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The thing about robots is that they’re great. They’re so shiny. They’re cutting-edge. And more importantly, they do stuff for us.   Whether it’s books or movies or tv shows, we’ve gotten used to them. Whether it's R2-D2 and C-3PO helping the Rebel Alliance or Rosie the Robot Maid helping the Jetsons, it’s really satisfying to see something help us so that we can get on with what we need to do.   What’s great is that in the 21st century we’ve got robotic power at our fingertips. Even in SaaS sales. In fact, robots can alleviate one of the biggest challenges you as a SaaS CEO face - low win rates and slow growth.  They might not look as cool as The Terminator or Bender, but when they’re doing your work for you, does it matter?  Let’s take a closer look at what’s behind low win rates and slow growth, how it impacts you, and how the robots can help.   What causes it?  So what causes low win rates and slow growth? Here are some of the most common that we see in the SaaS landscape:   Outdated data management: Mistakes and inconsistencies are par for the course with manual data entry and management processes. No matter how methodical a human, they are going to make mistakes. But when you add pressure, piles of work and those silos, forget it. There’s no reliable information for you to make informed decisions and strategies.  Repetitive administrative tasks: With legacy systems, administrative tasks like data entry and reports don’t write themselves. CRM updates don’t happen by magic. These tasks drain time stop your teams from closing deals.   Frankensteined systems and tools: Sales teams can struggle when their systems are disconnected or patched together. They can’t collaborate. They can’t share information. They don’t know which potential customers need what or the best offerings for each of them.   Bad lead qualification: Manual lead qualification processes are inconsistent across your teams and individual sales staff. It messes up the revenue teams when they get to work with invoicing and collecting too, causing mistakes and infuriating everyone, including the customers. This impacts your upselling and cross-selling because which angry customer decides to stay on and buy more?   Limited visibility and insights: You can strategize without insight. When your sales process is discombobulated and there’s no visibility, you’ve got a struggle to see spot areas for improvement. Without strategic thinking and decision-making, your company can’t grow.  Lack of the right offerings and pricing strategies: It doesn’t matter how great your products and services are. If your sales teams have no idea when to contact leads, and what to offer them, a fast sales cycle will be impossible.   What low win rates and slow growth do to you   They are a huge stumbling block for you as a SaaS CEO. Because they don’t just impact you. It’s your team and the company at stake. Do any of these consequences sound familiar?   Lost opportunities: When your win rates are low, you’re missing opportunities to expand your customer base and keep your customer acquisition costs low. You’re missing out on getting the edge over your competition. You don’t have a larger customer base singing your praises. You can’t grow.   Time and resource drain: When your teams have to do everything manually, their time and resources are drained away. Sales teams can’t focus on revenue-generating activities.   Inefficient sales cycles: When the lead-to-sales-to-invoicing processes are clunky and riddled with silos, sales cycles are going to be long. On-boarding can be delayed. The pipeline is bunged up. And mistakes happen between your sales and revenue teams.   Crushed morale: When a team wants to run for the hills, it’s hard for them to do a good job. No one gets a sales job so that they can be chained to their desks under a pile of spreadsheets with looming quotas barking down their ear.   No scalability: SaaS success is down to scalability but there’s no scaling when sales are slow and there’s no growth.   All this impacts on you personally, too.   The buck stops with the CEO. You’re the one that has to march into the boardroom and account for where your company stands. That’s a lot of stress and sleepless nights.   It’s a serious situation, and for you to do your job, it needs to be sorted for you.   And that’s where the robots come in.    Bring on the subscription robot overlords!   The best robots know what to do. They do the grunt work for you. They make things easy. They free your time up. And they can work 24-7.   Automation, driven by robots and powered by advanced AI technologies, gives you the exact solution you need by taking care of all the causes of the problems.   Here’s how the automation robot changes the game:   Streamlined lead management: Automation scores and qualifies the leads throughout the nurturing processes, identifies the best times to sell, then channels the opportunities to the best salesperson for the job. This can make your sales process fast as lightening and your win rates sky-high, whether it’s a new customer or an existing one.   Personalized customer engagement and great experience: It doesn’t matter how large your customer base is or how quickly it’s been growing, because automated and completely personalized email campaigns and messages let your sales team reach prospects and current customers in the most effective manner.  Teams work without silos: Automated systems between sales and revenue allow the information to flow freely. Because there are no manual entry errors, sales can rely on revenue to get billing right, and revenue can rely on sales to get terms right. There aren’t any delays between the teams, so not only are sales opportunities no longer missed, but there aren’t any delays in implementation.   Data-Driven decision making: Automation gives you the data you need to make the best decisions. The data is analyzed and accessible when you need it. It crunches numbers, writes detailed reports, spot problems, provides potential scenarios and forecasts, so that you have the information you need, when you need it.   Rapid sales ops: Because automation takes away the administrative tasks that plague your sales teams, they finally have the time to focus on building relationships and closing deals which is exactly what’s needed to speed up sales cycles and boost in rates.   Scalability and growth: Because automation can handle any size customer base, when you grow, you won’t hit a scaling nightmare because everything continues to run. The end-to-end processes are standardized. The workflows are automated. Best practices stay consistent across the teams. You can spread into as many new markets as you want because the growth is sustainable.   Morale through the roof: When your teams no longer have to deal with the soulless, time-stealing processes, they’re happy. When they’re given sales opportunities (with potential and existing customers) that are loaded in their favour, they’re happy. When they are free to do the value-adding work that uses their talents, they’re happy. And when they’re happy and selling, you’ve got a much better chance at being thrilled with the job.   Go with the robots  We never thought we’d get to the point where we’d say robots are necessary for survival, but here we are.   As a CEO, you know it’s virtually impossible to keep a SaaS company ticking over without automation. Legacy systems are going to pinch you eventually.   When you give yourself and your teams the advantage of AI-powered you empower your sales teams to focus on what they do best - building relationships, closing deals faster, and driving revenue.   You get streamlined processes, efficiency, valuable insights, and ultimately better win rates and growth.  Embrace the robots. Let them take care of the repetitive tasks. Enable your company to edge out the competition. Watch your win rates soar as your humans and the robots work together for greatness.  86% of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after two bad customer experiences. - Emplifi Say goodbye to missed sales opportunities and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings, boosts your up and cross-selling, and maximizes long-term customer value.

