One of the top 20 CPA and consulting firms in the U.S., Armanino measures its success by how well its clients are doing. That is why the certified B Corp. has enjoyed continued growth over five decades. Fast approaching $1 billion in annual revenue, leaders looked to revamp how the organization manages its clients¡¯ unique and evolving demands.
Armanino decided to deploy ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Professional Services Automation (PSA), a system designed to give operations leaders timely and valuable insights into upcoming projects, needed skills, talent availability, billing, and project profitability.
That choice followed leaders¡¯ prior decision to use ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Human Capital Management (HCM) and ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Financial Management to replace 15 disjointed finance and HR platforms. All applications are now part of a unified system with ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA.?
Though the firm is still in the early stages of its ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA deployment, Armanino has seen encouraging results so far, says CFO John Kogan.
Time-based functionality.
The use of ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA comes as Armanino moves toward new industries, flat fees, and other changes needed for a services-based business. ¡°We have a complex mix of clients, so we need something like ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA that accommodates our varied needs and our rapid scaling,¡± Kogan says.?
Kogan expects ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA will give managers valuable insights into flexible billing rules, markups, and write-offs to minimize revenue leakage. ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA supports various billing models including subscription-, usage-, and project-based billing, as well as time and materials, fixed-fee, prepaid, milestone, and percent completed.
Kogan¡¯s also looking forward to performing project-based profitability analysis. ¡°We¡¯re approaching that capability,¡± Kogan says. ¡°It will be a great function for us to leverage.¡±
The idea is to provide a unified solution, and ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA accomplishes that mission.
CFO
Cost in a unified system.
With ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA as part of a unified data model, Armanino employees see the same information about revenue and expenses, which helps improve collaboration. ¡°It used to be that you might have two or three different systems to hunt for whatever you were looking for,¡± Kogan says. ¡°Now everyone¡¯s going to the same place. We¡¯re still learning how to use the new tools, but no doubt this is a win.¡±
Manage collections in one place.
Armanino expects to use all ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA capabilities, including collections management. Armanino will be able to manage receivables and collections, maintain client accounts, and automate billing all at once.?
¡°We¡¯ve used a separate system for how our collections team manages collections versus how our client-facing folks see them,¡± Kogan says. ¡°That¡¯s a problem because the two sides aren¡¯t seeing the same thing.¡± Kogan believes ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA will help address that issue.
Our big ROI from ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA will come from better pricing and billing insights because we can see project profitability.
CFO
Advice for companies interested in ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA.
Kogan¡¯s advice to businesses about using ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ PSA, ¡°Spend as much time up front as possible to understand how the platform will work in your environment. That¡¯s true of every enterprise resource planning implementation I¡¯ve participated in, but it requires a more sustained effort than you might think. Give yourself enough time.¡±
Kogan adds that deployment can be challenging, so ensure your managers are fully engaged in all phases of the process. ¡°If you¡¯re not as focused during your architecting or discovery phase, you may not be where you want to be when it¡¯s ready to go live,¡± Kogan says. ¡°There are lots of wonderful upsides to being on the same platform. But it¡¯s going to take a while to get there, so be patient.¡±