Insights success the 10 best performing psa solution providers sept 2017

The way of business solutions
DigiThoughts
Companies Amid the Digital
Transformation Storm
Center of Attraction
Business Process Automation:
Reshaping Outlook of IT Industry

Editorial
magine a world where there is no longer the need to wrestle with a
Ipile of spreadsheets, when you want a quick peek at the
organizations’ performance. Imagine a world where information for
strategic-planning is just a click-away. Imagine a world where time is
no longer a concern as it was before. This is the world that Professional
Service Automation brings to the forefront for PS organizations.
A decade ago, if a Professional Service Executive was asked about their
usage of tools to manage billable, projects and Professional Service
resources, the most likely answer would have been – Spreadsheet. Back
then Professional Service Automation was just introduced into the
service landscape. But the industry has changed tremendously since
then. Though it took a few years for Professional Service Organizations
(PSOs) to realize the benefits of automation, questions about the
selection of PSA platforms have presently become a common enquiry.
The need for automation of business processes stems from a vast
number of unrivaled advantages; but above all, automation helps
businesses resurrect an irrecuperable loss – Time. The professional
services industry is vividly concerned about the usage of time. Business
owners and managers have an inherent concern regarding the amount of
time employees spend on individual tasks or on the sidelines. In
addition to these, they also tend to be concerned with the time till the
next sale is processed and the time spent in meetings and other
corporate-activities. Time is an indispensible factor for businesses, and
PSA enables them to save a lot of it and increase the overall
productivity and efficiency of the firm.
Half the battle towards understanding how to improve a business
involves figuring out where your business stands in the first place.
Implementation of PSA enables organizations to assess where they
stand, ultimately helping in recovering the most valuable business
attribute – Time!
Recovering the
Most Valuable
Business
Attribute - Time
Sourav Mukherjee

,
Insights Success Media Tech LLC
555 Metro Place North, Suite 100,
Dublin, OH 43017, United States
Phone - (614)-602-1754
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Corporate Ofces:
September, 2017
Database Management Steve
Technology Consultant Swapnil Patil
Circulation Manager Robert
Research Analyst Jennifer
David,
Joseph,John,
Mary
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal
Ariana LawrenceSenior Editor
Managing Editor
Co-Editors
Art & Design Director
Co-designer Alex Noel
Visualiser David King
Business Development Manager
Business Development Executive
Aparna Vanzul
Art Editor
Picture Editor
Marketing Manager
Alex Noel
Vijaykumar Dudhbhate
Abhijeet Parade
Saurav Mukherjee
Mark Harris
Steve Smith
Amol Kamble
Shakti
David Smith
Stephanie Andrews
Tomar

The most Cost
Effective way to Build
an “IT” Brand
20
Companies Amid
the Digital
Transformation Storm
42
Managing Corporate
Communications on
Mobile Devices
32
TOP Step Consulting:
Empowering Professional
Service Organizations
with its Solutions
08
C O V E R
S T O R Y
Mentors’Insights
InBrief
DigiThoughts

Business Process Automation:
Reshaping Outlook of IT Industry
The Need for Professional Service
Automation for Organizations
PSA: Robust, Efcient & Productive
Software for Contemporary Businesses
22 30
36
Atera:
Delivering Solutions
that Helps to Improve
MSPs’ Businesses
16
Bric:
Delivering Analytics
to help you get back
to the work you love
26
JOVACO Solutions:
A Leader of Integrated
Management Solutions
38
Avaza:
An All-in-one PSA Tool
Helping Businesses Run
more efciently
18
DATABASICS:
Delivering Next
Generation Time and
Expense Management
28
WSG Systems Corp:
Better Professional
Resource & Project
Management Software
40
A R T I C L E S

roject-based, people-centric businesses are surging ahead of the pecking order, to become the growth engine of
Pworld economy. As these businesses grow in size, stature and complexity, the need for a reliable system in
place, one which gives them visibility and control, becomes imperative.
To continue its rise up the ladder of success, Professional Services Organizations (PSOs) need automation solutions
that improve efficiency and curbs down complexity. These solutions provide organizations with the opportunity to
automate their core business processes, such as billing, time capturing, and resource management.
Keeping in mind the distinctive advantages and offers that PSA solutions brings to the table and how it effectively
impacts the services industry, Insights Success Magazine has shortlisted “The 10 Best Performing PSA Solution
Providers, 2017,” which are enabling organizations to successfully run their business.
Featuring in our Cover Story section is TOP Step Consulting, which uses Customer First approach to enables and
empowers Professional Services organizations to be profitable, scalable, and efficient through change management,
process enhancement, technology deployment, and skill set training.
We have also shortlisted, WSG Systems Corp, which is a software company that strives to help companies and
professionals increase their productivity, profitability, and efficiency through the use of its award-winning software
platform – Empire SUITE; Atera Networks, which is a cloud-based IT automation platform that combines RMM, PSA
and remote access into one powerful solution; Jovaco Solutions, a software development firm who specializes in
developing and implementing Enterprise Resource Planning solutions in a B2B environment; DATABASICS, which
provides cloud-based, next-generation Expense Reporting, Timesheet, Leave Management, and P-Card Control; Bric, a
time-management software built with analytics at our core. We provide managers the analytics they need to run their
businesses — to help creatives think strategically; Avaza Software, which is an online software suite with modules for
Project Management, Timesheets, Expenses and Invoicing.
In addition to these, don’t forget to flip through the pages of our Editorial Articles; Business Process Automation:
Reshaping Outlook of IT Industry — Center of Attraction; The Need for Professional Service Automation for
Organizations — PSA in Perspective; and PSA: Robust, Efficient & Productive Software for Contemporary
Business — PSA in Vision.
Also, expand your knowledge base and expertise through our CXO Standpoints; Companies Amid Digital
Transformation by Prof. Dr. Marco Mevius and Florian Kurz — DigiThoughts; The Most Cost-Effective Way to
Build an IT Brand by Bob Gold — In Brief; and Managing Corporate Communications on Mobile Devices by
Andrew Silver — Mentors’ Insights. So, what’s the wait for? Dig in!
Providing Opportunity to Automate
Core Business Processes

radically improve the efficiency of
business operations.
Jodi began TOP Step Consulting in
2007, focused primarily on improving
the efficiency and profitability of
professional services organizations
through process improvement and
technology. Since then, the company
has grown under her able leadership
into a globally renowned and respected
consulting organization. It should come
as no surprise that TOP Step has
received several awards and industry
recognition, thereby establishing the
company as leaders in providing
business consulting, PSA
implementations, PSA administration
and consulting skills training. Through
all these, TOP Step enables an
organization to be more efficient and
profitable through process and
technology.
The Master Degree holder in Computer
Science from the Michigan
Technological University, Jodi’s
ultimate focus is to provide a platform
for the PS community to learn and
share knowledge.
Tackling Market Changes
Companies are continually on the
lookout for ways to be more efficient
by extracting more productivity out of
fewer resources. This, in turn, leads to
technology needs and repeatable
processes that support predictability.
Technology is advancing at a rapid
pace with cloud solutions evolving and
new solutions in marketing coming up
quite often. TOP Step Consulting keeps
itself plugged into the PSA market by
participating in leading services
associations and by being involved in
the PSA community through
conferences and community events.
“We pride ourselves on connecting
with leading PSA vendors to gain
ime is what we want most,
but... what we use worst.
Automation of business
processes helps enhance a company’s
productive output, and most
importantly, curbs down an ample
amount of time – the most irretrievable
of losses. Professional Service
Automation solution brings itself
various advantages, with a significant
upside being its implementation in all
key business areas, from sales and HR
to marketing and management. One
such company, standing tall with its
PSA focused solutions is TOP Step
Consulting. It enables and empowers
Professional Service organizations to
be profitable, scalable, and efficient
through change management, process
enhancement, technology deployment,
and skill set training with a Customer
First approach.
Unparalleled PSA-Focused Solutions
TOP Step offers a hierarchy of services
under its PSA centered solutions, such
as Business Efficiency Assessments,
Deployments, System Extensions, and
Virtual Administration including
integrations with ERP, CRM, HCM,
and other common business operations
systems. Let’s break each one of them
down for further cognizance:-
Ÿ Business Efficiency Assessments
ensures technology is aligned to
your business model and therefore,
the technology works for you
instead of changing your way of
doing business.
Ÿ Deployments follows a proven
methodology of customer
engagement and business modeling
to ensure data capture and metrics
reporting, thereby helping
organizations realize the investment
benefits of the PSA tool.
Ÿ System Extension enables workflow
efficiencies within the PSA solution
by adding logic to complement the
vendor platform and integrations to
streamline data flow among
systems for accuracy and timely
data-processing.
Ÿ Virtual Administration provides a
help desk to aid with your PSA
system adoption and supports your
administrators, by addressing
questions from the team.
In addition to these, TOP Step also
provides Project Management Office
consultancy to businesses, to help them
deliver projects successfully and to
have a more predictable project
execution and management of their
projects.
STEPS – A Staircase of Success
TOP Step has developed its very own
program called STEPS, which is a five-
phased approach; namely Strategize,
Tools and Process Implementations,
Educating and Training, Performance
Tracking and Reporting, and Systems
Management. This helps organizations
to effectively utilize its PSA-based
software solutions.
An Industry Veteran Focused on
Improving Efficiency and
Profitability
Jodi Cicci, President and CEO of
TOP Step Consulting, boasts over 25
years of experience in the Professional
Service circuit, wherein she helmed
various roles ranging from software
developer to project manager to
operational director. This breadth of
experience in technology services has
enabled her to understand the
uniqueness that each company offers
and how tools and processes can
T
“We empower
Professional Services
organizations to be
profitable, scalable,
and efficient”