In the SaaS subscription world, things move fast. And there are some metrics that are tough to nail down, even for the more seasoned CFO.   As a CFO, you might already know exactly what we’re talking about.   Yep, it’s ARR and actual revenue.   Though it’s the key to understanding how financially healthy your subscription business is, it’s a real challenge to be able to know and communicate what it is at any given time.   What happens when you don’t know the actual revenue   Not accurately knowing actual revenue might not tear down your business like an earthquake that’s an 11.6 on the Richter, but there’s no doubt there’s gonna be some cracks in the foundation, and you might have to run around catching vases and the flat screen before they break.   If there isn’t a clear understanding of ARR metrics across ops, finance and sales, you’re going to struggle with your pricing strategies, allocation of resources, and financial planning. You’ll miss opportunities for growth and could even fisk financial stability.   When ARR metrics are incomplete or just plain wrong, your stakeholders can lose trust in you. Investors, fellow C-Suite members, and teams need financial information to be accurate so that they can judge the company’s financial health and your ability to do the job. That puts even more pressure on you because it’s not just the company on the line- it’s your personal reputation.   If you’re missing real-time insights, you’re also at another distinct disadvantage. You’ll never know what you need to do when you need to do it. You also won’t know what to do in the future. This stops you from staying agile and making data-driven decision.   No pressure, right?   The bottom line is that you don’t need any of that. What you need is the time and data necessary to do your job.   So what’s the first step from here? Understanding what you need to kiss these problems goodbye.   Understanding how complex ARR calculations can be   ARR is packed with complex calculations that are steered by factors that can change at any time like upgrades, downgrades, churn, product offerings, and contract terms. It’s confusing and loaded with errors. It’s like a drawer of cords that are impossible to untangle without spending a lot of time on it. Assuming you don’t get frustrated and throw the whole thing out.  Clear communication   One of your chief roles is to communicate your financial metrics and status to your stakeholders. That’s tricky when it comes to ARR because it’s so convoluted it’s overwhelming for people who aren’t grounded in financial processes and vocab. They can have little idea what you’re talking about.    Real-time insights for the best decisions  Interpreting the ARR goes beyond the numbers to insight that gives a firm foundation for strategic decisions. But you can’t get that insight with traditional manual processes which means your decisions are late and you miss opportunities.   Accuracy and predictability you can count on  One of the significant challenges of ARR is accurately forecasting and predicting revenue streams. With multiple variables at play, it's easy for CFOs to get lost in a sea of uncertainty. Automation offers a solution by leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies in the data. By harnessing the power of automation, CFOs can gain a clearer understanding of revenue predictability, enabling them to make more accurate forecasts and plan for the future with confidence.  Automation platforms use historical data and advanced predictive models to generate forecasts and scenarios based on different assumptions. These models can consider factors such as customer acquisition rates, expansion revenue, and churn rates to provide CFOs with a comprehensive view of their ARR projections. This not only enhances accuracy but also helps CFOs assess the impact of various growth strategies and pricing changes on their future revenue. With automation, CFOs can make data-driven decisions that are grounded in accurate and reliable forecasts.  Collaboration and Data Accessibility Gone are the days of siloed data and isolated decision-making. Today's CFOs thrive in collaborative environments that foster cross-functional insights. Automation facilitates collaboration by providing self-service access to financial data and reports. With automation tools that are user-friendly and accessible to non-technical stakeholders, CFOs  CFOs can empower teams across the organization to leverage financial insights and contribute to strategic discussions. This collaborative approach ensures that decisions are made collectively, with a shared understanding of ARR metrics.  Without automation, CFOs may be left relying on outdated information and manual processes, limiting their ability to proactively identify and address revenue trends, customer behavior shifts, and potential risks.  Automation   Complexity of ARR calculations - Automation platforms can seamlessly integrate with various data sources and apply sophisticated algorithms to automate the collection and consolidation of revenue data. By automating these processes, CFOs can eliminate manual errors and ensure a more accurate representation of their ARR metrics. The automation software can also handle the complex calculations needed to account for upgrades, downgrades, and churn, providing a clear and comprehensive view of the revenue generated by each customer.  Clear communication - Automation can bridge this communication gap by generating clear, visually appealing reports and dashboards that simplify the presentation of ARR metrics. These automated tools allow CFOs to collaborate more effectively and ensure everyone is on the same page.  Communicating ARR to non-financial people - Automation platforms offer customizable reporting features that allow CFOs to create intuitive and visually engaging reports. These reports can be tailored to specific stakeholder groups, presenting the ARR metrics in a format that is easy to understand. By using charts, graphs, and other visualizations, automation software helps CFOs illustrate the revenue trends, growth rates, and customer behavior insights that underlie their ARR calculations. This collaborative approach ensures that stakeholders have a clear understanding of the company's financial performance and can align their strategies accordingly.  Insights - Automation platforms can pull in data from various sources, including CRM systems, billing platforms, and subscription management tools, in real-time. This ensures that CFOs have access to the most up-to-date information when analyzing ARR metrics. With automation, CFOs can set up alerts and notifications to track key revenue indicators, such as customer churn rates or changes in average revenue per user (ARPU). This real-time visibility enables proactive decision-making, helping CFOs identify trends, anomalies, and potential risks or opportunities.  Conclusion The ARR conundrum is a challenge that many SaaS CFOs face, but it is not insurmountable. By embracing automation, SaaS CFOs can navigate the complexities of ARR calculations and effectively communicate revenue metrics. Automation provides real-time insights, enhances accuracy and predictability, and fosters collaboration across the organization. With automation, CFOs can confidently interpret and communicate ARR metrics, enabling them to make data-driven, informed decisions that drive their SaaS businesses towards success.  Embracing the power of automation unlocks the true potential of ARR, allowing CFOs to gain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of their revenue streams. With streamlined processes, clear communication, real-time insights, and enhanced predictability, CFOs can confidently navigate the complexities of ARR and guide their companies towards sustainable growth and financial success.  So, let's embrace automation as the solution to the ARR conundrum, harnessing its power to drive efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration in our SaaS businesses. By doing so, we can unlock the full potential of our ARR metrics and pave the way for a prosperous future.  Businesses must achieve and sustain a growth rate above 100% to be in the top 25% of company growth worldwide. -Maxio Survey Get the clear ARR data you need when you need it. Say goodbye to errors and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings and maximizes long-term customer value.

