提升专业服务盈利能力报告策略

感谢您今天参加我们的电话会议，主题为‘提升专业服务公司盈利能力的报告策略’。

Thank you for joining us today for our call, Improving Profitability Reporting Strategies for Professional Services.

今天由肖恩·温德尔担任我们的演讲嘉宾。

Sean Windell is going be our speaker for today.

肖恩是位于丹佛的ERP顾问集团的创始人兼管理合伙人。

Sean is the founding and managing principal of ERP Advisors Group based here in Denver.

ERP顾问集团是全国顶尖的独立企业软件咨询公司之一。

ERP Advisors Group is one of the country's top independent enterprise software advisory firms.

肖恩为中大型企业提供咨询，帮助它们选择和实施业务应用程序，包括ERP、客户关系管理、人力资源管理、商业智能以及其他企业级应用，每年在多个行业促成数百万美元的软件交易。

And Sean advises mid to large sized businesses on selecting and implementing business applications from ERP, customer relationship management, human capital management, business intelligence, and other enterprise applications which equate to millions of dollars in software deals each year across many industries.

在加入ERP顾问集团之前，肖恩曾帮助丹佛一家顶级五十强会计师事务所建立了一家成功的科技业务部门。

Prior to ERP, Sean helped establish a successful technology practice with a top 50 accounting firm here in Denver.

世界上只有少数人拥有肖恩那样的实践经验，他曾帮助数百家来自多个行业的客户选择和实施各种企业级解决方案。

There are only a few people in the world with the practical experience that Sean has gained with helping hundreds of clients across many industries with selecting and implementing a wide variety of enterprise solutions.

因此，在今天的会议中，肖恩将与您探讨如何通过避免常见陷阱并合理增员，实现专业服务公司的盈利性增长。

So on today's call, Sean will talk to you about growing a professional services firm profitably by avoiding pitfalls and adding staff that results in decreased profitability.

那么，现在让我向大家介绍Sean Windall。

So now let me introduce you to Sean Windall.

嗨，谢谢Juliet的介绍。

Hi, thanks Juliet for that.

感谢你这么夸奖我。

I appreciate the kind words.

归根结底，对于我们这些在电话里的朋友来说，我们帮助公司解决他们遇到的任何类型的技术问题。

At the end of the day, for the folks that are on the call here, we help companies with really any kind of technology issue that they've run into.

我们不销售软件。

We don't sell software.

我们不销售，也没有专门团队为某个特定应用做实施。

We don't sell the we don't have a staff of folks that do implementations on any particular application.

因此，我们的重点是独立且客观的。

So our focus is independent objective.

但最近在专业服务领域，我们在多个客户身上不断遇到相同的问题。

But what's happened of recent is in the professional services area, we keep running into the same kinds of problems at multiple clients.

因此，我们今天组织了这次电话会议，目的是真正探讨如何改善贵组织的报告体系，特别是围绕盈利能力方面。

And so we put this call together today with the intention of really addressing this concept of how do you improve reporting in your organization, specifically around profitability.

所以我们会围绕这个话题展开讨论。

So we'll talk to that.

接下来的十五到二十分钟，我会就此进行讲解。

I'll talk to that here for maybe the next fifteen, twenty minutes.

之后，我也非常乐意回答任何问题，甚至听听大家在一线实际遇到的情况。

And then would love to answer any questions or even hear kind of what you all are dealing with out in the trenches as well.

那么，我会开始介绍我的内容。

So I'll go through my content.

而且，正如朱丽叶所说，如果大家已经静音了手机，那很好。

And then actually, I think as Juliet said, if you all muted your phones, that's great.

但如果你有任何问题，即使在我们进行过程中也可以随时提出。

But if you do have any questions, even as we go here, that's fine.

我们有一个名为ERP顾问的系列电话会议，这次就是其中一部分。

We have this series of conference calls called the ERP advisor, which this is a part of.

我们让这些电话会议变得非常具有协作性。

And we're making these calls extremely collaborative.