knowledge about their platform and make investments to
learn key go-to-market focuses that provide differentiators
among vendors. By making this investment and gaining
insight, we have a solid base from which to provide
information to customers and prospective customers alike
about how various solutions will meet their unique business
model requirements,” asserts Jodi.
PSA Tool Selection, for various firms, is a primary
investment, which will support the scalability of the
organization for the next decade and beyond. The company
positions itself to provide firms with that support.
Staying One-Step Ahead of the Industry
Unlike its contemporaries, TOP Step Consulting focuses
only on Professional Services consulting with a technology
emphasis of PSA solution support or deployment. There is
often the push to have boutique firms expand into a one-
stop solution provider by broadening their offerings into
HR, CRM, and ERP solutions, since they align so closely
with PSA. On the contrary, TOP Step has maintained their
focus on PSA and have instead chose the direction of
finding quality partners that excel in other platforms and
services. This is to provide a best of breed team approach in
addition to best of breed technology. In this way, the
company keeps its eyes on top of the industry trends and is
able to contribute as thought leaders in the marketplace.
An Insightful Look at the Company’s Background
Back in 2005, Jodi was heavily involved with the PSA
solution NetSuite OpenAir both as a customer and as an
advocate. She was working as a Project Manager at
Software AG and led in deploying the solution. She soon
recognized an opportunity to start TOP Step Consulting as a
way to assist customers to get more out of their investment
with the NetSuite OpenAir platform.
During that time, only the product vendor themselves had
the requisite expertise in the platform. The emerging
company quickly gained notoriety in the customer base by
partnering with the OpenAir vendor and worked its way up
to establish both an online and in-person customer
community to share information and experience. By starting
as a boutique consulting firm focused on PSA and
professional services consulting, TOP Step Consulting
garnered a reputation of partnership and knowledge
enablement, and has continued to grow each year.
In 2010, integrations became a focus to NetSuite OpenAir
by introducing the NetSuite/OpenAir integration offering
along with standardizing integrations to Salesforce and
other systems alike. Integrations are a key part of having
an efficient solution of effective time productivity and TOP
Step Consulting has continued to expand relationship to
partnering with integration vendors like Dell Boomi and

Celigo to promote the best fit solutions to the customer
base.
In 2014, the company expanded to include the
FinancialForce PSA solution, keeping the focus on the
team’s expertise in Professional Service business processes
and technology. Two years later, TOP Step introduced a
focused Integration and System Expansion team which
supports code development, enhancing the robust platforms
provided by the PSA vendors they supported. This year saw
the company introduce yet another PSA platform to the
TOP Step Consulting knowledge base – Kimble
Applications.
Fighting off the Initial Struggle
The initial phase for TOP Step Consulting was both a boon
and bane. Jodi was the sole member of the company, and
within a year since the company formation, the response
from its customer base was overwhelming. But because of
this, far too much work was coming in and Jodi couldn’t
handle them alone.
“It was quickly apparent that a company structure with
payroll, etc. would be needed sooner than expected,” Jodi
mentions.
Ronn Breaux, Vice President of Client Services, became
the very first employee at TOP Step Consulting, framing the
infrastructure for a virtual company and continues to shape
and grow the company alongside Jodi. “When you are a
single person in a company, the business plan is simple.
When you need to start hiring, your business plan becomes
more complicated and critical is understanding how cost
grows with revenue growth so plan to put one in place
sooner rather than later,” Jodi points out. Amidst all the
struggles, the company overcame all of it and surged ahead
to climb the ladder of success.
Ronn has spent his career solving business issues and
striving for operational excellence. He has worn many hats
throughout his career including VP of Sales, VP of
Delivery, COO and CFO, giving him insight into the many
challenges of service oriented businesses both operationally
and culturally. He brings a unique set of knowledge and
skills to his customers for understanding the business needs
as well as process and tools that can help solve efficiency
challenges.
As a strategic business partner for Jodi, Ronn receives a
great deal of satisfaction by providing solutions that result
in improved operations and ultimately ease the stress within
a company; thereby allowing them to shift their focus on
the activities and people who are making a difference in
their companies. His technical capabilities established and
continue to grow key areas of the TOP Step from
NetSuite/OpenAIr integration to learning additional PSA
solutions like NetSuite SRP.
Future Roadmap – Continuing to Spearhead the
Industry
TOP Step’s focus in the near future will continue to be a
leader in PSA technologies. It hopes to do so by staying on
top of roadmaps and new features or releases from the
vendor, as well as educating its existing customer base to
continue to take advantage of releases to be even more
efficient and productive.
While vendors continue to expand their own solution, many
of the platforms support building custom solutions
including coding such as Javascript or Apex code. TOP Step
Consulting is investing in building custom solutions that
can plug into existing PSA platforms to address
functionality gaps or deliver unique requirements to the
end-customer. This additional service is highlighted in its
new Extension Marketplace, which demonstrates the typical
custom solutions that can be purchased for installation.
TOP Step listens to its customer base; hence, a lot of its
direction is driven organically by the industry, vendor
products and customer requests. Its Extension Marketplace
is the newest example of how the company strives to
deliver excellence that can be repeatable and facilitates a
winning situation for its customers.
“In the upcoming years, we will continue to focus on
offerings that educate our customers and provide quick
assistance that drives PSA adoption, PSA accuracy, and
PSA reliability as a critical platform for their own
businesses.” Jodi concludes.
Our consultants come from industries leverage PSA
tools and have gained their experience through practical
application, trial and error, and vendor interaction

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CORPORATE OFFICE

Management BriefCompany Name
Atera Networks
atera.com
Gil Pekelman
CEO & Founder
Atera is a cloud-based IT automation platform that combines
RMM, PSA and remote access into one powerful solution.
Avaza Software
avaza.com
Tim Kremer &
Behram Khan
Co-Founders
Avaza is an online software suite with modules for Project
Management, Timesheets, Expenses & Invoicing.
Bric
getbric.com
Grant Stanley
CEO
DATABASICS
data-basics.com
Alan Tyson
CEO & Founder,
Marcel Syriani
CTO
DATABASICS provides cloud-based, next-generation Expense
Reporting, Timesheet, Leave Management, and P-Card Control.
Specializing in meeting the most rigorous requirements,
DATABASICS offers the highest level of service to its customers
around the world.
JOVACO Solutions
jovaco.com
Jean-Claude Coutu
Founder & President
JOVACO Solutions is a software development firm who
specializes in developing and implementing Enterprise
Resource Planning solutions in a B2B environment.
Mavenlink
mavenlink.com
Ray Grainger
Co-Founder & President
Mavenlink provides enterprise-class Software as a Service
(SaaS) that transforms the way services organizations work.
Professional Services
of America
psainc.com
Judy K. Sheppard
CEO
PSA’s core business is providing quality human resource
staffing to meet each client’s needs in the government, medical,
educational, industrial and commercial sectors.
TOP Step Consulting
topstepconsulting.com
Jodi Cicci
President & CEO
WSG Systems Corp
empiresuite.com
Bill Cornfield
President
WSG Systems Corp is a software company that strives to help
companies and professionals increase their productivity,
profitability, and efficiency through the use of its award-winning
software platform – Empire SUITE.
Bric is time-management software built with analytics at our
core. We provide managers the analytics they need to run their
businesses — to help creatives think strategically.
TOP Step Consulting enables and empowers Professional Services
organizations to be profitable, scalable, and efficient through change
management, process enhancement, technology deployment, and skill
set training with a Customer First approach.
Function Point
Productivity Software
functionpoint.com
Chris Wilson
President & CEO
Function Point alleviates the chaotic nature of operating creative
agencies, internal marketing teams and professional service
firms.