In the wild world of Software as a Service (SaaS), the more diverse the revenue model choice, the better.   Of course, it can be tough to choose. There’s a lot riding on which way your company goes with its pricing.    Yet, many SaaS CEOs and founders struggle to choose the best revenue model because when it goes wrong, BOOM. Unpredictable revenue. Scaling difficulties. Customer churn. Pricing confusion.  That’s why it helps to think about SaaS revenue models in a more basic way - with something we all understand. Like zoo animals. Because believe it or not, they have a lot in common.   So we’re here to talk you through the zoo to give you the insights you need to pick the SaaS revenue model that will best suit your business.  So let’s look at this unruly lot of SaaS revenue model examples, along with their pros and cons.   The Lion (Freemium Model) Top of the food chain in the SaaS world is the Freemium revenue model example. It’s loud and attention getting. It lures in its customer prey with free services, hoping to pounce and convert them into paying customers.   Pros:  Excellent Customer Acquisition: Attracts a large user base and boosts brand recognition.  Product Testing: Because users try the product before buying, it boosts the chances of customer satisfaction and gives valuable data on what works and what doesn’t.  Cons:  Challenging to Convert: All of us are happy to take something for nothing. It’s only good marketing that convinces us it’s worth paying for.   Revenue Uncertainty: Because so many users are on the free tier, accurately predicting revenue, budgeting and forecasting can be close to impossible.  The Chameleon (Usage-based Model) The chameleon can adapting to the environment, just like the usage-based revenue model example which charges customers based on usage.  Pros:  Fair Pricing: Customers prefer to pay only for what they use, which ups customer loyalty.   Scalability: When usage increases, so does the revenue. It makes scalability each.  Cons:  Revenue Variability: Revenue changes making predicability difficult.  Usage Limitation: Instead of buying more, customers might limit their usage.     The Elephant (Flat-rate Model) Elephants are reliable and steady (unless they’re in a Disney movie), just like the flat-rate revenue model example. This is a one-size fits all.   Pros:  Predictability: Fixed rates are great for steady revenue and financial forecasting.  Simplicity: Customers  find it easy to understand and budget for because there aren’t any nasty surprises.  Cons:  Lack of Flexibility: Like with clothes, one size never fits all. Some potential customers might bail when they see no flexibility.   Scaling Challenges: Scaling is hard because customers hit a ceiling in usage. This can limit revenue and growth.   The Dolphin (Tiered Pricing Model) Dolphins love to perform tricks for fishy treats. That’s like the Tiered revenue model example - it rewards customer commitment with more value.  Pros:  Flexible Options: Tiers meet a range of customer needs which boosts market reach.  Revenue Growth: The higher the commitment from customers, the more inbound revenue.  Cons:  Complexity: Tiers can confuse customers who avoid complexity, which risks decision paralysis.   Pricing Challenges: Only a good understanding of customer needs and value perception can create attractive pricing.     The Cheetah (Per User Pricing Model)  Ahhhh, the cheetah—fast, sleek, and focused (and we love its print). It’s like the Per User Pricing revenue model example, where companies are focused on charging based on the number of users in a group.    Pros:  Revenue Scalability: When customers grow, your revenue grows too.  Alignment with Value: Customers are willing to pay more as they get more value (more users) from your product.   Cons:  User Limitation: There’s a risk of customers limit the number of users to save money.   Pricing Disputes: Customers might leverage larger teams for discounts or go to a competitor with better pricing.   Survival Tactics  There’s a lot of pressure on choosing the right SaaS revenue model. After all, you want to thrive, not just survive!  Here are some crucial questions to help you choose the best revenue model:  Who is your target customer? Which would your customer personas be happiest about?  What is the value proposition of your product? What’s the draw- usage-based, feature-based, user-centric? Or is it an all-in-one solution?   How does your target customer prefer to pay? Do they want predictability and ease? Do they want premium features? Or maybe just flexibility?   How scalable is your product? Does your product scale with your customer’s usage?  Is your product complex? Does it have lots of features that can be packaged differently, like in tiers?  What do you want your market positioning to be? Do you want a huge base, like in freemium or tiered models? Or are you all about high-value customers, who are more attracted to flat-rate and per-user models?  What is the cost structure of your business? Is it a flat-rate, usage-based, or per-user?  What pricing models are your competitors using? What’s the competitive landscape? What are their customers saying?   What is your customer acquisition strategy? If you prefer viral marketing, freemium can work well. If you use traditional sales, flat-rate or tiered model will probably be a better fit.   Conclusion  And there you have it—a stroll through the zoo of SaaS revenue model examples.   Except for no screaming babies, smelly cages, or kids who want to stop in the gift shop in this zoo. Hooray!    The point is that you have a lot of choice. Your SaaS company is unique, and so is the revenue model that will work best.   Whichever animal you choose, remember to stay on your feet and agile. Circumstances change, products change, and so do goals for the future.   The revenue model that’s best now might have to change in a few years.   After all, in the SaaS Revenue Model Zoo, the fittest survivors are companies who not only stay true to who they are, but who adapt and innovate.   Here's to your survival, success, and lots of revenue coming in!  SaaS growth can generate between $5 million to $100 million in annual recurring revenue.  -Zippia Why not bring on automation that works no matter which model you chose? Learn how our end-to-end system not only streamlines pricing models, but identifies sales opportunities, breaks down silos, and maximizes customer value.