所以，如果你有任何问题，或者有想要在讨论中分享的实际情况，那非常好。

So if you have questions or even have a scenario that you're dealing with that you want to talk about in the context of discussion flow, that'd be great.

让我先告诉你我们在实地看到的情况。

Let me start off by telling you what we're seeing from the field.

正如我前面提到的，我们与许多公司合作，正如朱丽叶所说，我们每年都在为数百万美元的采购提供咨询服务，涉及数百万美元的服务和软件。

So as I mentioned earlier, we work with a lot of companies and as Juliet said, we're doing millions and millions of dollars of advisory for purchases of millions and millions of dollars of services and software every year.

因此，我们与众多不同类型的公司合作。

And so we're working with lots of different companies.

我们发现，无论是非营利组织、管理咨询公司、创意机构，甚至到建筑和工程公司，专业服务公司普遍面临追踪盈利能力的难题。

We're seeing with professional services firms really have kind of all kinds from nonprofit to management consulting to creative agencies, all the way even to construction engineering firms, that tracking profitability is an issue.

无论在哪个细分服务领域，大家遇到的挑战都大同小异。

Everybody has the same kind of challenges that they're running into across all the different micro verticals services.

但现实是，最大的问题仍然是吸引和留住关键人才，紧随其后的是盈利能力的追踪与报告问题。

The reality though is that the biggest issue continues to be attracting and retaining key talent, but close behind that comes in this tracking of a profitability reporting.

当我们说利润报告时，我们指的是组织的每一个维度，从公司整体（这相对简单）延伸到投资组合、项目、资源，甚至细化到任务层面。

When we say profitability reporting, we really mean of every dimension of the organization from the company itself, which is pretty straightforward, but then into portfolio, project, resources, and even down to tasks.

事实上，过去服务公司的利润率足够高，因此能够追踪到任务级别的利润可能并不那么关键，因为当时有一定的缓冲空间——如果某些项目利润不高，其他项目利润较高，可以相互弥补。

And the reality is that margins have been high enough in the past for our services firm where being able to track down to the task level of profitability probably wasn't as critical because there was a little bit of leeway in there where if we weren't quite profitable on some projects, we were over profitable on others and so kind of make up for that.

因此，当时还有一定的容错空间，但我们现在看到这种空间正在缩小。

So there was some room to absorb the unknown, but we really see that diminishing.

尽管服务行业在美国的增长远超其他行业，但我们确实看到竞争日益激烈，各方更加关注优化资源配置，以最大限度地提升个人和项目的盈利能力。

So even though services as an industry is growing heads and shoulders above other industries in The US, we do see there's a lot more competition and there's a lot more focus on optimizing resources to get as much profitability out of individuals and out of projects as possible.

这听起来有点严峻，但我认为这只是现实，随着一些报告工具的推出，它们使组织、业务经理、总经理和咨询部门经理能够更紧密地管理利润。

That sounds a little bit rough, I think it's just as and we'll talk to this even more as some of the reporting tools that have come out, they enable organizations, business managers, general managers and consulting division managers to be able to manage that profit a little more closely.

因此，人们对利润作为核心驱动力的理解正在加深。

So there's just more of an understanding a profit as a key driver, of course.

随着数据的可获得性提高，对数据的需求也更加强烈。

And now the yearning for the data is higher as the data has become more available.

我们最近与一家公司合作，该公司约有450名员工，主要分布在美国各地，还有一些英国办事处。

We recently worked with a firm it was about four fifty people based really throughout The US as well as some offices in The UK.

我们向他们提供关于其整体应用生态系统的建议，我们称之为，包括他们的客户关系管理软件。

And we advise them on their kind of overall application ecosystem, we call it, where we look at their customer relationship management software.

他们甚至还有一个产品，作为专业服务之上的附加销售品。

They actually even have a product too that they sell on top of the professional services.

这属于IT安全领域。

It's kind of IT security.

这是一个非常热门的领域。

It's a real hot area.

在与他们合作的过程中，我们发现他们是一个绝佳的例子——最近被一家大型私募股权公司收购的公司。

And in working with them, it was quite interesting because they're a great example of a firm that was actually recently purchased by a large private equity firm.

