), system boundaries, and a cogent business data definition to align the organization.
3. Hands-on enhancements to the technology stack
With a streamlined future-state process and determined technology requirements, Cuesta focused on immediate value generation by improving the Salesforce CRM to drive adoption, data quality, and ease of use. The focus of these “quick win” efforts was to improve the CRM’s usability through a simplified, streamlined sales workflow. By reducing the opportunity entry time from 45 minutes per opportunity to less than three, these updates drastically improved the user experience, leading to increased system utilization and adoption within the first week post-launch.
Impact and Business Benefits
The framework’s alignment efforts resulted in a system that could produce accurate, trustworthy data, allowing the client to achieve project-level economics and track utilization and revenue in ways that were previously unattainable. With a consistent, global “dictionary” of definitions for terms such as “utilization” and “revenue,” business metrics are now universally understood while the company has a roadmap to continue iterating on this foundation.
By establishing a streamlined opportunity-to-cash process, enhancing CRM adoption, and introducing appropriate technology solutions, Cuesta empowered this global professional services organization to operate with agility and insight across its expanded geography and service offerings. This framework provided a structured path to both immediate and long-term value realization for a business poised for continued growth.