Ever walked alone through a creepy underground labyrinth while you were blindfolded?   If you’re trying to navigate analytics and financial forecasting without any clear data to power it, that’s essentially what you’re doing.   Maybe there’s a little less of a musty smell and fewer spiders dropping on you, but it’s still pretty close.   It’s no fun being in the dark if that’s not where you want to be. SaaS CFOs know this all too well. You might be drowning under tons of data, but it is often unclear, unreliable, siloed, or just plain wrong.   That means that it’s impossible for you to access the good analytics and forecasting needed for strategizing and good decision-making.   The problem of unclear data  In the SaaS landscape, data is the foundation for decision-making. Data analysis allows you as the CFO to spot opportunities, create strategies that will give you the edge over your competitors and future-proof your company.   But when your data is clouded, you can’t get the insights that you need to figure out where you are and where you should be going.   You’re in the labyrinth, too scared to feel what’s in front of you, because it’s going to be…gross.   Where does it come from?   Here are some of the main causes of unclear data. They’ll probably sound very familiar to you:   Manual revenue recognition: This is a recipe for disaster. Not only does it make your finance team want to run for the hills and join the circus, but it creates issues with the sales and ops teams, like invoicing, onboarding, and contract processing errors and delays. Then all the teams have unclear data which clouds your company’s overall financial picture.  Change-averse staff: We’re not pointing accusatory fingers here – we’re all human and resist change. It’s built into our nature. And teams that are resistant to newer, more cutting-edge ways of doing things can really throw a monkey wrench into your chances of success. Whether it’s fear of new tech or not understanding the benefits, teams can hold on to outdated, time-wasting processes and inaccurate data, even though it makes their lives harder.  Poor data quality: When your data is incorrect thanks to manual data entry, or it’s outdated, or you’re your reconciliation and verification processes are lacking you can get into real trouble. You know that without the clear data you need, you’re stabbing in the dark.   Economic instability: Data can get pretty murky when everything’s in flux all the time. Things like market conditions, customer churn rates, product offerings and packages change on a dime. This makes it hard for you to figure out any clear patterns and trends in the data.   No benchmark data: Most companies feel a little tetchy about their own data, so of course they aren’t going to make it public knowledge. That means you have very little comparable data to give you the context you need to assess where your company is in terms of your competitors. How will you know where you do better and where you could do better?   The ripple effect   Unclear data doesn't just make things murky. It has a real impact on your job. It triggers a domino effect of errors which means your forecasts can’t be accurate.   That means your analysis is built on shaky assumptions that can affect everything from budget allocation to investment to strategic planning.  It also robs you of your time because you and your teams are stuck constantly cleaning up the messes. No time for strategic decision-making. No time for high-value work. No time to strengthen the growth and adaptability of the entire company.  And at the end of the day, it’s your reputation on the line. You’re the one who has to walk into the boardroom with forecasts powered by murky data.  The bright light out of the labyrinth  You deserve to get out of the data maze with confidence. But what solves the problem of unclear data, so that you have good analysis and forecasts you can take to the bank?    In a word, automation.   With automation, you’ll no longer have to risk the errors and problems (and fines!) that come with manually entering data. Your team will no longer have to waste all those hours combing through datasets to find, fix, and reconcile mistakes.   Automaton does this work fast and accurately so you get the clear data needed for analytics and forecasts.  It also sorts out processes that fundamentally muddy up data, like recognize revenue so that you have a good idea of how your revenue streams perform.   Automation collects, sorts, and funnels data from different sources and teams to give you a comprehensive view of your company's financial health. You’ll be able to see all the stats you need, and you’ll know those numbers are right.   The data analysis tools don’t need any help from your teams- they sift through all the data and spot the trends and patterns that might have been missed otherwise. And this can be any patterns associated with your KPIs.   It then uses those trends and patterns to make solid, high-level predictions that you can base strategy decisions on. You can even create multiple future scenarios that you can tweak with differing factors. This helps you get ready for a variety of future possibilities.  And because it handles all the mundane, error-prone end-to-end process, you’re finally free to put your vision for the company into action.   Clear data, analysis, and forecasts are yours for the taking   We understand how frustrating it is to not have the tools you need to do your job.   You don’t deserve to have to work in the dark.   Automation helps you leverage clear data in a meaningful way that gives you the excellent (and reliable!) analysis you need for accurate forecasting and strategic decision-making.   Growth and profitability can be yours. You just have to grab the tool and come out of the dark.   86% of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after two bad customer experiences. - Emplifi Get the information you need when you need it. Say goodbye to errors and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings and maximizes long-term customer value.