因此，他们获得了资金注入，但这家股权公司希望将这家组织作为平台，进行更多收购。

So there was an infusion of capital, but then the equity firm wanted to use this organization as platform to do further acquisitions.

这是一种整合策略，他们已经开始了。

So kind of a roll up strategy and they started that already.

我们发现，在他们真正进入扩张模式之前，必须先解决会计系统的问题。

What we saw with them was that before they could really kind of get into this expansion mode, they really had to remediate their accounting first.

市场上其实有一个供应商叫NetSuite，你们可能听说过，也可能没听说过。

There's actually a vendor in the marketplace, NetSuite, that you all may or may not have heard of.

NetSuite有一个非常棒的模型，叫做Suite Success，能帮助组织从整改一路推进到行业颠覆。

NetSuite has this really nice model called Suite Success that takes an organization from remediate all the way up to disruption in their industry.

这个过程中有几个关键阶段。

And there's a couple of stops along the way.

我喜欢用这个模型来评估专业服务公司所处的阶段以及他们需要关注的重点。

So I like that model for evaluating professional services firm and where they're at and what they need to focus on.

因此，对于这个我们正在合作的特定组织，他们首先必须把会计工作做好。

And so for this particular organization we were working with, they had to get the accounting right first.

他们必须确保工时和账单能顺利流入财务系统，并建立支持多公司、多币种的财务架构，同时实现组织层面的精准盈利报告。

They had to get the time and billings flowing into the financials and the financial setup with multi company, multi currency and super solid profitability reporting at the organization level.

项目层面目前已有足够的理解，但更关键的是在实体层面实现盈利。

There was enough understanding at the project side for now, but it was more at the profitable at the entity level.

他们运营着多个实体。

They had multiple entities that they were running.

所以一旦他们开始使用，也选择了NetSuite以及用于时间和计费的NetSuite产品OpenHear。

So once they got into they actually did select NetSuite as well as NetSuite product on the time and billing side called OpenHear.

一旦他们采用了这两款产品，就拥有了一个可以扩展和发展的平台。

Once they got into those two products, they were able to have a platform then that they could grow and expand.

但我想强调的关键是，如果没有先完成‘修复’这一步——即在实体层面了解盈利能力，那么人们所创建的财务报告、财务主管和CFO向董事会汇报的这些数据就缺乏基础。

But the key thing that I want to mention here is that without that remediate step of just knowing profitability at a high level by entity, again, there's financial reports that people are creating and controllers and CFOs are reporting to boards these numbers.

但正如我们所有人都知道的，亲身经历过就知道，一旦你深入挖掘几层，信息根本就不存在。

But as we all know, kind of be having been in the trenches, as soon as you start drilling in a couple layers, the information just isn't there.

因此，我们能够将这些信息细化到投资组合和项目层面。

And so we were able to get that information down to portfolio and project level for them.

他们能够做出更明智的决策。

They're able to make better decisions.

这个工具对他们来说非常精准，真正帮助他们进入了下一阶段的成长与扩张，而他们目前正通过并购实现这一点。

That particular tool was spot on for them and really helped them to then, like I said, kind of get to the next stage of growing and expansion, which they're really doing through M and A.

同时，在这个过程中，我们也看到很多流程改进，如今项目管理办公室和项目管理职能正在被建立起来，以实现标准化。

And along the way too, we see a lot of kind of process improvement that program management offices, project management offices now are being put in place to standardize.

因此，你能够从下至上地进行盈利报告，同时也能从上至下地进行。

So you get kind of a bottoms up approach on profitability reporting and then a top down.

这是一个很好的例子，说明这家公司在这方面做得非常出色。

So it's good example of a firm that I think has done a really nice job there.

现在，如果任何人有任何问题，请随时取消静音并告诉我。

Now, terms of and definitely if anybody has any questions, don't hesitate to just unmute and let me know.

我也会稍微谈谈从一线视角来看，我们在报告方面的一些总体看法。

I will talk a little bit too about just some general thoughts on reporting that we see from a again being in the trenches view.

