Unit4 has published research from Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) that highlights and offers solutions for time-poor professional services firms. The report is based on a global survey of 500 professional services business leaders from Canada, the US, the UK, Nordics, Benelux and Germany.
The report highlights, very similar to other research, that consultants spend too much time on administrative tasks, reworking and correcting errors, and duplicating data entry. The survey found that 28% of client-facing consultants spend more than 30% of their time on administrative work. Over a third of leaders said they spend time on correcting work related to finance, HR, projects or resource management.
The 14-page report is divided into several sections after an introduction and a list of key findings. It presents four sections. These contain a mix of data points, analysis and data visualisations. There are also some small case studies to illustrate the points made, which are a welcome addition and show a depth of qualitative research rarely seen. However, there do not seem to be any comments from respondents within the piece.
Donna Dobson, Director of Professional Services, Unit4, commented, “Professional services firms are facing possibly the biggest inflexion point in a lifetime as technology disruption and volatile economic conditions encourage clients to reevaluate their use of consulting expertise.
“PAC’s research shows why modernisation of core processes is giving leading firms an advantage in terms of productivity and reduction of time lost on manual processes and error correction. As competition heats up, firms understand that limiting the impact on their workforce is crucial to retaining talent and delivering projects more efficiently.”
Project Delivery Plan
This identified three key priorities to succeed for PSOs over the next year: increasing revenue, retaining top talent and improving cost efficiency. It also looked at the reasons why PSOs are not succeeding, highlighted above. Citing the example of Lightouch Consulting, it advocates that those firms with a digital backbone are more likely to succeed.
The Overtime Drain
Examines the reasons behind the why PSOs are spending too much time on non-revenue-generating works. It highlights differences between different sectors. For example, over 40% of IT Services companies regularly work additional hours, often due to timesheet management, budgeting & forecasting, and accounts reconciliation.
Within finance, month-end and quarter-end are still issues for 68%. They cite outdated or overly complex processes. The executive respondents believes that these issues can be solved by organisation or technological change. The common cause of inconsistent data models leads to poor access to information.
To solve this, firms are investing in modern cloud-based solutions. The report does not merely push the technology advantage that firms like Unit4 offer; it also considers the cultural changes that can be made. The report states, “There is often a strong link between those organisations that provide a good work-life balance and those that achieve strong metrics relating to talent retention.”
If firms adopt technology, freeing up time for consultants, the top two choices for spending that freed up overtime would be:
- More time with family and friends – 62%
- Personal health and wellness – 55%
Frontline Distractions
The authors argue that frontline workers in professional services are crucial to value creation. However, too much of their time is being consumed by administration rather than client-facing or delivery work. More than a quarter of respondents (28%) spend at least 30% of their week on administrative tasks—over 12 hours on average. This undermines efforts to retain talent and grow revenue.
The burden is especially severe in IT services, where 34% of frontline staff spend at least 30% of their time on admin, with some consultants even duplicating time reporting across three spreadsheets.
The section also highlights that the problem is expected to worsen. Many executives believe work volumes will rise and become more complex, especially in project and resource management, where 60% of professional services firms anticipate increased demands over the next year.
In IT services, 68% expect greater complexity in both financial management and project/resource management. This is linked to post-pandemic workforce changes, including more remote work and greater reliance on freelancers, which make it harder to maintain an accurate, up-to-date view of skills and availability for matching people to projects.
Investment Plans and Priorities
Professional Services leaders want to cut administrative friction and improve efficiency. Their top priority is a single, consistent data platform. Most believe this would improve processes, forecasting, and error detection. Some sector differences exist, but the overall goal is the same: better integration across finance, projects, and HR.
The authors argue that clean, consistent data is the foundation for wider transformation. It is also seen as essential for successful AI adoption. One example shows how a unified data view reduced reporting time from days to minutes. Hiring more staff may help, but many leaders see that as too costly.
Firms plan near-term investment in three areas: modernising operating models, automating repetitive work, and improving system integration. These priorities are consistent across key functions. Leaders also want faster results, so they prefer solutions that deliver value in weeks, not years. This helps explain the growing shift toward cloud-based SaaS platforms.
AI is presented as a major opportunity for the sector. Many executives expect it to improve analysis, forecasting, and day-to-day operations. A smaller group believes it will fundamentally change project and resource management. Overall, the study concludes that firms are optimistic about AI, but strong data foundations must come first.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This is a solid report from PAC. The research and analysis are well thought through. It is, however, a solid read with fewer data visualisations than other reports. At times, the layout could have been better formatted, perhaps with boxed sections for the case studies to break up the text.
There is a lot of information and insights within the report, and the conclusion summarises the findings and insights well. Adding a list of bullet points could have improved this, making the research faster to consume for time-poor professional services leaders, as the study itself identifies. It is well worth the read, though.