We know when you think “Star Wars” the first thing that pops up in your mind is project management in subscription IT and Professional Services.   It’s exactly what George Lucas intended.   There’s a dark side of the force awakening. That dark side is overworked Project Managers, who never have the time to fulfil their true destiny.   That’s why we wrote this article – to help COOs navigate the overworked project manager asteroid field.   Don’t worry if you’re not a big Star Wars fan – we can’t all be perfect. There are loads of tips in here that will help you and your Project Managers.     The Empire has already struck back: What the IT and Professional Services landscape is like You’re up against a lot. Your competition is as vast as the universe and as varied as that weird bar in Mos Eisley where Han totally shot first.   Rapidly evolving technologies, innovative service models, and rising customer expectations make this industry hard. You’re expected to excel while grappling with these daily battles.   You’re facing more traps than Admiral Ackbar  As a COO, you're no stranger to stress. You constantly manage teams, put out fires, juggle responsibilities, strategize, and go back to stakeholders to explain what’s going on.   Any of these impacts sound familiar?  Personal: Stress and burnout crush health and well-being. Your work hours are so long you've forgotten what your family and friends look like. You long for fun and a full life as wistfully as stormtroopers long for a good aim.   Team: Stress impacts your team. When you’re pulling overtime to fix things, everyone else is too. Mistakes have to be corrected. Deadlines get tight. So does money. Can anyone stay happy or productive in those circumstances?    The Org: If Han and Chewie are injured and suffering, the Millennium Falcon isn’t gonna get fixed when it needs it, right? If you and your team can’t keep up, there’s no way you’ll be able to run the business in a profitable and future-facing way.   Right. So, you’re up against it the Empire. And maybe you’re losing. This is where we need to have a look at your right-hand fighters – your Project Managers.   Your Project Managers: Yodas, or Sand People? A good Project Manager working in optimal conditions is a little Yoda. In control. Calm. Intuitive.   They have the right mindset and excellent judgement.    But most IT Services Project Managers are in situations so dire that they're Sand People. They’re stressed and shouty. They’re impulsive and unreasonable.   How does this happen?   Unrealistic expectations – When dates or performance targets are unrealistic, you’re setting yourself and them up for failure from the beginning.   Huge amounts of admin – Chances are your PM is tied up by admin that should be done by an army of support workers. Scores of spreadsheets (ugh). Resource allocation. Progress reports and meetings. Continual time and material billing. It never ends.   Fixed Price Projects – There isn't a PM in the world who doesn't want to run for the hills when they hear the project is fixed price. It puts incredible stress on a PM to accurately estimate everything for the agreed budget. They must figure out how to meet the demands of underestimated work without additional budget. The PM absorbs the workload themselves to make budget. Fixed price projects also risk quality to deliver within the price. They also don't take into account unforseen circumstances that inevitably pop up.   Inadequate resources – The right tools are as rare as manners for Sand People. But how can they get anything done without modern, reliable tools to do it?   Poor communication and isolation – Silos in information lead to miscommunication and mistakes. An isolated Project Manager can't perform like someone plugged into the system.   Office politics and a lack of training – Toxic environments breed toxic employees. And Project Managers lack the training they need for a specific job, they have to wing it.   Squashed potential - They never get a chance to really show off their gifts and talents because they’re so busy putting out fires and struggling to keep up.   When they're unsupported in a really harsh landscape, this impacts you and your business. No doubt you’ve experienced these effects before:   Less efficiency: It’s impossible for an overworked person to perform at their best. They'll be slower and work longer hours, causing more mess. Who cleans it up? Who is ultimately responsible? You.   More mistakes: Fatigue and stress cause mistakes. Mistakes are expensive. Mistakes make stakeholders nervous at best or furious at worst.   No creativity: PMs need the time and headspace to look at things from a different point of view, research, experiment, and think outside the box. But without the time to do it, your company suffers because solutions will never be the extraordinary ones that set your company apart.   Unhappy clients: Churn is a killer. One big client lost can make it impossible to recover. You simply cannot afford to have clients who are let down over and over.   These aren't usually the PM’s fault. They’re only human and they usually lack the resources they need to be the little Yodas who keep your operations running smoothly.   So how can you streamline your Project Managers’ workloads and boost their efficiency?   Return of the Little Guy: steps to bring back the Yodas and use the Force You can turn things around and transform your Project Managers into the Yodas that bring balance back to your ops (and money back to your balance!)   Here are six actionable steps you can take to help them and yourself:  Automation: You wouldn’t hire a projectionist or translator when you’ve got R2D2 and C-3PO around. Let the "robots" do the grunt work. From reporting to task assignment and recurring services engagements, automation handles all the time and soul-sapping repetitive tasks. Errors are down, efficiency is way up.   Your PM won't have to worry about spreadsheets and time and material billing (no, really!). It will be automated for them in real time and this information will be fed to whichever internal and external teams need it.   That means your PM will be free to use their real talents for those strategic, value-adding activities that make the project undeniably brilliant.   Delegation: Yoda didn’t do everything alone- he knew how to delegate. Your PM needs enough support to do the tasks that are handed to them. When a Project Manager can delegate wisely, the workload is balanced. Trust is built. The team is empowered.  Prioritizing: When you help your Project Managers prioritize tasks based on urgency, you won't have to worry about crucial tasks getting neglected. Everyone involved makes smarter decisions because they aren't overwhelmed. They're focusing energy where it's needed most. Open Communication – Those silos can be knocked down for you. Information that is freely shared, combined with regular check-ins (with both your team and your customers) help spot issues before they snowball. And – bonus - members feel heard and valued.  Breaks: Project Managers should take regular breaks to recharge and refresh, especially on their days off. If you can’t give them true days off, you haven’t hired enough people for the job.  You might balk at that, but overworking employees always comes back to bite you. When Project Managers feel you value them and their well-being, they're less likely to burnout. They'll be more productive.   And while we’re on the subject, the same goes for you. We get it- as a COO, it’s hard to switch off. You’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders. But you can’t deliver if you’re battered and bruised. Like any starship in the fleet, you need maintenance, too.   Training: Give your Project Managers the skills they need to manage their workloads and even- dare we say it – excel. This includes time management, people management, stress management, and technical skills. They'll be more efficient and confident. Strong project governance: This provides your PM with a structured environment where they know exactly where to turn to for approval and help with issues when needed. The clarity will cut down on miscommunication and speed-up decision making. And the regularly timed monitoring and reporting helps your Project Manager stay on top of project progress and note if something is off-track. Alternatives to fixed-price project contracts: You have choices including agile contracts (that naturally allow for adjustment to the budget along the way), cost-plus contracts (which put an additional fee on top that can cover unexpected costs), and time and materials/resources contracts (which base the budget on how much time and how many resources are devoted to the project). These alternatives will make life a lot easier for your PM and you.  Conclusion Remember, a Jedi Knight even as elderly and cute eared as Yoda is only as good as the Force within them.   As a COO, the power to shape them is in your hands.   When you take steps to make sure your Project Managers aren't just surviving, but thriving, you’ll be amazed at what they can accomplish.   Let them be the Yodas that they’re meant to be, and you’ll win not just the battle, but the war.   SaaS discounting lowers customer LTV by 30%. -Paddle Geive your teams the best tools and get the best results. Boost growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge sales automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines pricing models, identifies sales opportunities, breaks down silos, and maximizes customer value.