O
ne of the critical decisions every Managed Service
Provider (MSP) has to take involves what to do
with the abundant information they collect, and
how to track and bill for the tasks that their clients might
need. Solely relying on email and calendar entries and
jotting down mobile numbers and IP addresses on various
uncategorized sticky notes scattered around the office isn’t
viable for an efficiently functioning MSP. To better organize
and plan, MSPs needs a platform that can centrally manage
all the business processes and workflows. Professional
Services Automation (PSA) software does just that by
streamlining operations for MSPs’ businesses.
One such company that can help with the same is Atera, a
cloud-based IT automation platform that combines Remote
Monitoring and Management (RMM), PSA, and remote
access into one robust solution. They provide PSA services
with the MSP in mind.
PSA is designed to automate and manage some of the most
common business tasks. The goal through such a service is
to ensure the projects of the customers are delivered on
time, within the pre-determined budget, and in accordance
with the client’s needs and demands. Atera’s all-in-one
innovative platform offer MSPs improved operational
efficiency, seamless integration, end-to-end management,
and disruptive pricing. Their PSA solution enables optimal
support to MSPs so they can run and manage their
businesses successfully.
Translating a Vision into Reality
Atera was conceived in 2011 in Tel-Aviv, with a simple
goal in mind— to help MSPs build better businesses by
making things easier for them. They translated this vision
into a reality with the launch of their easy-to-use all-in-one
platform.
After being launched in the US market in 2016, the
company was focused on gaining MSPs’ trust. In just one
year, Atera has already established the company as a trusted
name for MSPs, enabling both small and large businesses to
grow and thrive with its technology. Their disruptive
pricing model—which charges per technician rather than
per server—has enabled MSPs to improve budget planning,
business efficiencies, customer management, and overall
operations. Atera’s technology is both agile and built for the
future, so it functions well and does not require large teams
of sales support.
The Empires of the Future are Empires of the Mind
Gil Pekelman, CEO and Founder of Atera, is the
visionary and leader who built a successful business. Under
Gil’s guidance, Atera has grown into the most innovative
and industry-leading platform for MSPs both large and
small.
Most recently, he was recognized for his thought provoking
leadership and accomplishments by ChannelPro Magazine
as a 2017 Channel Visionary. Prior to founding Atera, Gil
held senior positions at Indigo NV, which is now a division
of HP ($1B NASDAQ IPO) and Exanet (Acquired by
DELL). His educational resume includes a degree in both
Economics and Management from the Tel-Aviv University.
It is also worth mentioning that Gil is the sole inventor of
three patents.
16 September 2017

Best-In-Class Solutions and Services
for MSPs
Atera offers MSPs a powerful all-in-
one IT management platform with
RMM, PSA, and remote access.
Through this unmatched technology,
Atera ensures operational efficiency
and cost-effectiveness for MSPs when
managing their customers’ IT
ecosystems. To further enhance their
services, Atera partners with some of
the best breeds of IT vendors to offer
online backup, security,
documentation, workflow automation,
remote support, patches, warranties,
and more.
Through their best-in-class PSA,
services, and security, Atera facilitates
business improvement. The company
also provides additional benefits to
MSPs by delivering a Business
Intelligence (BI) tool called The
Benchmark. This technology provides
MSPs with industry data to better
understand where they match up
against their competition.
Additionally, Atera incorporates The
Benchmark statistics into its billing
dashboard so that MSPs can gain real-
time statistics about pricing and ways
to improve their business practices.
The sleek user-interface is easy-to-use
and offers a vivid experience to MSPs
worldwide.
Bringing MSP Business Together
Whether it’s RMM, powerful ticketing,
or a great customer
experience—Atera’s innovative
technology brings the MSP business
together. Integrating their technology
leads to less hassle and offers better
strategy and more control.
Atera stands out among its industry
competitors with four key
differentiators:
Ÿ All-in-one (single code base):
RMM, PSA, and Remote
Connection
Ÿ Ease of use and a beautiful modern
user experience
Ÿ Transparent SaaS pricing
Ÿ Real-time data intelligence and
analytics
With continued advancements in IoT
and cloud technology, Atera will
continue to leverage Big Data to meet
the evolving needs of MSPs.
Additionally, the company adds new
functionality and features to the IT
management platform every 30 days,
based on regular feedback received
from MSPs. This allows Atera to offer
a more agile and disruptive pricing
model.
Driven by an aim of providing MSPs
of all scale and sizes with the most
advanced set of tools and data, Atera
hopes to improve MSPs’ businesses,
and as a result, the quality of IT for
small and medium-sized businesses
everywhere.
17
Gil Pekelman
CEO & Founder
September 2017

According to a Wellingtone study in 2016, more than
30% of organizations never complete a project on
time or budget. This is a result of taking on too
many projects, change in scope, and poor resource
management. Enters Avaza with a beautiful online software
suite; making it easy for businesses to handle complex
projects, review performance and stay on budget.
Born out of the need to manage consulting teams efficiently
and grow profitable consulting businesses, today, Avaza is
an all-in-one professional services automation tool that
seamlessly combines resource scheduling, time tracking,
expense reporting, quoting and invoicing with project
management. Founded in 2014, Avaza grew from one user
to serving roughly 18,000+ across 150 countries. Its
revenue has massively grown by 10-15% every month in
the past two years.
Bringing ERP Level Project Management Features to
Small Businesses
Aiming to bring ERP level project management features to
small businesses at a much more affordable cost, Avaza has
re-invented the technology for SMBs with a design that’s
really easy to pick up and use. It starts with utilization
reports, billable and unbillable time, profitability reports
and whether a customer project was financially worth it or
not.
Users can sign up for a free plan, or choose from one of
their paid plans, starting at $9.95 USD per month. Keeping
client satisfaction at the forefront, Avaza’s customer support
is available 24/7, including weekends and public holidays.
This includes chat and email support, along screenshare
calls to troubleshoot more complex problems.
User-experience at its best, Avaza is a highly cost effective
solution and provides greater insight into business
performance. It gives managers the ability to automate
common business processes and gain visibility on team
billable utilization and project profitability. It’s also a great
tool for small businesses and freelancers, giving them the
same professional interface afforded by large companies.
Understanding the Opportunity and Building a World-
class Software on it
Tim Kremer and Behram Khan are the founders of Avaza.
Both have a background in software consulting. While
managing large teams of over 30 consultants, they
discovered that there was a significant amount of
inefficiency in collaborating on projects with teams and
clients. There was no single repository for project tasks and
discussions with clients, for time tracking or billing. As a
result, there was a lot of duplicated data, out-of-sync
customer records and painful manual administration.
Joining forces together, they saw the opportunity to create
a single project management product that was simple to use,
could run a business much more efficiently and provide the
transparency to clients, integrated reporting and business
insights they craved. Through their vision and hard work,
Avaza was incepted and has emerged to be an efficient tool
for small businesses.
18 September 2017

Going Deep into Solving Business’
Problems at Competitive Rates
Growing the startup – for Tim and
Behram – was a “slow and steady”
process, and they were faced with the
arduous challenge of going up against
the project management giants like
Trello and Asana, or larger ERP
software. However, they differentiated
Avaza from the crowd by going deep
into solving a business’s problems but
at competitive rates.
As a result, Avaza now has Project
Management, Resource Scheduling,
Time Tracking, Expense Management,
Estimate, Invoices, and Reporting.
Users can enable various workflows,
such as converting estimates to
projects, recurring
invoices/expenses/tasks, and approval
processes for timesheets and expenses.
Offering Multiple Business Solutions
in One App
Operating with an integrated approach
to project management, Avaza offers
multiple business solutions in one app,
which means users are able to save
time and money as they don’t need to
pay multiple subscriptions or sync data
between apps. Users can manage
clients, projects, timesheets, expenses,
estimates and invoices in one place.
Also, an intuitive design makes Avaza
easy to use, and its customized demos
provide users with helpful tips on how
Avaza can best work for their business.
Avaza users also have access to
features that aren’t available anywhere
else such as; 1) Gantt charts based on
logged in user’s assignments, 2)
Hourly cost and billing rates that are
customizable at the project level, 3)
Multi-currency support, and 4)
Timesheet and Expense approvals with
the option to lock approved items from
editing.
Leading Experts with an Extensive
Experience
Tim has spent the last 10 years
consulting & managing enterprise
consulting companies in the
competitive Australian IT industry. His
experience includes developing major
projects for Mining, Engineering,
Medical, Media, Manufacturing &
Finance industries, both in hands-on
and leadership capacities. These
include leading the team developing
the public website for the largest
Engineering company in Australia and
developing the Intranet for Australia’s
largest Media company.
Behram was previously the head of
software applications at Australia’s
largest media group (Seven Media
Group), where he managed teams of
40+ developers in the largest media
management system development in
the southern hemisphere. He has
extensive qualifications & experience
in finance, accounting & computer
science. He has previously consulted in
Oracle Financials.
19
Tim Kremer
Co-founder
September 2017