关于盈利报告，这其实很简单。

On the profitability reporting is pretty straightforward.

收入减去支出等于利润，但其中涉及的内容很多。

You have revenue minus expenses equals profit, but there's a lot that goes into it.

在支出方面，我们看到企业能够追踪员工的时间。

On the expense side, we're seeing that organizations are able to track people's time.

当然，员工会自行录入他们的时间。

Of course, individuals are entering their time.

我们有一些客户每两周记录一次工时。

We have some clients that do time about every two weeks.

我们还有一些客户每周记录一次，也有客户每天记录。

We have other clients that do it weekly, and we have other clients that are doing it daily.

每天记录这一点非常有趣，尤其是在石油和天然气行业的现场服务领域，那些更具创业精神的公司为大型石油生产商工作。

And the daily part is very interesting, especially in the oil and gas industry with field services where organizations that are more entrepreneur are working for large oil producers.

石油生产商说，如果你要和我们做生意，就必须每天提供这份数据。

The oil producers say, if you're going to do business with us, you got to give us this on a daily basis.

我希望在管理ERP实施时，我们能有足够的资源影响力来要求每日工时报告。

I wish that when we're managing ERP implementations that we had the leverage over resources to demand a daily time report.

因为一旦有了每日工时数据，你就能更精确地追踪实际投入完成任务的支出。

Because once you have that daily time, you can track your expenses much, much better for what's actually going into completed tasks.

因此，我们在利润报告的支出端看到大量实际成本的计算，这非常好；而几年前、甚至十年前，从我个人参与服务型企业的经验来看，很多都是使用标准成本，比如根据员工的岗位费率来计算。

So, we're seeing a lot of actual costs being calculated on profitability reporting on the expense side, which is very good versus standardized costs where even several years ago, ten years ago, even from my own perspective of being involved in services firms, was a lot of standard costs that were applied by a person's job rate, let's say.

我们会用总工时乘以一个标准费率，得出成本。

And we would figure out the total hours times that a standard rate and there is your cost.

现在系统已经可以追踪实际成本了。

Well, now systems are set up to where you can actually track actual costs.

因此，实际成本的时间记录会体现在费用端，同时还有加载成本。

So you've got actual cost times to time coming up with the expense side, as well as then loaded costs.

费用端通过一个不错的工时和计费系统已经得到了很好的管理。

So the expense side is pretty well handled through a decent time and billing system.

收入端则有些复杂，因为我们发现有些客户的收入计算存在一些差距。

The revenue side gets a bit interesting because we can see with some clients that we get a bit of a gap on revenue calculation.

你可以有一个资源，记录了十小时的工作，每小时150美元，总共是1500美元，这就是这位顾问所产生的收入。

So you can have a resource that charges their time, ten hours at $150 an hour is $1,500 And that's the revenue that that consultant has generated.

假设这只是单个任务、单个项目在一天内的工作量。

Let's say that's just on one task, that's for one project for that one day.

这是非常繁忙的一天。

It's a big day.

现在可能发生的情况是，这1500美元连同许多其他交易，但我们就只看这一个例子。

Now what may end up happening is that $1,500 along with many other transactions, but let's just take that single instance.

这1500美元会流转到项目经理手中，由他负责判断：这十个小时是否真的有价值？

That $1,500 flows over to a project manager who then is responsible for deciding, well, was that ten hours a value?

还是说实际上只应该算八个小时？

Or should it really only have been eight?

而我们最初的预算是否只安排了六个小时？

And did we only really budget six?

因此，这位项目经理需要综合考虑所有这些因素，以决定最终哪些内容提交给财务或更高层级的人员，用于审批最终发送给客户的账单。

So this individual is looking at all these different factors to decide what ultimately then gets passed over to accounting or a higher level person to approve the actual invoice that then goes to the customer.

所以，这就是所谓的‘实现率’，对吧？

So it's this concept of realization, right?

比如我们记录了十个小时，但实际只确认了六个小时。

Like we build ten hours, but we only realize six.

