How ECUS used Synergist to move from gut instinct to guided decision making

The problem

Hard work without profitable payoff

There were 54 people at ECUS all working hard, but profitability was proving elusive. The system the organisation was using was clunky and didn’t give the information needed to run the consultancy well. 

Sara says: “The old system didn’t provide our staff with the tools to see the wider impact of their actions. So this restricted their commercial awareness.

“Decisions, therefore, had to be made more on gut instinct than data. For example, the old system didn’t give accurate utilisation rates, so we made assumptions. Some of those turned out to be wrong."

 “We couldn’t give team managers the information they needed to manage their staff as well as they wanted or to make well-informed decisions.”

“Our ecology work means that we have seasonality swings throughout the year, being extremely busy between April and September. We wanted to implement an annualised hours system, but our old system didn’t make it feasible.”

“Plus, it wasn’t easy to create exception reports or to see patterns in profitability, making it impossible to be sure that our projects were going to contribute to the bottom line.”

The solution

Using data to drive profitability 

Migrating to Synergist was one of the key areas of focus for Sara when she joined. 

"Without a proper system, you simply can’t know your true utilisation percentage. When we installed Synergist, we were in for a shock: in some cases, our utilisation was more than 10% worse than we had thought. That makes a huge difference."

"There are two ways that companies handle information. One is to keep it locked up tight so only a privileged few see it. The other is to share it so that everyone is empowered to make smart decisions, can learn from the facts and can communicate constructively with colleagues and clients to everyone’s advantage. Clearly, the latter is the way forward if profitability is a focus."

Getting accurate, real-time information on projects, clients and profitability was also crucial. "You can’t run a complex business properly unless your assumptions are being constantly tested. And the most effective challenge to assumptions is with evidence – clean data.”

"You need to accept that being busy isn’t the same as being profitable. People can be busy on the wrong things. Before, people would ask for more resources and justify it by saying they’re really busy. They were indeed busy, but busy doing what? Synergist now shows where their priorities should be. When more resources really are needed, that’s clear too.”

The return

Clarity, focus and understanding

“Solving the profitability problem was key. Now, our exec team can go to board meetings every month and say ‘We’re getting it right!’. The list of things to sort out gets smaller every month, and we’re down to finessing things now. There are no more instances of us not understanding profitability now. That’s all behind us.”

“Knowing how many unallocated hours we have in any month is very powerful and is a great asset for good staff planning and resourcing.  

“The system has improved our processes. This has been very useful in itself by improving efficiencies and avoiding errors. Prior to this, we could be focusing on the wrong areas. We had 54 people working hard, but profits were still elusive.”

Seeing the bigger picture

Sara says they can also now see the big picture. “Patterns emerge that we couldn’t see before. For example, we didn’t have the visibility that some projects or working for certain clients always resulted in a loss. Knowing that helps our decision-making, our pricing, and our prioritising.”

“We are now able to be more selective over which projects to take on, which is especially helpful when we’re busy. We can ensure that we focus on projects that are both productive and profitable. You can’t run 250 projects by gut feeling alone.”

“We have a growth culture here. Before Synergist, the drive for growth would mostly come from the top, but now it’s more a part of the culture across the company. Growth isn’t at the expense of quality or clients – quite the opposite. It’s having the data to make better decisions that, in turn, help growth happen."

"We couldn’t have made such a shift without having the infrastructure in place."

“Synergist has helped raise client service levels. It gives us early warning of issues, so we can tell from phase tracking where we might have project creep. That’s essential for good communication and solving problems before they escalate.”

“Going forward, it’s about learning better from what we do today. We’re better at avoiding common mistakes, such as underestimating the time needed for certain types of jobs.”

Team development

"You could say that Synergist is a career development accelerator. Today, a team member thinking of working for any major consultancy has to understand the big picture, be familiar with key processes, be financially astute and commercially savvy. They learn these things at ECUS now. This helps their careers, and it helps us."

“The transparency of data has helped us develop a company culture of responsibility and progression. Because people are more aware of the wider implications of their work, it helps them understand their Line Manager’s position better. It even increases the chance of them rising to that position themselves.

“Sometimes the system highlights that someone needs more training. It helps in managing the teams. It’s not used to check on people – it’s about team development.”

“And it’s not just a question of managers using it to develop their teams. Individuals use it, too, because they can share data with their line manager to see if they believe we’re putting too much load on them. That’s helpful and means the system is not just a one-way street.

“It’s given project managers more confidence. It’s empowering for them.”

"Synergist is our platform for the future. Utilisation is a lot easier to manage now. No more surprises."