In today’s data-driven tech world, it appears the priority
is all about the speed of innovation and how we move
data safely, effectively, efficiently and securely. But if
no one knows about your solution, how will they purchase
and use it?
For those of you who wish to grow in this broad-based IT
market, and can strategically plan, there is simply no more
cost-effective investment than PR to help establish an
organization and its innovations in a very noisy marketplace
in which we all compete.
In such a world of amazing tech innovation, if we don’t
control the story of what we do and what we make, the
story will control us. Think about the FAKE NEWS ripping
through our social media every day.
Today we communicate in a virtual three-dimensional level
of game-like complexity — we do more and more on
mobile, while managing larger and larger databases of
friends and associates on multiple platforms, while
multitasking in simultaneous discussions. In other words,
it’s noisy out there! Worse still, we usually can’t remember
the source of information we share.
How noisy is it, you may ask?
By some counts, the number of marketing technology
solutions has doubled since 2015 and will soon surpass
4,000.
Today’s executives are overwhelmed by the amount of
technology choices and confused by vendor claims that
their platform can do it all. Before investing in more
technology, they want to optimize what they already own.
This brings us back to the role of PR in technology.
Technology can’t speak for itself. If we want folks to adapt
and use our innovations, they must be educated about the
benefits they bring.
The process of storytelling requires a specialized PR
discipline to break beyond the noise buzzing with clichés:
“We have an end-to-end solution” (isn’t that what you get
when you mix salt with water and stir?); “We are Best-of-
Class” (which rarely comes with a degree or grade point
average); or one of my favorites – the promise to be able to
monetize technology investments.
Just consider:
Security – Everybody is hacking everyone else – if it can
be made, it can be broken. How can you tell the market,
with specificity, that your security system addresses this
issue?
Lack of Policies – Exploding quantities of data zapped into
hidden clouds, without access and use policies means we
have a big problem. Big Data and real-time analytics are
super sexy in 2017, (thanks Alexa!) and for an on-demand
THEMOSTCOST
EFFECTIVEWAY
TOBUILD“AN IT” BRAND
20 September 2017
In Brief

world where all content is supposed to be available
anytime, this will be big! How will you take advantage of
this building trend?
Content Protection – This takes us to a world where
everything is on-demand and connected. How will
“autonomous everything” work? In a world facing more
confusion than certainty, there is an “opportunity ahead”
street sign in your path to address this overwhelming and
often confusing situation.
So following are some key dos, don’ts and cautions. Caveat
emptor – reader beware! There is no one-size-fits-all for
every situation, but there are some general rules of thumb
that when followed will generate success:
1) START WITH A CLEAR MESSAGE: PR is all about
your core message, positioned as a story with a beginning,
middle and end – that’s just good construction. Good
storytelling starts with a clear message.
2) DO SAY WHAT ELSE MAKES YOUR COMPANY
DIFFERENT Can you answer these questions about your
company and about your product?
What are the three core messages about your company?
1.You might think about your founders and
executive leadership
2.Are you the most complete (Gulp! I’m gonna say
it) solution? Serving which market areas?
3.What problems do you solve for today? Are you
visionary and future proof?
3) DO VALIDATE YOUR STORY WITH NUMBERS:
What are the most profound messages about your
product/service?
Can you describe your product more succinctly than, “it’s
non-disruptive to install?” State your big customer benefits
-for example is it 50% better than anything else on the
market? Does it consume 50% less bandwidth?
Or think about describing your product validated by
numbers and in measurable scope.
This brings us back to PR. All connections start with
sharing good stories. Breaking through isn’t as simple as
sending an email to a reporter, calling a friend or telling one
colleague who has 2,000 followers on Twitter. It takes
diligence and the ability to find new ways to tell your story
over and over again.
The case for storytelling has never been more powerful.
Your space has never been more competitive and the noise
about other companies’ tech options is deafening.
PR is the secret sauce that re-interprets the science in
human and business benefits that can drive change. Sure,
one-on-one word of mouth is powerful, but for businesses,
nothing beats engaging, resonant, pervasive, quotable
stories, as presented by your experienced PR professional.
And PR will beat any other investment as the most cost
effective tool in your sales and marketing arsenal.
BobGold
Founder,PresidentCEO
BobGoldAssociates
21September 2017

22
Automation has a widespread use across widespread
industries. From the industrial automation to
robotics automation, it has been able to change the
entire outlook of the different industries. Similarly the use
of automation in IT businesses has been a key factor,
especially regarding IT service management. These involve
different aspects of IT service management such as
Business Process Automation, Operations Automation,
Service Provider Automation, Monitoring Automation and
Tools Automation.
Business process automation (BPA) is a process or
workflow which describes automation of business, helps
them in reducing the costs. This helps business in
integrating applications along with containing labor
resources using different software applications. Automation
performs a large number of actions with ever increasing
usage; it comes with different variations in the time and
time again.
BPA is required in business for implementing automated
workflows by which there is absolutely no need of human
intervention. As a well-known fact, automation will save
time and will contain costs. The use of automation will
assist users in the transaction and reduce human errors.
The implementation of business process automation is vast
but still, it’s far better to decide whether the automation is
useful or not in some processes, first. As it has turned out in
some scenarios, business process are best suited and
handled by humans only. So it’s also important to decide
which process requires automation and which doesn’t.
Digging in Deep for Better Understanding of BPA
Businesses are in the dire need for implementing strategic
and operational software, and their drivers in order to
enhance the process capabilities in their organizations. For
many organizations which are finding hard to keep up pace
for putting up their product in the market at the same time
performing the required marketing for the given product,
there is a desperate need to economize their operations. It is
majorly convenient to improve margins with the help of
automation rather than increasing prices of products. With
global market pressure, companies need to start automating
their business process for sure.
The processes which become more time consuming and
resource-oriented, are prone to human errors, with the use
of BPA, companies can fast-track these processes ultimately
improving product quality. This is followed by advantages
such as improvements in product to market, revenue
capture and reduction in operating costs.
Business process automation focuses on business outcomes
rather than amplifying the use of technology. For business
process automation to be successful, it becomes important
September 2017

that each automated fragment of processes is integrated for
end-to-end business processes. Each of these fragments are
first decided and then automated. So business process
automation is about refining business processes rather than
just automating it.
There are three major ways of implementing business
process automation, these are as follows:
BPA Software
Business process automation related software helps
business in order to contain ’the cost in time’ and cost
required for implementing usual functions. For this
particular scenario, business can substitute human
intervention by software. With the help of this software,
companies can mix different systems so that they can
implement end to end business process. Business which
already possesses automated process inside of them can
also increase their functionality. This helps in customizing a
perfect environment in the company.
BPA Tools
Business process automation tool-kit is probably the latest
trend in the global market. A number of industries are
digging in their hands into BPA for providing newly created
customer-base with the shortest path to automation. This
can be achieved by manipulating UI layer. These tool-kits
will also speed up the process of deployment; even further,
making it possible for a non-technical employee to perform
these tasks.
With the latest advancement in the market such as Process
Driven Messaging Service, that helps in optimizing data
exchange layer and ultimately helping the implementation
of automation in business.
BPA Extensions
It is far easier and at the same time important to relate BPA
to BPM. For making it possible, business needs to write
application code or use the tailored BPA tools. This BPA
extension comes along with advantages and disadvantages
which are linked with each other. As BPM implementation
gives away the structured approach for all the processes
which are to be plotted delaying the automation in the
procedure. This causes loss of the functionality for the
given process.
Zones of Interest for BPA to harvest GREAT RESULTS
Repeatable Tasks
The sole aim of BPA is to reduce the manual work in
business processes, thus vividly reducing the chances of
human error. Focusing on the business processes that are
repetitive and predictable, some of the crucial rote and
repetitive tasks include assembly work on the
manufacturing floor, automated project management task.
23September 2017

24
Also, in addition to this, services such
as status software updates, auto
security monitoring and lockdowns of
facilities can also be automated.
Customer related services and tasks
such as time tracking, and automated
process flows for order filling,
inventory management, shipping,
purchasing, billing and many more are
considered.
Making Decision Making Process,
Machine Addressable
Citing an example of day to day bank
processes consisting of the requisites
for availing a bank loan or procuring a
credit card, information flow and
financial analysis and decision making
plays an important role. So, with BPA
and automated decision making,
human interference is minimized, thus
the company saves money, reduces the
risk of an employee making wrong
decisions, and fulfills the customer
requirements right away.
Sensor-Based Tracking and Alerts
With the propulsion from IoT
technology industry, extensive use of
sensors and networks has encouraged
automation. The ultimate aim of
companies is to achieve end-to-end
visibility of vibrant business processes
in their investment options and also
take online career enhancement
courses to boost their career
development. The system is equipped
with a facility to register these changes
and track future progress without the
involvement of a trainer or an HR
person to facilitate the process.
that occur beyond the enterprise walls.
Application of this technology includes
tracking of cargo container movements
with seal break alert function, and
assessment of humidity and
temperature conditions for medicines
and perishable commodities.
Self-Service Employee Portals
Self-service employee portals enable
employees to make and track changes
September 2017