因此，这中间就差了四个小时。

And so there's that difference of four.

所以，盈利报告中的收入部分至关重要，必须仔细追踪，确保有一个系统能够记录这些差异：从计费的十个小时，到项目经理判断实际上只有八个小时——因为其中有两小时是员工的非工作时间，我们必须核销这两小时，最终只确认八小时。

So the revenue side of profitability reporting is super, super important to really track and make sure that it's in so that you have a system again that can track these variances that go from the ten hours that are billed to the PM says, well, only eight there were two hours of the person's news, we have to write off two hours and it's eight.

顺便说一下，预算只安排了六小时。

And then by the way, it's only budgeted for six.

因此，能够将工时实现预算追踪到这一层级至关重要。

So that ability to track time realization budgets down to that level is super vital.

这样，作为项目负责人，你就能发现问题所在。

So that then as a person looking over projects, you can look to say, hey, we got a problem here.

问题可能是——这一点对电话里的每个人来说可能都很明显，但有时却并非如此。

And the problem could be, and this is probably pretty obvious to everybody on the phone, but sometimes it's not.

问题可能是我们的顾问并不清楚自己在做什么。

Problem could be our consultants don't know what they're doing.

他们缺乏良好的培训。

They're not well trained.

他们没有得到充分的指导。

They're not well had it.

他们是新人。

They're new.

他们对所负责的领域了解不够深入。

They don't know the area that they're working in very well.

因此他们效率低下。

So they're inefficient.

也可能是我们在销售时，销售人员给客户设定的预算太低了。

It could be that when we start salespeople set the budget with the client too low.

于是客户真正愿意购买的工时，比实际完成项目所需的工时要少。

And so then the hours that the client's really willing to buy happens to be less than what it actually takes to do the project.

也可能是我们的项目经理太保守了，不敢说：‘嘿，你知道吗？’

It could be that we have PMs that are too conservative, that don't just say, you know what?

我们有十个小时的工时。

We got ten hours.

那里有实际价值，我们要把它计入账单。

There was value there, and we're going to bill it.

所以这是一个需要内部决策的政策问题。

So that's an internal policy issue that has to be decided.

因此，收入端建立一个能够追踪这些不同类型的时间核销或实际工时与预算缩减的系统，是极其重要的。

So the revenue side and having a system set up where you can track these different kinds of write offs of time or reduction of actual hours to budget is so, so important.

因为正如你所见，我们投入了十个小时，但最终只完成了六个小时的工作。

Because as you can tell, so we put in that ten hours, we build a six.

但我们仍要为顾问支付十个小时的报酬。

Well, we pay the consultant for ten hours.

我们不会为六个小时支付报酬，但只按六个小时收费。

We don't pay them for six, but we only get paid on six.

因此，就这项任务、这个项目和这个资源而言，我们的利润率远低于那位完成了十小时、投入了十小时并成功交付十小时的同事。

So our profitability on that one task and that one project and that one resource is a lot less than the next gal who builds 10 or who puts in 10, they can build a 10 and they build a 10.

所以，再次强调，在这些不同阶段节点上追踪工时，是至关重要的。

So being able to track again time at those different kind of stage gates, if you will, it's super, super vital.

再次回到关于利润报告的一些总体想法，每个人都想看到投资组合的结果。

Again, kind of going back to some general thoughts here on profitability reporting, everybody wants to see portfolio results.

他们希望看到每个客户的盈利能力。

They want to see profitability by clients.

他们希望按任务、按资源查看。

They want to see it by task, by resource.

对于在座各位，从背景来看，我们每个人都面临这些非常、非常棘手的问题。

For the folks here that are on the call from just looking at backgrounds a little bit, we're all in a position where we get asked these really, really tough questions.

如果没有合适的工具，这些问题越来越难回答。

It's just getting harder and harder to answer those unless you have the right tool in place.

我本来想谈一谈挣值管理，这是一个已经存在很久的概念。

I was going to talk a little bit about earned value management, which is a concept that has actually been around for quite a while.

