MSS Replaces Outdated & Homegrown Systems With Kantata
Industry
Challenge
Employees
Geography
MSS Business Transformation Advisory — a management consulting firm established nearly 30 years ago — discovered soon after the launch of their business that the marketplace only offered professional service software designed for law firms. The solutions available at that time were not appropriate for a consulting firm, so MSS designed their own software — which they used for 25 years.
That is, until the business hit its own technology wall, instigating the search for a platform that would help MSS remain competitive and hit its growth targets. In search of a solution, Mike Hawksworth, Founder and President at MSS, deployed a market research team to identify a suitable platform to meet their needs — this is when they came across Kantata.
MSS Business Transformation Advisory guides enterprise, mid-market, and public sector organizations through Business and IT transformations. MSS enables big change through leadership, governance, and accountability by sharing their collective expertise to help business leaders navigate and execute their specific transformational needs.
“To go from multiple systems to a single platform so easily was a major business transformation for us which has paid off.”
Founder and President, MSS Business Transformation Advisory
The Challenge
The search for Kantata began when MSS sought to migrate manual business operations onto a fully automated and cloud-hosted professional services platform. MSS was very clear about what needed to change. According to Founder and President Mike Hawksworth, “Being a professional services firm, our main concern is people. We worry about their utilization, that they are managing the contracts correctly against our customer engagements and that we can invoice for the work completed by our people on time. Receivables are our lifeblood.”
Mike explains, “We don’t run mass marketing campaigns, all of our business is driven through networking and relationships. This means a lot of face-to-face conversations which generate a lot of information. We needed a platform that could deal with all of the touchpoints our people have with our customers.”
“With Kantata as a foundation we believe that we can grow our revenue by four or five times without increasing the headcount in the back office. We see growth being driven by cloud technologies. Now our customers know that we have the skills to migrate their business to the cloud as we’ve undertaken the same process ourselves. It gives us real gravitas in the market.”
Founder and President, MSS Business Transformation Advisory
The Solution
When looking for a solution, MSS applied the same methodology that they use with their clients, focusing on finding a solution with all the core requirements needed to improve internal processes. The team discovered that Kantata brought together all of the elements needed for their success.
According to Mike, “We were running two separate systems for our CRM and billing systems and we wanted a product that would integrate them. We knew we had to step up and integrate the full lifecycle of our customer engagements — from sales to service delivery to billing. Kantata provides that fully integrated system. It addresses the sales opportunities coming through the pipeline and balances our resourcing against this pipeline. A further benefit saw our existing financial system migrate seamlessly with Kantata’s cloud-hosted platform.”
Kantata works as the single — and trusted — source of truth for the entire company. A key factor that drove MSS to choose Kantata was that everyone from the accounting team to the consultants in the field could reap the benefits of sharing real-time information. Mike shares, “At first the accounts team were triple checking reports for data inaccuracies, but they soon realized this wasn’t necessary. Kantata’s background in consultancy meant the go-live was incredibly smooth with both parties on the same page throughout. Eventually we were able to ‘flip-the-switch’ and our whole business was migrated across.”
“Because Kantata is an industry vertical solution which is always improving, it is also helping us to continually improve. I am delighted to be a part of the bandwagon of what I expect to become a major technology firm.”
Founder and President, MSS Business Transformation Advisory
The Results
Proactive resourcing
Thanks to adopting Kantata, MSS is tracking its sales pipeline and resource data better. This is allowing the business to begin delivery planning ahead of a contract being signed. By gaining the available insight from its data MSS is moving forward into its active project stage one step ahead where possible.
Accurate forecasting
MSS completes its monthly forecasts using data in Kantata. The business can now identify if it needs to adapt its resource planning for the month ahead. When running its mid-month forecasts and performance analysis, the firm is regularly ahead of targets. The management team can easily run reports in a matter of hours upon request.
Improved relationships
Previously, MSS managed subcontractors — from invoicing, to time collection, and status reports — using siloed and manual processes. With Kantata, subcontractors can work directly alongside the team, saving time, expenses and improving relationships.
Benefits
- Proactive resource allocation
- Improved data quality
- Visibility into sales pipeline
- More accurate forecasting
increase in revenue without increased headcount
reduction of disparate systems