The injection of statistical insights combined with
the evolutionary realization that information can be
a valuable asset, has and will continue to have
serious echoes in the business world. For decades, being
smart has equaled success, and analytics has played an
integral role in generating competitive advantages. The
importance of analytics for professionals is the importance
of making good decisions.
Born out of a burning passion for analytics and professional
services, Bric stands out among the crowd with its software
maximizing your team’s time and talents through analytics.
Based in Omaha, NE, Bric spreads its tentacles to users in
75 different countries, and aims to provide analytics to
10,000 companies in 2018. Incepted in 2014, Bric started as
an internal project by three professional service firms: a
design agency, a software development shop, and a data
science consultancy, eventually panning out as its own
startup.
Unmatched Product Features
Primarily used by teams of designers, writers and
developers, its product combines project planning, time
tracking, and task management to automatically analyze
your employee utilization and financial performance. Upon
implementation of Bric, data is collected that provides you
with analytics on employee utilization, capacity, scheduling
conflicts, and financials. This way, Bric helps in accurately
planning your team’s calendar, thereby enabling you to
confidently get back to do the work you love.
Additionally, Bric automatically finds patterns in your
team’s timesheets, which are then used to recommend more
accurate project plans. Bric provides the following
unrivaled features for a monthly subscription per managed
employee.
Ÿ Project Planning – Bric alerts you to schedule conflicts,
calculates charges, and recommends more accurate
project plans.
Ÿ Project Management – Irrespective of what happens,
Bric provides you with tools to identify changes and
respond accordingly.
Ÿ Task Management – Know what is finished, in progress
and what needs to be done. With time and tasks side-by-
side, you are enabled to deliver tasks on time and on
budget.
Ÿ Time Tracking – Bric allows your team to track time,
and compare your planned and tracked time side-by-
side.
Ÿ Reports – Bric is your company’s information
hub—alerting you to potential issues and opportunities.
A Leader who Facilitates Change
Grant Stanley is the visionary who led Bric from the front
ever since he took hold of the CEOs chair. Prior to Bric,
26 September 2017
Delivering Analytics to Help you get
back to the Work you Love

Grant spent 8 years as the CEO of
Contemporary Analysis, which
specialized in providing predictive
analytics to Fortune 500 companies
and political campaigns.
His educational resume includes a
degree in Economics from the
University of Nebraska, where he
received the Horizon Student
Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He
has even studied Mandarin at the
National Pingtung University of
Education in Taiwan. Formerly
selected as one of the top 40 under 40
businessmen in the Midwest, Grant has
been a regular contributor to the
Midland’s Business Journal, Silicon
Prairie News, and the UNO Alumni
Magazine. He has also been featured in
the Omaha World Herald, Inc.
Magazine, and Entrepreneur Magazine,
among various others.
Standing Out from the Crowd
“Too many BI systems provide metrics
that are used to punish employees.
Once this happens, employees resist or
worse stop filling out timesheets and
updating project plans,” explains
Stanley. Bric has given workforce
analytics a new purpose — improving
management. This new purpose
combined with an easy-to-use product
has made people excited to track time
and update project plans.
Bric is true software as a service
company. It releases new code each
week, based on its users’ feedback.
Continuous improvement allows the
company to capture more of its user’s
workflow, and provide them with new
analytics to look at their business.
Preparing for the Future PSA
Trends
“The first trend will be professional
services firms’pressure to minimize
non-billable employees. Consultancies
will look to PSA’s to automate account
management and administration. This
trend will be welcomed by clients that
have grown accustomed to digitized
support as consumers.
27
Grant Stanley
CEO
Secondly, the most profitable
professional service firms allow
partners and managers to specialize on
either business development, service
delivery, or recruiting/training.
However, this requires technology.
Traditionally, each partner has been
involved in each part of leading the
firm, because there was a lack of
analytics and reporting,” asserts
Stanley.
Future of Continued Innovation
Bric s advantage is its familiarity with’
data science and its optimal focus on
product design. The company strives to
design products that its vast customer
base loves. Today, most of its focus
centers-around improving its user
experience. Bric wants your employees
to love tracking time and planning
projects. In addition to all these, the
company is constantly developing and
testing new ways for managers and
partners to analyze their businesses.
September 2017

For over 20 years, DATABASICS has helped leading
organizations throughout the world meet their time-
tracking and expense reporting challenges.
Focusing on the specific needs and goals of each customer,
DATABASICS provides Software-as-a-Service solutions
that are known for their ease-of-use, flexibility, integrations
capabilities, and cost-effectiveness.
Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, the company released its
first web-based time and expense products in 1997. From
the beginning, DATABASICS specialized in the
requirements of project-oriented organizations and the
adaptations needed by federal government contractors.
DATABASICS has gone on to extend its portfolio of
solutions to an increasingly diverse range of customer
types, including nonprofits, manufacturers, multi-store
retailers, pharmaceutical companies, multi-national
organizations, and more.
Overcoming the Initial Struggle
DATABASICS originally installed its products on systems
owned and operated by the customer. Often, these
environments integrated multiple vendor products in
combinations that, to a significant extent, were unique.
DATABASICS had to maintain versions of its products
specifically tailored to the most common types of
infrastructure, but each installation typically required
meticulous problem-solving. With its adaption of the
Software-as-a-Service model in which DATABASICS hosts
its software on its own servers, implementation and support
were vastly simplified. As a result, DATABASICS is now
able to concentrate exclusively on solving its customers’
business problems as opposed to troubleshooting its
customers’ IT issues.
A Leader Who Fostered a Culture of Meeting
Obligations
Alan Tyson founded DATABASICS and has been its leader
since the beginning. Prior to DATABASICS, Alan worked
at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic
Analysis and Control Data Corporation. He graduated
magna cum laude from the University of Rochester with a
degree in Philosophy.
Before the first product release, Alan focused
DATABASICS on custom software, systems integration,
and IT management consulting. The experience gained
through these activities laid the groundwork for
DATABASICS’ pivot into software product development
and hosting.
Alan believes that his major contribution has been to foster
a culture of meeting obligations to customers, suppliers, and
co-workers.
28 September 2017

“Trust,” he says, “is indispensable if
people are going to work together at
the highest levels. Trust is earned by
doing what you say you are going to
do. In other words, we need to live up
to your obligations.” His support for
this principle has been critical to
DATABASICS’ success.
“It’s Always About the Customer”
Tyson maintains that “these are not
simply words to us. Our commitment
to customer success has led
DATABASICS to develop products
that can be easily adapted to meet
customer requirements to an extent that
is unmatched. It also underlies our
insistence on providing outstanding
customer service at a time when the
industry as a whole is frankly
struggling to free itself from the cost
and effort that delivering world-class
customer service requires.”
Striking the Right Balance For Each
Customer
Before DATABASICS developed its
first time and expense products, it was
a professional services organization.
Targeting the PSA industry for its
initial product offering made sense
since DATABASICS was already
deeply familiar with the industry’s
requirements. DATABASICS’ first
offerings were web-based–among the
first of their kind. Two ERP vendors,
specializing in project-oriented
solutions, were quick to “white label”
the company’s software and
DATABASICS was off and running as
a software company.
Today, DATABASICS provides a
cloud-based, unified platform for time
tracking, employee expense reporting,
leave management, and P-Card control.
All of its solutions are “globalized” to
support large scale enterprise
deployments. Additionally,
DATABASICS provides small to mid-
sized organizations with the exact
functionality they need to meet the
most demanding of requirements. It
designs its products for usability and is
deeply committed to strike the right
balance for every customer, in terms of
both capability and ease of use.
A Future of Continued Excellence
In the coming years, the PSA industry
will need to adapt to changes in how
professional services are delivered.
Some of the major trends will include
migration away from billing for time as
opposed to work products; a loosening
of the grip of the “engineering model”
with the recognition of the need for a
more dynamic, flexible methodology
for executing projects; and the
beginning of the transition to Artificial
Intelligence from the direct provision
to customers of human experts.
Amidst all these changes,
“DATABASICS will,” according to
Tyson, “continue to provide its
customers with its ‘best-fit’ solutions
and outstanding services.”
29
Alan Tyson
CEO Founder
September 2017

Many Professional services and business models are at the risk of disruption due to revolutionary changes and evolving
technology, enabling people to proposed new business models, thereby substituting conventional distribution
channels and replacing the way people and businesses interact with each other. The pace of change will continue to
increase and due to it, only a third of today’s megastructure companies and professional services are going to survive in the next
two decades.
To cope-up with today’s technological requirement of a professional service industry, there is an imperative requirement in
technological advancement to improve efficiency and profitability. ‘Professional service automation’(PSA) is a groundbreaking
solution for the professional service industry in today’s era of technological disruption. PSA, software is primarily developed to
help professionals, such as Lawyers, Auditors, Contractors and IT consultants with, resource management and project
management for client help. Typical professional service automation software’s contain functions such as project management
and related documentation, time management, labor utilization, reporting and billing. These attributes can be integrated with
customer relationship management (CRM), accounting and payroll in order to improve their efficiency of operations and a
healthyshareofprofit fromthetotalinvestmentby preventingloss inrevenueandslow billingcycles.
A survey report states- organization that uses PSA software tends to have the better rate of on-time project delivery, increase in
productivity, precise project estimate, through more efficient communication, scheduling and project related document
arrangement”.
Thesearethefive mostgroundbreakingreasons, why organizationsrequiredprofessionalserviceautomationsoftware’s:-
1. Assignment Planning and Implementation: PSA software's provide assignment oriented 360° view, through which,
executives can look at what projects are in pipeline and can forecast their resource requirements. Assignment managers can
implement detailed assignment plans, match the right resource within the organization for work-done and can have all the
mission-relatedimportantdataattheirfingertips.
PSA software can give the organizations, a closed loop communication channel between resources, managers and the entire
project team. Resources can communicate quickly with assignment managers regarding the status of their task, and managers can
accesstheimpacton thewholeassignmentschedules,budgetandstaffing toresolvetheissues as theyariseduringtheassignment.
The Need for Professional Service
for Organizations
30 September 2017
PSA in Perspective

