[.ca] Building Professional Services: The Sirens' Song (ISBN 0130353892)

Required Reading:
This book is "just what the doctor ordered" for anyone trying to develop a Professional Services(PS) organization that is aligned with other functional groups and the overall mission of a product company. It also should be required reading for any leader moving for the first time from a stand-alone PS company to head up a PS organization within a product company. I found it to provide easy to read, practical guidance on what the components of the PS organization should be, what the mission and profitability drivers should be, key organizational interfaces and how it should be measured. Also, this book was reviewed, chapter by chapter, by all PS leaders as well as other functional leaders within the company, to develop a "lessons learned" document as part of a services strategic planning process. Invaluable assistance!

Finally!:
This is a book that fills a sorely needed gap in the computer consulting industry, and is especially valuable for start-up consulting companies, established companies that want to achieve higher profitability, and for internal IT organizations that are seeking a way to move from a cost center to a profit center. Regardless of your goals or motivations, the first two chapters helps you to clarify your objectives, decide on the appropriate business model and mission statement, and introduces key concepts that will be used throughout the book. One of the most effective techniques in this section of the book is the way the authors lead you through framing your mission and goals and employing a service alignment risk factor to test the clarity of your mission and how it aligns to other business processes. This is especially important if technical services is not your core business. Chapters 3 and 4 are, in my opinion, the heart of the book because they address revenue and profitability, and organizational structure - two areas with which many companies struggle. The information in these chapters will show you what you need to do to become and remain profitable, as well as how to best organize your resources to deliver in accordance with your chosen business model. For start-ups Chapter 3 provides an excellent framework for business plan pro formas. Chapter 5, Selling, thoroughly covers the critical success factors and metrics for selling services. In chapters 6 through 8 services delivery, productizing and promotion are given the same thorough and insightful treatment. Of particular value is the customer engagement workflow that is provided in Chapter 11, and the four phases of professional services given in chapter 12. The phases provide a path by establishing basic implementation services as a service offering, then building upon these to provide integration services, consulting services and productized services - each phase represents an increase in what you offer customers (external or internal). For each of the phases the authors address the following factors: value proposition, profitability triangle focus, critical skills, required operational infrastructure, target mix, revenue growth rate, target gross margin and target operating profit. I like the way that these (and all of the chapters) end with sample budgets and issues to watch, and the key financial models provided in Appendix D. While this book is, in my opinion, the best starting point for anyone who is involved in establishing and managing technical services or starting a consulting company, "PSA: Professional Services Automation" by Rudolf Melik, et al is the second book you should read. That book complements this one, and also covers automating the professional services organization after it has been established.

Excellent pragmatic approach:
This book as become my day-to-day bible to managing a professional service division within our product-oriented company. If you have your objectives and strategy clear, this book will help you getting organized with the tactics.

A valuable book to read:
This book can be a key for entire IT organizations whose goals and objectives are to shift the rules from failure to victory. With carefully expressed views and guidelines this book will simulate return on investment and continuous profit. I will recommend this book to every organization that ambitious to achieve their goals and who have a desire to claim the ladder to sucess.

A good life boat for a PS Organization in a Product Company:
I bought the book because I needed to startup a software engineering group within our established PS organization. The book provided very good insight in how a PS organization should run within a Product Company. It provide good food for thought in understanding the difference between a standalone PS organization and one attached to a Product Company. The content opened some eyes within our organization and reset some expectations. The book also validated some of the processes and focus of the existing PS organization. If you are starting up a PS organization from the ground up I recommend this book. If you have a PS organization already in place, within a product company, I also recommend this book to validate your current focus.