但关键是，今天我们讨论的是盈利能力，但还有一个方面是：成本所对应的实际价值是什么。

But the bottom line too is that here we are talking about profitability today, but there's a whole aspect of what is the actual value being delivered for the cost.

因此，你会看到一些针对建筑与工程或其他领域的垂直细分、微垂直解决方案，它们会应用挣值管理。

So you start to see some vertical specific sub vertical micro vertical solutions for architecture and engineering or for some other areas where they do this earned value management.

但我认为，我们持续看到的是，先做好盈利能力报告，然后再推进到更高级的报表。

But I think what we continue to see is get your profitability reporting in first, and then you can move on to some more advanced reports.

大多数应用程序都支持这一点。

Most of the applications will support that.

我们来看看，现在大约是十二点二十分。

Let's see, we're at about twelve twenty.

我再讲一会儿，然后我想开放讨论。

Let me talk for a little bit more and then I want to open it up.

那么，你如何实际报告盈利能力呢？

So how do you actually report on profitability?

你需要记录支出和收入两方面。

You have to capture expense and the revenue side.

它必须像我们之前提到的那样准确。

It has to be accurate like we talked about earlier.

正如我所说，没有专业的服务自动化解决方案，几乎不可能进行任何准确的盈利能力报告。

As I said, it's really impossible to do any kind of accurate profitability reporting without a professional services automation solution.

此外，还需要大量依赖资源来准确上报工时。

There's tons of reliance on resources as well then to report accurate time.

我们最近正在与一家使用多公司解决方案的公司合作。

Like we were working with a company recently that was using a multi company solution.

他们有一个实体的员工为另一个实体工作。

They had resources in one entity that would do work for another entity.

所以利润或收入进入的是A实体，而所有成本都发生在B实体。

So the profit or the revenue would come in through, let's say entity A, all the costs were in entity B.

因此发生了大量的跨公司转账。

So there was a lot of intercompany transfers that were happening.

在这种情况下，进行盈利性报告变得极其困难。

And so the ability to report on profitability in that instance was extremely difficult.

有很多费用分摊之类的问题。

Lots of charge backs and things like that.

那么他们最终会怎么做呢？

So then what do they end up doing?

嗯，做估算。

Well, do estimates.

现在你不得不进行大量手动工作，通常会计部门有一人、两人或更多人负责处理所有这些跨公司转账。

And now you've got a lot of manual work that you have an individual or two or more usually in the accounting department that's trying to do all these intercompany transfers.

这变得极其复杂。

And it just becomes extremely complex.

现在，他们恰好使用了一个系统，实际上另一个NetSuite客户确实能够处理这些跨公司转账，但必须正确设置。

Now, they happen to be using a system, it's actually another NetSuite customer that does and can do those intercompany transfers for sure, but they have to be set up right.

因此，你不仅需要一个良好的系统，还需要真正理解你所面临业务挑战的资源。

So not only do you need a good system there, but you need the resources that really understand the business challenges that you're trying to get to.

这就是为什么我们说，当你在查看盈利能力报告时，必须配备能够管理费用、跟踪费用、追踪收入、实现情况和开票的工具，就像我们之前讨论的那样。

And that's why we say that when you're looking at profitability reporting and you have to have tools in place that can manage your expenses, track your expenses, can track your revenue, your realization, your invoicing like we talked about earlier.

但你还需要更广泛地关注那些能与报告解决方案协同工作的财务总账工具。

But you really do also have to look more broadly even into kind of financial general ledger tools that can work with a reporting solution as well.

因此，如果这些工具能更紧密地集成——比如将专业服务自动化解决方案（用于工时、计费和项目资源调度）与财务系统结合——从长远来看，你会受益更多。

So the closer that those tools are integrated between a professional service automation solution that does your time and billings and project resource scheduling in that, and then your financials, the better off you're going to be kind of in the long term.

从我们的角度来看，最佳解决方案是将财务、专业服务自动化与资源规划结合起来，同时整合协作和项目管理。

And really the panacea from our perspective is to bring together the financials, professional service automation with resource planning, but then also collaboration and project management.