2. Estimates andAssignment Cost: PSAsoftware has the ability to track assignment costs at comminuted level. Every minute on
every assignment can be easily tracked, and any auxiliary expense on assignments, like travel or third-party expenses can be
accountedtogiveaholisticrepresentationofinvestment.
PSAsoftware tools even become more valuable, when managers are planning and executing assignment with a very tight budget.
All the assignment oriented information is managed within the PSAsoftware system, an assignment can analyze the productivity
of theirresourcesatanytimetoensureeachperson’s contributionismaximized.
3. Streamline theAssignment Lifecycle: PSAsoftware is able to handle the assignment throughout every step of the assignment
lifecycle, and doing so, gives services organizations the ability to focus on the important aspects and delivering appreciable
services to their clients-instead of wasting considerable time on prosaic administrative tasks. This kind of importance on
efficiency can quickly translate into sufficient time to spend on productivity and can have a direct effect on the cost of the
assignment.
To pipeline this process, most professional service automation software’s can easily integrate with the Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) system and accounting related packages to eliminate, the need for any manual assignment configuration.
These kinds of solutions will help an organization to run like a deep well-oiled machine, and lay focusing on the job that; drives
advancementor growth.
4. Improvement in Resource Productivity: Many, professional service automations software’s solutions also contain resources
scheduling tools; that help organizations to balance the demand and supply of their resources. Managers who effectively leverage
resources scheduling tools also get a clear picture of people who are engaged in work and who are not. It is also a well-known truth
within organizations, that effective utilization of employees and resources can yield dramatic results on the organization bottom
line. Using PSA software solutions will enable when resources and people with key skill sets are available, which will allow for
real-timeoptimizationof resourceproductivity.
In order to have more efficiency in projects, resource scheduling will give organizations, the tools required to ensure distribution
of proper workloads across all their employees. Even with the US unemployment rate hovering around 4.3%, industries are still
findingitmoredifficulttohirekeyspecializedworkers.
5. Real-time Decision-making Power: Having a consolidated view of business is critical when making managerial decisions.As
all the assignment oriented information that organizations need, resides directly inside their PSA software and management can
easily get the insight that required for the development of organizations. Information on project, resources and organizational
productivity is a simple click away, and managers can look, what the current status of the project is, with proper and up-to-date
information.
PSAsoftware’s have replaced worn-out spreadsheets and also has given the competitive advantage that has laid the foundation for
higherclientsatisfactionrates,higherprofitableshareandsustainablelong-termdevelopment.
Futurescope of PSA
PSAsoftware’s have reduced time consumption used in earlier tedious works such as documentation processing, file transfer and
generating the invoice. PSA software still possesses much scope for improvement such as Artificial Intelligence, which will
automatically arrange files and document in an array manner.AI will help in the retrieval of the document in a single click by self-
calculationandcanhelpinincreasingefficiencyby savingtimeandresources.
31September 2017

Managing Corporate
Communications on
Mobile Devices
By Andrew Silver, CTO Tango Networks
There is a strange inconsistency in how enterprises
manage mobile communications compared to other
types of business communications.
With traditional voice communications and data
communications, we directly control how communications
are deployed and used by our employees. But for mobile
devices, we give up this control to external mobile service
providers, creating expensive management and regulatory
headaches.
It doesn’t have to be this way, which is why I founded
Tango Networks a decade ago to revolutionize business
mobile communications.
The Company is The Service Provider
Consider how other forms of communications are managed
for employees.
For typical desktop phone service, the company purchases
phones from a vendor along with a central system to
provide voice calling, conferencing, in-office dialing, and
other features. The company or its contractor will run
cabling and power for the phones. Then the company
contracts with a service provider for voice services. The
enterprise is in control of the communications system, and
sets the policies for each user.
It’s the same for data communications. The company will
contract with a service provider for Internet service. But
then the company will install routers, firewalls, SBCs and
Ethernet cabling, or Wi-Fi access points and similar
infrastructure to get its employees online. The company
similarly is in direct control of its local and wide-area
networks, and sets the policies for each user.
In both cases, the company is acting as a service provider
for its employees - delivering and supporting essential
communications services.
But this model has remained broken when it comes to
mobile communications.
The Broken Mobile Model
In more traditional situations, the company will contract
with a mobile communications service provider and buy or
lease mobile phones and service for employees. The
company pays the provider to handle support, configuration
and management of the phones in addition to the primary
voice and data service costs. While the company is
incurring these expenses, the company does not have direct
control over the devices to ensure that corporate policies are
followed. Companies that must monitor employee voice
calls and data sessions, or archive them for regulatory
purposes, face added expenses.
In some companies, this model has evolved into Bring Your
Own Device (BYOD) programs, often when IT departments
have simply given up trying to gain control over corporate
mobile communications the way they have always been
able to manage their other services.
Instead of contracting for phones with a service provider,
the employees are permitted to use their own devices. Then
the company reimburses or otherwise subsidizes services.
While this can be less expensive than a company-owned
phone approach, it makes enforcement of policies very
difficult, especially for regulated industries requiring
communications recording.
In both cases, the mobile devices and service subscriptions
remain separate from the main form of corporate
communications. If I call you from the office, you see my
corporate number as the caller ID. If I call you from my
32 September 2017
Mentors’ Insights

A company co-founder, Andrew Silver now serves
as Tango Networks’ Chief Technology Officer. Silver
is an entrepreneur and business technologist who has
held senior management and director roles in large
and small wireless companies including Ericsson,
Nortel Networks, Comverse and Spatial Wireless. He
is an accomplished speaker at wireless industry
forums and has been granted more than 50 patents in
wireless communications systems. Silver holds an
electrical engineering degree and an MBA from
McGill University.
About the Author
mobile, you see my personal mobile
number, or another number you don’t
recognize. If you call me on my mobile
but I need to take the call from my
desk phone for recording compliance, I
need to call you back, or else start up a
special app on my phone to record the
call.
In short, the user experience is messy,
unwieldy, and less professional in
appearance.
The Better Way
Imagine instead that your mobile
phone could be an extension of your
main corporate communications
systems.
You could make and receive calls
using your corporate number. You
could transfer, conference, call with in-
office dialing. You could send text
messages from your corporate number
and receive incoming texts to your
corporate number - something your
desktop phone probably cannot do.
Your calls and texts could be archived
for compliance. Your IT staff would
have direct control over when and
where you could make toll calls, or
even route them through the corporate
networks to reduce costs.
Suppose all this were possible even
with your own personal device. Your
business communications would
operate as an extension of your
corporate phone system while your
personal communications remained
totally private.
That’s exactly what Tango Networks’
solutions do. Our Kinetic
Communications Platform enables a
company to control mobile
communications in an entirely new
way.
Shared Control
The breakthrough is an innovation in
how communications signaling and
routing are managed. Our Kinetic
platform creates a communications
control system that is shared between
your company and your mobile service
provider, enabling the enterprise to be
the service provider for their
employees.
This means your IT staff sets policies,
determines call routing rules, turns on
features, and executes similar control
steps. These enterprise-managed
policies and configuration settings
interface directly with the service
provider where they are enforced on
the mobile communications in the
service provider’s network.
This provides great advantages for
both companies and their service
providers. For service providers, it
means that companies are taking on
much of their own support and
management tasks. For the companies,
it means the IT staff is more directly in
control of this critical form of
corporate communications. Our system
is supported by many Tier 1 mobile
service providers around the world and
is serving hundreds of thousands of
users with enhanced mobile
communications today. On networks
where our solutions are not yet
supported, we also offer many of the
same control capabilities for
employees that use Android,
BlackBerry and IOS (Apple) devices.
For the first time, mobile
communications can be managed by
your company precisely the way
traditional fixed voice and data
communications. In the end, this
means easier regulatory compliance,
lower mobile communications costs,
and a better user experience that
maximizes the productivity of your
employees on the go.
33September 2017