You’re a CRO. So of course, when you think about data entry, you think about The Golden Gate Bridge.   Doesn’t everyone?   The majestic Golden Gate Bridge, brave and tall with its international Orange color, is an iconic landmark, famous across the world.   It’s also a tremendous pain in the backside.   The Bridge needs to be protected against the rust that comes from salty air, fog, and rain. That means that every square inch of its 1.7-mile long span must be painted. It’s a job that can’t be neglected.    It’s a Sisyphean feat. A team of painters paints day in and day out.   Paint.   Dry and start again.   Paint.  Dry and start again.  Day in and day out.   Over and over.   Relentless.   With nothing to show for it.    It sounds exactly like manual data entry, right?   If you're a Chief Revenue Officer in the IT Services sector, you’ll know how familiar this story is. You and your team live it.   Just like the bridge painters, your team spends countless hours inputting data, checking it, verifying it, and passing it on. And then you start over again. Every day.   The Impact   The process saps every single person of their time, resources, and a little bit of their soul. And it stops them from doing anything else.   But that’s not all - manual data entry has a ripple effect on your entire department making your life a lot harder:   Mistakes with invoices: Humans are gonna human. We make mistakes no matter how careful we are. Manual data entry will have errors, which can demand credits and refunds to rectify with customers. Financial discrepancies disrupt operations and can hurt your bottom line.  Unhappy clients: Is any customer happy with mistakes? Of course not. In fact, they make your life difficult and will spread the word. This can damage your company's reputation, and that’s the last thing you need in a highly competitive industry where churn and attracting new customers is a problem.   Delays in reports and closing: People can only type so fast – and when the data entry piles up, delays start. And delays mean you can’t produce reports. Speedy closing cycles become a fairy tale no one believes in. Financial planning and decision-making become fairly impossible.   Revenue all over the place: CROs dream of stable revenue. But errors in data entry can create a kind of revenue limbo. You never know whether your numbers are right. It can impact your cash flow. Financial stability is a lot harder to maintain because forecasting is unreliable. How can you do your job of planning for future growth?  No revenue recognition: We all know what a pain revenue recognition can be. It’s hard to keep track of payments across months, especially when these can change at any given moment due to upselling, cross-selling, and scaling down. When revenue recognition is incomplete, you can’t assess your company's financial health with the accuracy you need. Customer onboarding pushed back: Customers (especially the new ones!) want to start using your products and services as soon as possible. But if your team has stacks of numbers and contracts they have to get through, your customers will have to wait to be onboarded. That means lost business opportunities and higher churn.  Where’s the dough? Too much data entry means delayed payments. Your cash flow is disrupted, and your relationships with suppliers and partners can be at risk.  Your team is constantly annoyed: Considering you and your team are chained to desks manually entering all data, and suffering all these consequences, how can you all feel anything except chronic annoyance?   You’re all painting that Bridge. Day in, day out.   The thing is, no one should need to start their work with burning frustration tears or a deep, soul-searching if-I-can-just-get-through-today sigh.   Everyone in your team (and you!) deserve work that is exciting.   Work that puts your company on good footing. Work that uses your talents and vision.   Steps to stop the manual data tears  So how can the manual data entry woes be tackled?   There are actionable steps you can take to make life easier for you and your team:  Adopt guidelines everyone understands: When the processes and rules are clear, people know what they’re doing. What types of operating procedures do you want? What expectations are important to you? Does everyone have detailed instructions? The clearer everything is, the smaller the risk of costly mistakes.   Train everyone involved: A well-trained team will have the necessary skills and knowledge to input data as fast as possible. They’ll better learn to double-check for accuracy, learn shortcuts and hacks, best practices for data entry, and become aware of the most common errors. The more competent your team, the fewer mistakes.  Invest in software: There are many software solutions available today that can automate data entry tasks. These tools use technologies like optical character recognition (OCR) and machine learning to capture, interpret, and input data. It cuts down the risk of human error, but it also speeds up the data entry process. Furthermore, these tools can integrate with other systems, ensuring that data is consistently accurate across your entire organization.  Updates: Nothing in IT Services stays still for long. Tech changes. If your team keeps up-to-date with the best strategies and system upgrades, they’ll have a useful advantage that makes them more efficient.  Audits at regular intervals: Audits give a good idea of how accurate your data is. Routinely check and verify your data to find and rectify mistakes. And importantly, audits will help you catch if there are patterns or common denominators in mistakes that you can solve. This knocks down the disruption.   The Painter   We get that the list is a lot of work- even more time and resources. You might even feel more overwhelmed than before.   But we’ve got good news. First, a question.   Imagine you’re the head of the Golden Gate Bridge painting team. Someone comes to you with a machine – a self-painter - that would take care of all the soul-sapping, costly and boring painting for you forever.   The machine’s proven to work. It runs itself. And it would let you do the things you want to do – making sure the finances are alright, maybe working with marketing and sales to publicize, strategize new revenue streams, and generally keep the stakeholders happy.   You’d take it, right?  That’s what automation can do for your exhausting data entry woes.   Automation gets rid of the tedium of all those repetitive tasks. The potential for mistakes plummets. Time is freed up. No more damage control.   Automation doesn’t just make your operations more efficient. It changes things for you and your team.   It’s empowering, boosting morale and productivity   It enhances customer satisfaction, which brings in both short-term and long-term revenue   It strengthens financial standing with revenue recognition and timely reports   It can all be yours   Yes, manual data entry can be as discouraging as painting the Golden Gate Bridge.   But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it can be for the most part eliminated.   Why not give you and your team the gift of profitability and excitement about your job? Why not allow you and your team to realize your own potential and the potential of your company?  The painter’s waiting.     The average cost of manually processing one invoice is $15.  -Levvel Research Curious to see how your and your team’s morale could improve by 2,945,922,418% (accurate scientific figure)? Schedule a Free Discovery Call today. Step out of the black hole and into clarity.

