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More than a quarter of client-facing professionals admit to spending at least 30 per cent of their working week on administrative tasks rather than focusing on their core job, according to new research from cloud ERP software provider Unit4.
The research, conducted by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), found almost half of respondents – 47 per cent – said they are being forced to spend time spend time correcting timesheets while teams must work overtime in areas like accounts reconciliation, project cost and profitability management, and project timeline management.
The findings come as professional services firms face increasing pressure on resources, with 60 per cent of respondents expecting workloads to either increase or become more complex over the next 12 months.
“Professional services firms are facing possibly the biggest inflection point in a lifetime as technology disruption and volatile economic conditions encourage clients to reevaluate their use of consulting expertise,” Unit4 director of professional services Donna Dobson said.
“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.”
The research also highlighted the impact outdated systems are having on employees. More than two-thirds of respondents cited month-end or quarter-end close bottlenecks as a cause of overtime, while 59 per cent pointed to inconsistent data models and 55 per cent blamed outdated technology.
On the flipside, one-third of respondents who said they operate on integrated cloud-based platforms spend less time correcting errors.
According to the research, cloud adopters reported finance reporting errors at a rate of 29 per cent compared with the global average of 37 per cent. Budgeting and forecasting errors were also lower, at 28 per cent compared with 36 per cent.
“Many professional services firms are being pushed by clients to transform commercial models to better serve their needs, but this is only possible if firms embrace modern cloud-based systems,” PAC senior consultant Nick Mayes said.
“This will give them the agile, scalable foundations to deliver process automation and adopt AI tools, but it will require investment to optimise and integrate existing workflows so that companies have a single view of company-wide information.”
Looking ahead, respondents identified increasing revenue, retaining talent and improving cost efficiency as their top priorities. To achieve those goals, many firms said they will invest in modernising operating models, automating repetitive, manual work and improving integration to create a single consistent view of data. More than 60 per cent also expect AI to have a beneficial impact with 33 percent saying it will fundamentally change how projects and resource management processes will work.