PSA:Robust, Efcient Productive Software
for Contemporary Businesses
Today, many professional service enterprises are dealing with diverse challenges. Price war, highly competitive
market, low profit margins, shortage of skilled and experienced professionals, spin-offs from mergers and
acquisitions etc. are some of the crucial challenges which are affecting the overall operational efficiency,
productivity and profitability of an enterprise. At the same time, think tank and top managements are increasingly aware of
the benefits of PSA (Professional service automation) solutions and its role in making companies
more competitive and profitable.
Expected Growth of PSA software Industry
According to one leading research firm named, Grand View Research, the professional
service automation (PSA) software market is estimated to reach USD 14.39 billion by
2024. PSA software is used to regulate business processes and provide reports,
insights, and control for resources and projects. The importance of such systems is
to empower critical information to be analyzed and shared across establishments
for more insightful and timely decision-making. Increasing advancements in
functionalities of the solution are estimated to boost industry growth over the next
seven years.
The market for professional service automation is projected to gain a major share
in revenues from developed regions such as North America and Europe over the
next 7 years. Demand for PSA solutions in Asia Pacific region is also expected
to rise at a stable pace over the next 7 years owing to the rising adoption of PSA
by SMB (Small and Medium) enterprises in the region.
From all across the globe, many technology giants have invested heavily on
PSA. Some of the major firms operating in the global PSA market are
Microsoft Corporation, NetSuite OpenAir, Oracle, Autotask Corporation,
FinancialForce PSA, Appirio, Inc., Deltek, Harmany PSA, Autotask
Corporation and Projector PSA. Products and services of these giants are
innovative and fuelling greater competition among its peers with each passing
year.
Technologies Fuelling PSA
Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is becoming popular among cost-sensitive
consumers and small medium enterprises. Increasing abundant computing owing to
smartphone penetration and better internet infrastructure is expected to drive the PSA
mobile application over the next seven years. Cloud-based software offer benefits such as
economies of scale, disaster recovery, effective monitoring of projects, and reduced
36 September 2017
PSA in Vision

technology infrastructure cost to its clients.
Artificial Intelligence: According to one leading firm, IDC, AI market will grow from $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47
billion in 2020. The market of AI is flourishing and numerous startups and internet giants want to reap the benefits of AI into
their business processes. There are numerous AI technologies, on which different enterprises are working and researching.
One of such eminent AI technology is RPA i.e. Robotics Process Automation.
RPA is gaining popularity for developing Professional service automation software. All those tasks of repetitive nature low
skilled are supposed to get automated using powerful scripts. Those tasks which are expensive and inefficient for humans to
execute will directly get into the fold of RPA.
Eminent Reasons prompting increase usage of PSA software
•Better project planning, execution, management supervision.
•To track project cost at very granular level during all stages of project development.
•PSA software has the capability to integrate other important software which further streamlines business process.
•Improved resource productivity; PSA solution is used to understand when resources with key skillsets are available and will
allow for real-time optimization of resource productivity.
•Helpful in taking a big decision in real time due to the availability of consolidated view of a business process.
Benefits of PSA software in Professional arena
Various PSA software are used to bring transparency to the processes of a project, including time tracking, expense
management, billing, invoicing, and resource and labor allocation. PSA software helps professionals in project and resource
management. It can be integrated with accounting, CRM, and payroll, billing, talent management
systems etc. for better work efficiency.
PSA software’s/These PSA software provide eminent assistance to varied professionals.
Lawyers, auditors, IT Consultants, HR managers and other professionals are reaping the
benefits of productivity, efficiency and profitability by streamlining their business
process with PSA software. Many people compare PSA with traditional ERP
solution, but in reality, PSA software (there is no plural form of software, hence
the word needs to be treated differently) are different than ERP and are tailored
for the professional service industry.
Key Deployment trends in PSA
There are two types of PSA deployment solution available in today’s market
for the enterprises. One is cloud based deployment and other is on-premise
deployment. Cloud based deployments are gaining popularity among small
and medium enterprises due to the enormous benefits it gives to its clients.
Flexibility, disaster recovery, increased collaboration and reduced
infrastructure development price are some of the main factors behind the
growing popularity of the cloud hosting module.
Sectors attracted towards PSA
Insurance, media entertainment, retail, telecom, IT, Banking and finance,
healthcare, financial markets, business consultants, higher educational
authority, different government agency are utilizing PSA solutions for better
efficiency, productivity profitability.
According to a research firm named SPI Research, organizations that used
PSA software tend to have a higher rate of on-time project delivery, more
accurate project estimates and increased personnel productivity through more
efficient scheduling and communication. All these benefits and advantages will
further motivate small and medium enterprises towards PSA software and PSA
software industry will boom further.
37September 2017

It is no surprise that firms of all types increasingly rely
on cloud and cloud-based solutions for the storage and
access of their data and processes. Today, clients are
more aware of their expectations, hence putting pressure on
the companies to deliver more reliable and innovative
solutions. Keeping customer expectations at the forefront,
JOVACO Solutions was formed in 1983. Since its
inception, JOVACO has emerged as a leader within the field
of integrated management solutions and has developed an
unparalleled expertise in the implementation, integration
and development of both ERP and CRM solutions. It is also
the first company in the province of Quebec to offer a
project accounting solution fully integrated to financials and
specifically designed for the professional services industry.
To meet and exceed diverse customers’ needs, JOVACO has
implemented and customized a variety of ERP and CRM
solutions, most notably Microsoft Dynamics GP and
Microsoft Dynamics 365, and offers personalized consulting
services as well. The firm has also developed various
modules and vertical-specific solutions such as an
integrated project management tool, a web-based time and
expense capture module, a manufacturing optimization
system, an investment accounting module as well as a
business intelligence solution.
A Leader with Rich Experience
As a CPA, Founder and President Jean-Claude Coutu
has a vast experience with accounting processes and
professional services. Offering business management
solutions specifically designed to meet the needs and
realities of these firms was one of his long-standing goals,
which subsequently led to the formation of JOVACO. In its
early days, one of the initial challenges it had to face was
the need to educate firms, as very few had started to
integrate computer technologies. This challenge goes on to
this day, as many organizations still rely on paper
documents or non-integrated systems to manage their
operations, even in this era of digital transformation.
However, Coutu’s insights into their specific needs and
challenges allowed JOVACO to develop solutions that
incorporate their processes and the best practices of the
industry. Over the years, JOVACO has gained a unique
expertise in meeting their needs, and it counts several
certified accountants among its team of consultants. Today,
more than half of JOVACO’s clients are part of the
professional services sector, as they know they can turn to it
for long-term support and guidance. JOVACO also prides
itself on being a pioneer of integrated business management
solutions, and takes its role seriously in helping firms keep
up with new technologies in an increasingly digitalized
economy.
Today, Coutu has over 40 years of experience in the
accounting and IT sectors, during which he has forged a
double expertise in identifying and understanding the
accounting and financial processes of its customers as well
38 September 2017

as the systems and products that best
support them. Since the formation of
JOVACO, Coutu has been working
more specifically on the development
and implementation of integrated
systems.
Services that make them Stand
Apart
JOVACO is a Microsoft partner in
Quebec that specializes in the
implementation and integration of
Microsoft Dynamics GP and Dynamics
365 (CRM). As a full-service Value-
Added Reseller, JOVACO offers
implementation, integration, consulting
as well as technical training and
support to ensure that every customer
is getting the most out of their system.
JOVACO also provides custom
developments such as dashboards and
business intelligence solutions to meet
all its clients’ needs.
JOVACO is also an Independent
Software Vendor for JOVACO Suite
(formerly known as JOVACO Project
Suite), a project accounting solution
fully integrated to Microsoft Dynamics
GP and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Specifically designed for professional
services firms, this vertical-specific
solution is optimized to manage
projects from proposal to profits with
project cost capabilities, web-based
time billing, resource planning
functionalities as well as various out-
of-the-box project-specific reports to
ensure better visibility and tracking.
Committed, Available and Dedicated
JOVACO offers a full-range of services
to its customers: implementation,
integration, developments and
customization, reporting and business
intelligence, customer support and
training, as well as a wide range of
consulting services. This way, its
customers can meet all their needs and
overcome their challenges with only
one partner who can help them
throughout the entire process, from the
initial analysis to post-implementation
support and training. JOVACO prides
itself in the long-term relationship it
has formed with each and every
customer along the way. Moreover, its
knowledge of the professional services
industry ensures that the company is
familiar with the clients’ processes and
can identify their needs and suggest the
best solutions and products to meet
them.
Future Prospect
“Regulations and client expectations
are also constantly on the rise, and
JOVACO will keep making the utmost
effort to exceed them. To this end, we
seek to increase our offerings to
include more cloud-based options and
vertical-specific solutions to meet the
needs of our customers, as well as
leverage the capabilities of cloud-
based and CRM solutions to allow our
clients in the PSA industry to make the
most out of their contact base,” Coutu
concludes on the future prospect of
JOVACO.
39
Jean-Claude Coutu
Founder President
September 2017