Knowing what you’ve got, what you’ve had, and what you’ll need has always been important.  Genghis Khan knew this. His empire expanded specifically because he knew about consumption and usage.   And this is something that COOs in IT Services can take some inspiration from. Of course, it might not seem like these two scenarios are remotely from the same planet, let alone similar principles.   But they have striking similarities, so we’ve written this article to give you a little relief and let you know you aren’t alone. Usage and consumption is probably one of your biggest challenges- fortunately it can be overcome.   Ready to find out how?   Genghis Khan: More of a Boss than Springsteen  Genghis had an innate understanding that an army could only be strong if he knew what it needed. Specifically, what was consumed and what would need to be consumed to sustain his conquests.  In the 13th century, information wasn’t exactly in real time. So he needed the next best thing – information on logistics and how much the army would need to consume flowing back as fast and accurately as possible.   By knowing his army’s consumption rates, he could accurately forecast what he would need.   For example, what helped him destroy the Khwarazmian Empire was knowing the usage. Going from what his soldiers used in the past, combined with the challenging terrain they were facing, Khan anticipated they would need additional horses. So he made sure they all had the fresh horses they needed when they needed them.   Your information challenges as an IT Services COO  The grand irony is that 700 years later, you probably haven’t been given the tools you need to know your customers’ consumption rates and how much they might need going forward.   Everything changes so fast in the IT industry (that’s something you have over Genghis!) but information still reigns supreme. Customers have complex needs and demands, which makes it hard if not impossible for you to have any accurate idea of how much they’re consuming at any given time.  Where does this lack of knowledge come from? Here are some of the main causes:  Changing project requirements: The scope of IT projects changes all the time, which means that it’s hard to track resource consumption. As project requirements evolve, you can struggle to best predict and allocate your resources.   Unclear billing guidelines: When there’s no clarity, there’s inconsistency and vagueness. No one knows for sure what can be billed and what can’t, so you’re left unsure how to bill customers with accuracy.   Inadequate time tracking: Traditional time tracking systems can’t generally capture all the billable activities and the correct number of hours allocated and used. That means gaps and mistakes in total hourly consumption data.   Distributed workforce: Teams can be spread across regions, countries, and even time zones. Things get outsourced. The more loose ends there are in the recording and billing process, the more likely things will be missed and mistakes will be made.   No matter what causes you’re faced with, it still leads to the same thing. A nightmare. But if we’re talking specifics, do any of these repercussions for you and your company sound familiar:   Chaotic resource allocation: Resources start to be allocated inefficiently which means delays, cost overruns, underutilization or overutilization of the resources you have left. Project timelines can be pushed back, and profitability pulled down.  Inadequate project strategy and planning: When you don’t have the data, you can’t estimate your project timelines, the resources you need, and any bottlenecks that might come up. Bad planning makes it impossible for you to meet deadlines and deliver projects on time.   Unhappy customers who leave: Both inaccurate bills and delayed service delivery makes customers run for the hills. Why wouldn’t they – your competition offers a much more pleasant experience. They need things brought in fast and on budget and when you don’t deliver, they hurt your reputation too.   Less revenue: The underbilling from inaccurate estimates and errors in consumption recording means you could be haemorrhaging money.    Overworked staff: Teams trying to keep up using legacy systems get exhausted. They make mistakes. They want to leave themselves. None of these outcomes are good.   You crumble: You might be the strongest, toughest person in your organization. But you’re still human, and when you’re forced to act in impossible, unsupported circumstances, it’s going to take a toll whether it’s serious stress, sleepless nights, worry, ulcers, or something else.   Long story short, you shouldn’t have to deal with this problem. Genghis Khan didn’t worry about going to his C-Suite and board having to explain why the army’s lack of that really tasty Mongolian bbq or heavy-duty multi-use weapons cost him a battle. But you do. You have to walk into the boardroom and catch the heat.   Fortunately, there’s a simple solution to it all that clears away both the causes and impacts of not knowing the consumption and billable hours of your customers.   It’s not hiring Genghis Khan, btw. But it does have to do with copying what he did.   The Solution: Automation to the Rescue  When you have a powerful problem, you need a powerful solution.   So why not pull a Genghis and take advantage of the most cutting-edge accurate information systems that are available?   Bringing in an end-to-end solution that handles consumption and billing will make your life so much easier.   Real-time tracking: Hours are captured and recorded, which will automatically log hours and give up up-to-date information on where to put the resources. It cuts down on errors and creates accurate billing.  Task and project monitoring: Individual tasks and projects are tracked, which assigns time entries to deliverables. This means a better breakdown of actual consumed hours.  Working hand-in-hand with CRM: Because automation pulls time tracking and CRM, that means a seamless customer interactions, service requests, etc. You can link customer-specific activities to their consumption hours.  Automated invoicing: This is one of the most popular advantages! Invoices are automatically created applying the right rates. Then they are collected and reconciled without any further action from the revenue team.   Data analytics and reporting: Automation brings the tools that crunch the data and give comprehensive analytics and reporting. The result? Insights into resource utilization trends, specifics about your company and customer reach, and inefficiencies. It also gives you planning and forecasts. This means you can make the best decisions on your pricing and resource allocation so operations are optimized and profits improved.   Real-Time data capture: There’s no point in having data if you can’t access it when you need it. With automation, your systems capture and track resource consumption in real-time and without manual entry errors. You’ll know where you are at any given time.   