Essentials for Professional Services: Navigating a post-Brexit world

Right now, it’s hard to escape the fact that the UK is going through a period of upheaval. The decision to leave the European Union has left businesses – even political parties – unsure of what comes next. After more than four decades of EU membership, no one can predict Brexit’s knock-on effect.

Analysts at research firm Canalys, stressed that the UKs recent decision to break from Europe, will likely prompt CIOs and other business leaders to withhold future planning and put a halt to IT spending.

Following Brexit, Canalys re-issued its 2016 predictions for IT expenditure in the UK, reporting that its previous estimates would fall by up to 10% by the end of the year.

But cutting back on IT spending to reduce risk during time of insecurity could be detrimental further down the line. Future planning is critical to maintain long term focus and business growth.

Make Smart Investments

In uncertain times it’s therefore important for businesses to make smart IT investments. Putting the brakes on expenditure can quickly see systems outdated and operations made inefficient, allowing competitors to get ahead.

Hitachi Solutions has recently launched a new cloud-based ERP application, that’s preconfigured and optimised for the professional services industry. Because it allows organisations to launch quickly, enabling business leaders to make timely, data-driven decisions, we think it’s perfect for times when things are less predictable.

Essentials for Professional Services is our new Microsoft Dynamics AX application available on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, helping professional services to optimise business processes, fast and at low risk.

Complete Visibility

It is a companywide solution that provides all the functionality a professional services organisation needs, including Financials, Procurement, Human Resources, as well as Project, Time and Expense Management.

A single solution that is used across the business, Essentials for Professional Services helps organisations to drive operational efficiency, streamline reporting and control costs.

Using a unified database, organisations can get a real-time picture of their operations.

Optimised processes

Essentials for Professional Services can be used anytime, anywhere, which makes it easier for consultants to work effectively, and to track time and expenses accurately.

For example, the time management functionality enables users to quickly and easily capture detailed timesheet information, whether in the office or on the road. This is then automatically linked to the correct project.

The expense module allows you to track expenses more accurately and is easy to use by all staff. Project-based billing can then be automated using time and expense information.

Rapid deployment and low risk

Crucially, Essentials for Professional Services can be deployed quickly and easily.

By using a pre-built professional services company template, and making effective use of Microsoft Azure cloud technology, Essentials for Professional Services can be implemented in a fraction of the time associated with traditional ERP implementations.

Nor does it require a huge upfront investment. Businesses pay on a per-user, per-month basis, with no upfront capital costs. New users and functionality can then be added as and when your business needs evolve.

Taking an iterative approach makes this a risk-free investment, which supports your business growth – start small and scale up. There is safety in scalability.

In times of uncertainty, Essentials for Professional Services is an investment that will pay dividends quickly. Empowering you to improve profitability, gain company-wide visibility and drive operational effectiveness across the business, it will help you stay two steps ahead in an increasingly ambiguous world.

No one knows what is going to happen next. But freezing all of your IT investments will not safeguard you from what’s to come. Essentials for Professional Services is a smart approach to delivering the information your business needs to stay competitive and continue to grow.