我们目前正在与两家客户合作，其中一家尤其有大约150名可计费资源。

We're working with two clients right now, one in particular that has about 150 billable resources.

有趣的是，这是一家非营利组织。

It's a nonprofit, interestingly enough.

他们更倾向于重视协作需求，甚至超过财务需求。

And they tend to favor more of the collaboration requirements than even the financials.

会计团队并不一定获得同等的重视。

The accounting group doesn't necessarily has merit as much weight.

这当然很重要，但主要是用于资助报告。

It's very important for sure, but it's mostly grant reporting.

但对于这个特定的组织来说，协作和项目管理工具至关重要。

But for this particular organization, collaboration and the project management tools in that are super, super important.

因此，我们更倾向于选择一种能更好地展现这些功能的解决方案。

So we're tending towards a solution that kind of brings out those capabilities a little bit more.

市场上确实有这样的产品。

And they're in the marketplace for sure.

实际上，就连财务方面，他们也会选择一个基于云的会计系统，并与一流的项目管理解决方案集成。

Actually, even on the financial side on that one, they're going to go with a cloud based accounting system that will integrate with a best of breed project management solution.

这正是我们在实地看到的一些情况。

That's a little bit of kind of what we're seeing from the field.

也许我最后总结一下几点，你可以从中提炼出一些我认为重要的要点。

Maybe I'll wrap up with just a couple of things that you could kind of take away some nuggets that I think that are important.

他们确实遵循了我之前提到的NetSuite的Suite Success模式。

They really do follow, I mentioned this earlier, the Suite Success model from NetSuite.

我们非常推崇这个模式，即你必须首先解决财务问题。

We really like this model a lot, that you have to remediate your financial situation first.

你必须先实现基本的时间和计费跟踪自动化。

You have to get basic time and billings tracking automated.

你必须先建立基本的财务报告体系。

You've got to get basic financial reporting in place first.

然后你才能进入下一阶段的增长与扩展，从而自动化业务的其他领域，比如按项目、按资源、按任务进行更详细的盈利分析。

Then you're ready for the next step of kind of growth and expansion where you can automate other additional areas of the business, maybe do some of this more detailed profitability reporting by project, by resource, by task.

但随后你会进入推动组织发展的其他领域。

But then you're moving into other areas that are growing the organization.

你可能在做同样的事情，但你可以开始做更多类似的事情，从而迈向第三个规模层级并实现创新。

You might be doing the same things, but you can start doing more of the same things to then get to the third level of scale and innovate.

当财务平台到位且盈利报告精准无误时，你就有信心进入新市场，真正实现从线索到现金的全流程整合——通过Salesforce自动化在签约业务时创建项目，通过会计和专业服务解决方案将财务数据推送至会计系统，并完成收款，从而构建一个强大的平台，在市场中产生实质性影响。

Where with this financial platform in place and your profitability reporting spot on, you have the confidence then to go into new markets and to start really integrating lead to cash all the way from your Salesforce automation creating projects when you book business in the accounting and the professional services solution that then pitches the financial data over to accounting and you're collecting cash and you can really have a strong platform here to make a difference in your market.

因此，最终目标是提升你的业务，并真正颠覆你的行业。

So then the ultimate goal is to enhance your business and really disrupt your industry.

尤其是当你拥有像NetSuite这样的强大工具，或其他一些具备预测分析、商业智能和大量客户自助服务功能的云端财务工具时，你可以将产品与服务无缝整合。

Where if you especially if you get a really strong tool like a NetSuite or some of these other cloud based financial tools that have predictive analytics and business intelligence and a lot of customer self-service and you can integrate products and services together.

简而言之，毫无疑问，今天的服务型企业拥有增长、扩展乃至提升和颠覆市场的机会，但实现这一切确实需要正确的报告解决方案。

Bottom line is there is no doubt that services firms today have these opportunities to grow and expand and even enhance and disrupt, but it really does take the right reporting solutions to do that.

如果没有这些基础，你将面临巨大的挑战，只能不断进行补救。

Without those in place, you have such an uphill battle that you're just constantly remediating.