Buying Guide: 5 Key Features of Professional Services Software

Professional services automation (PSA) software is a management solution that improves the performance, processes, and profitability of service-based firms. It provides companies in the professional services industry with specialised tools smoothing project management.

Most importantly, such a system brings transparency to the processes of a project: time tracking, expense management, software integrations (e.g. with a CRM), billing and invoicing, resource and labour allocation, etc.

In fact, a 2017 PSA end-user survey reported that the software aids in efficient project delivery and accurate time/cost tracking. No wonder consultants, lawyers, account managers, and other renderers of professional service highly rely on this project management solution.

In order to benefit from professional services software just like the rest, one must consider the essential features of a PSA platform.

Below you will find some of the key requirements to note when shopping for a professional services automation system.

5 Important Inclusions of a PSA Application  

Billing a client for a rendered service plays a critical role in professional services firms. Without this process, those companies will not generate income, and sustain business development.

Through PSA, businesses in the professional services sector can bill clients with great ease. This software allows users to generate bills using trackable hours. The tracked time keeps the billing transparent as it shows the number of hours spent on each project.

On top of processing invoices, this software solution can also streamline and automate expense management. Most PSA systems send users a notification if a project is running out of time or budget.

Professional services firms need to keep pace with project demands so they can deliver them smoothly. To do this, they must facilitate workplace collaboration, and manage tasks effectively.

With professional services software, people working in the said industry can manage day-to-day activities, and collaborate with team members conveniently. It’s equipped with a dashboard that displays about any project: progress, status, personnel, and task documents.

In addition, this program comes with collaboration capabilities. It enables team members to communicate digitally on a single platform, thus eliminating the need for multiple tools and logins.

Automated Time Tracking 
Time tracking is an important function of a PSA application. This feature specifically helps service-based companies monitor expenses and employees’ work days.

Traditionally, project managers oversee multiple worksheets to manage project costs, and check resource allocation. Today, users can see hours and expenses associated with a certain project in a central platform.

A professional services automation system allows anyone to input hours spent on a specific task using employee timesheets. Some PSA tools even have the ability to track billable and non-billable hours, overtime in hours, and time spent on particular projects.

A business process ends neither with payment processing nor the submission of project deliverables. It’s also crucial for a company to gain insights into project performance to make data-driven decisions.

With professional services software, senior management can have real-time visibility of project performance. This program helps the key decision makers to better understand resource utilisation, billing forecasts, and other reports.

PSA also usually comes with highly visual dashboards that are refreshed automatically. It can provide top executives a quick look at their organisation’s utilisation performance or financial health without needing to generate reports manually.

Smartphones aren’t only used for leisure; they’re also used to run a business now. Mobile devices may assist internal or external communication, e.g. checking work-related emails.

Since a significant number of people use mobile devices for work purposes, getting a mobile-responsive PSA solution is ideal. A mobile friendly PSA app lets users stay up-to-date on a project whether they’re working at their desks or away.

Some professional services automation software even provides a mobile time-tracking app. This time tracker helps even those who work remotely or outside the office to track their working hours.

Imagine the stress that each employee bears just to submit the deliverables on time, the time that should be spent on more important business matters, and the side tasks that should be performed. These things wouldn’t be a concern if professional services software was in place.

So if your organisation can barely manage everything, consider investing in a professional services management solution.

Once you have decided on one, make sure that your PSA app offers the above features in one unified platform.