Challenges and priorities impacting Professional Services in 2023

The Professional Services sector has been through an intense period of rapid adjustment. The changes forced upon all of us during the pandemic were fast and felt temporary – however some lessons have been learned and improvements made which many firms are now keeping and building upon.

A recent survey of ours discovered how firms have adapted and moved forwards since the pandemic. Take a look through the findings of the survey below as it may provide ideas and inspiration for your organisation.

5 minutes

Written by The Access Group

The survey

At the start of 2023, we surveyed 72 Professional Services experts and hosted a panel discussion with four senior leaders to find out which issues and priorities are front of mind as we navigate this post-pandemic period.

We discovered that although many firms are experiencing the same challenges, some are also finding new and innovative ways to move forwards. Use this guide to find out what other Professional Services leaders are currently thinking.

Some of the key findings include

40% of our respondents named recruiting new talent as their top concern in the coming year, over and above other important priorities such as retaining customers, keeping up with regulations, and cyber security
58% of respondents have changed their approach to knowledge sharing, learning and development since the pandemic
40% of respondents said having real-time insights on aspects such as resource utilisation or project WIP (work in progress) would enable them to be more efficient and run their teams more effectively
80% of respondents agree that having access to the same data (single version of the truth) is important and 26% are prioritising it in 2023

What some of our respondents said

Covid was our first experience of doing a fully online recruitment process. Since then, we only conduct the final round of interviews in person rather than lots of face-to-face interviews earlier on. Having a blend of the two approaches has made things much more efficient.

Paddy Woods Ballard Partner, Fairgrove Partners

We are trying to make our business more transparent and one of our metrics is billable hours. Visibility of projects, of metrics and returns, and of customers. But we also want to get the balance right between better CRM whilst still letting our people have autonomy.

Alton Nutile Commercial & Operations Director, Brown & Co

Read the full Trends Report for Professional Services

Go to trends report

Challenges and priorities for senior leaders

Discover which challenges and priorities senior leaders across the Professional Services sector are focusing on over the next 12 months. We surveyed decision-makers from a wide range of firms and probed their thinking on the way ahead.

View infographic

Panel discussion

Watch our exclusive online panel discussion chaired by Access Professional Services expert Steve Thomas. The panel features Access customers Brown & Co, AFH Wealth Management and Fairgrove Partners talking about key priorities impacting professional services firms in 2023 and sharing their experience on a journey to digital transformation.

Watch panel discussion

See how technology can help

Access Workspace for Professional Services

If you’re facing any of these challenges, take a look at how technology can help you in this 7 minute video of Access Workspace for Professional Services.

This video shows how Access Workspace can help Professional Services organisations manage their project finances in one place - from work in progress (WIP) tracking to timesheets, resource scheduling, invoicing by projects and credit control using our Business Health Dashboard powered by Experian. Watch to find out more.

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