O
ver 30 years ago, WSG Systems Corp began as a
custom software development shop. Back then,
WSG specifically targeted the professional
services industry, with its extensive subject knowledge and
the need for improvements on both the operational and
financial fronts. The products offered by the company were
a natural extension of this knowledge and market needs
which allowed its customers to grow their businesses and
improve profitability. Fast forward to the present, as the
NYC-based software company strives to help companies
and professionals increase their productivity, profitability,
and efficiency through the use of its award-winning
software platform – Empire SUITE.
Hammering the Nails of Success to Build an Empire
The Empire SUITE, WSG’s flagship product, is designed
and engineered to give project and financial managers the
required tools to manage their projects, and the information
to deliver a successful and profitable outcome. It is a
modular cloud-based project and resource management
solution designed to help project managers and consultants.
Empire SUITE maximizes the profitability and success rate
through employee management, expense management, and
resource scheduling. It is the only cloud-based project and
resource management solution with a financial perspective
that possesses the distinct ability to track time, budget and
resources in real-time. Empire SUITE’s depth of
information and ease of implementation, as well as its user-
friendly interface and mobile access feature for on-the-go
data input, allows it to replace or complement some of the
world’s most popular software packages.
When There’s a Crack; Light is Bound to Pass Through
After some initial engagements with various PSA
organizations back in the day, WSG identified many
loopholes in the existing offerings of the providers. Among
them, the biggest gap identified in the PSA space was the
lack of financial perspective available within the systems.
Suddenly, the ability to have predictive capability rather
than just backward-looking metrics became as important as
the ability to handle the complex accounting requisites.
WSG’s customers soon realized they could potentially see
where the problems were going to transpire from, instead of
simply recognizing from where they had occurred. Since
then, whether it is resource scheduling or revenue sharing
or even time tracking, WSG’s distinctive methodology has
proven invaluable for its clients and continues to help them
drastically improve their project-related business practices
while growing their businesses.
Focusing on the Outcome, Not the Obstacle
Like any other organization, WSG faced some of the usual
business challenges like cash flow, name recognition,
growing pains, etc. in the early years. It entered into a
market space that had some very large and well-established
competitors; including some of the largest software
companies in the world.
Whether it is WSG’s shift from a customer development
shop to a packaged software provider or its most recent
movement to the cloud, the company faced various
40 September 2017

challenges along the way but overcame
them and succeeded with an
impressive client roster showing their
trusted space in this industry. The
company prides itself on its job of
making people aware of the different
alternatives and more efficient ways of
running their businesses.
A Trusted Leader with a Strong
Vision but Flexible Methodology
Bill Cornfield, President of WSG, has
been the driving force of the business
from a strategic perspective since day
one. Being a Certified Public
Accountant, Bill had spent most of his
career in the professional services
industry and banking. He worked in
software development for a large bank
and began to think how his software
knowledge could benefit other areas.
And it then he initially envisioned the
opportunity to focus on delivering
a better solution for professional
service organizations.
At WSG, Bill shoulders the
responsibility for driving product
direction and the continuing
evolution of the platform. He
formulates strong relationships
with various prospects, clients and the
industries WSG serves and has
established himself as a trusted advisor
with clients and partners.
Standing Out from the Crowd
Instead of Standing Among the
Crowd
WSG understands the PSA space and
differentiates itself from others in the
market with its broad range of product
offerings. It has a robust yet easy-to-
use system with a technically sound
platform. With its dedicated focus on
its clients and financial perspective, the
company serves its customers unlike
any of its industry contemporaries.
WSG also offers just one version of
Empire SUITE for all its customers
worldwide, thereby eliminating any
confusion about licensing models and
options and simplifying upgrades. With
almost 1,000 configuration options,
Empire SUITE users find it a lot easier
to stay current, add new functionality,
deploy and upgrade from a common
core platform rather than customizing a
new software build; saving both time
and money in the process.
Embracing the Industry Changes
WSG embraces and supports all the
evolving changes and demands
ongoing or arising in the industry. Its
support for AI is imminent, as WSG
moves to an automated workflow and
resource scheduling optimization. By
using predictive analytics, the
company is already helping its clients
reap the advantages of Big Data,
enabling them to make better business
decisions as a result. WSG is also
ensuring that its mobile solutions
continue to evolve, thereby meeting the
needs of the workforce on the go. The
company takes it upon themselves to
help minimize friction for the simplest
yet the most important tasks, like time-
reporting and resource scheduling.
41
Bill Cornfield
President
www.empiresuite.com
September 2017

C
omputer scientist Florian Kurz
and Prof. Dr. Marco Mevius
lead the bamero AG in close
cooperation. Although both
personalities sweep everyone around
them with their energy and live on
agile and process-centric approaches,
they also complement each other with
their qualities. Together they are well
versed about their field of knowledge
and can channel this competence in a
result-oriented way with the bamero
AG. Due to their steady character,
passion and open-minded way of
thinking, this duo can look back on the
biggest achievements of the bamero
AG. However, they are determined to
anchor innovative business models on
the market using a process-centric
perspective. Florian Kurz and Prof. Dr.
Marco Mevius are enthusiastic about
pursuing this objective with much
strength within the bamero AG, but
they are willing to learn new things on
their way and talk to any contact
person of a customer to determine
where the pain within running business
processes originates. The central idea
behind this is to support every
customer from a strategic view of the
business to the point of the operative
transformation by managing the
underlying business processes.
“Established companies and
institutions traditionally fight for the
biggest piece of the cake on the
market, though they could reinvent
themselves to become the
confectioner.” – Florian Kurz, CEO
and partner
Especially medium-sized companies
are in the charming situation to realign
their business model using new
technologies to position themselves on
the market strategically. Their growing
economic strength combined with their
yet flexible structures allows them to
manage their business processes,
including a new experience for their
employees regarding processes and
technology. The basic challenges of the
digital transformation hereby are to
answer which products and services
are to be offered and how to address
the “process experience”. Formerly
products were sold, today it is services
and it is going to be experience in the
future, that is why we need to be agile!
Digitization means individualization.
Customers become co-customers and
generate self-services.
“Within only short time the bamero AG
became one of our most important
strategic partners. Due to their methods
used and their extremely quick
perception, Mr. Kurz and his team are
a tremendous gain for our business
development. Initial successes were
already evident after only a short time
and most notably measurable. We are
looking forward to continuing our
cooperation with bamero.” – Björn
Scharnhorst, CEO Exportverpackung
Sehnde GmbH
The bamero portfolio exclusively
covers services in a business process
management context, although
addressing it in different granularities.
Foremost bamero supports companies
in the dynamic alignment of their
business models. To support this claim
bamero offers to concertedly organize
the business processes including
systems, roles and implicit
requirements. On the one hand to
complete the scope of services and on
the other hand an attractive service
itself the bamero also automates
business processes.
Using an iterative and an incremental
approach (M.E.M.O.®) the impact on
short- and long-term successes can be
measured throughout the projects.
M.E.M.O.® is an innovative way to
extend the traditional business process
management by agile concepts to
operationalize the wish for digital
innovation. The efficiency and
effectivity of business process
management projects can be improved
significantly by adapting the four steps
process analysis (map), process design
(enrich), implementation (monitor) and
execution (optimize) to agile software
development approaches and assigning
defined roles. Contrary to traditional,
42 September 2017
DigiThoughts

Especially the new, digital business models require well-
directed process innovation. With bamero’s tools and
methods the challenges of partly digitizing processes are
addressed directly and in a unique way. With the digital
transformation of business processes and models all
participants expect higher customer tie, more efficient
processes and higher sales due to the possibilities to
efficiently and costefficiently offer customer-specific and
personalized products and services.
“We stand at the edge of a digital gold rush. bamero enables
companies to immediately find first digital nuggets and to
define the relative claims in the long term.” – Prof. Dr.
Marco Mevius, Chairman of the Board and Founder.
The crucial competitive advantages are generated by the
process experience of the process participants. Therefore,
an adequate and best possible integration of humans into
the digital processes and new services is central for the
transformation of established companies.
model-centric approaches the purpose behind M.E.M.O.®
is to explore the practiced process instead of process
models – “more process, less model!”
The highly specialized team of the bamero AG lives and
merges digitality and business process management in their
DNA. This is the fundament to collaboratively and perfectly
executed create tailor-made and highly innovative business
models. The process engineers that currently work for
bamero learned how to evaluate and develop the
digitization of processes at the HTWG Constance.
Therefore, these process engineers are capable of consulting
customers using their very knowledge instead of worn out
reference guidelines.
“By being in permanent spar with the scientific community
we are capable of substantially meeting the new and rapidly
changing demands of the market.” – Florian Kurz, CEO and
partner
Prof. Dr. Marco Mevius
Chairman of the Board Founder
bamero AG
Florian Kurz
CEO partner
bamero AG
43September 2017

Insights success the 10 best performing psa solution providers sept 2017

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