Resource optimization: Automation keeps track of your resource utilization so you can minimize waste, get excellent visibility into you resource availability and requirements.  Enhanced team efficiency: Automation helps your teams by streamlining workflows, eliminating most of the day-to-day repetitive tasks, cuts administrative burdens, tears down silos between teams, and saves hundreds to thousands of hours a year. They have the time to work on value-adding activities.   Happy customers: Customers won’t have to deal with delays in service thanks to inefficient resource allocation. And they definitely won’t have mistake-ridden invoices. This means they’re far more likely to be happy and stick with your company!   Imagine your operations practically running themselves. Imagine knowing your operations are firing on all cylinders with no additional effort, no sleepless nights, and no endless stress.   Genghis’ Consumption Data Can Be Yours   Genghis Khan's amazing success directly relied on how much he knew about consumed resources, past, present and future.   The grand irony is that hundreds of years later, you as a COO face complexities in legacy systems that make it hard to get the same level of accuracy.  Fortunately automation can change everything for you with the proverbial flick of a switch.   Though you won’t get info on how many horses are needed for battle, you will get all the real-time information that you need for your operations.   By leveraging automation technology at your fingertips, you can bridge the gap between historical excellence and the modern IT demands of the digital age, delivering operational excellence and driving success for you and your company.  86% of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after two bad customer experiences. - Emplifi Bluefort's end-to-end subscription platform simplifies challenges like tracking consumption, ensuring COOs like you can lead with confidence. Ready to transform your business? Schedule a Free Discovery Call today. Step out of the black hole and into clarity.

Alexander the Great wasn’t one of the world’s most successful conquerors by chance.   It wasn’t just luck or audacity either. It was all down to numbers. Numbers that fuelled brilliant strategies.   Alexander relied on the accurate reports of excellent local scouts to consolidate information to outmanoeuvre opponents and power some of the best decisions made in history.   In other words, good data means good decisions.   Even though it’s a new age and arena, it’s the same story for you as a SaaS subscription CFO. You need the right data and accurate reports to make the decisions needed to drive the company forward.   But what happens when the numbers aren’t exactly reliable?  When you’re dealing with bad numbers and unreliable reports, it’s not just a minor inconvenience. It’s something that can have a catastrophic effect on your and your company.   Do any of these problems sound familiar to you?    Lost money: When financial statements and reports are inaccurate, this can lead to regulatory fines. Your investors and customers can run screaming for the hills. And your company might be devalued.   Wasted time: It takes a long time to find the problems, correct them, and reconcile them. Poor quality data can cost an average of $9.7 million a year.   Trust is gone: Once trust is gone, it’s really hard to get it back, especially where money is involved. Inaccurate reports can crush trust with stakeholders like investors, other C-Suite members, and your teams. And morale can plummet as much as revenue.   Resource waste and misallocation: Putting out fires takes up a lot of resources, and there are only so many resources to go around. Making resource decisions while you’re panicked isn’t going to be good for anyone because you’re unable to put enough in areas that drive growth.  Damaged customer relations: Bad numbers can have a knock-on effect of inaccurate billing or reporting that not only causes unreliable reports, but also pushes customers away to a company that will get things right the first time.   Errors in strategy: It’s nearly impossible to form good financial strategy when you’re looking at bad numbers and reports. How would you know what is best to invest in? Or which problems need to be fixed first?   Stress: Losing sleep and dreading going into the boardroom meeting is no way to live. Your role is stressful enough because your decisions are important to the health and future of the company. Things only get worse with incorrect data and reports.   Where do bad numbers and unreliable reports come from?   Inaccurate numbers and unreliable reports don’t just create themselves. They come from these culprits:  Manual processes: It’s no surprise that the more manual data entry that overworked employees have to do, the more chance for errors. Their days are packed with complex calculations, huge volumes of information, and tight deadlines. Without help, it’s a recipe for disaster.   Outdated legacy systems: Though SaaS companies strive for cutting-edge solutions for their customers, they tend to leave themselves behind in the past. The problem is that legacy systems don’t integrate with modern tools. They’re slow and inefficient.   No real-time data: Agility is key in the SaaS landscape. So is compliance. You need to know where your numbers are not only so you can grab opportunities and adjust problems fast, but because audits need to be dealt with asap.   Silos: Silo is the worst 4-letter-word in the business. When information doesn’t flow freely between teams, there’s no way those numbers are going to be accurate.   No matter what the cause of bad numbers and reports, you as the CFO has to walk into that boardroom and hope beyond hope that this time around the report’s right or that you’ll hopefully not get caught before your team can correct the numbers.   That doesn’t sound like a way to live or succeed. You need and deserve the tools that will give you reliable numbers and reports so that you and your teams can keep up with everything and make the decisions that will drive the company to more success.   What’s the solution?   Automation changes everything.   It brings in a level of efficiency and accuracy that you can’t even imagine so that you always have access to the data you need.   Automation makes forecasting and scenario planning possible by using the data you already have to project your needs in light of present and future trends. This means proactive decisions based on predictive insights, rather than simply relying on past performance.   Automation brings you these specific benefits:   Fewer errors: Automated data entry and calculations, means a huge reduction mistakes. Your reports and forecasts are more accurate, which allows you to make confident decisions.  More efficiency: Automation handles the boring repetitive tasks like data entry and reconciliation. According to Accenture, these tasks currently cost your finance team 60-75% of their time!  Real-time data: Automation brings real-time financial data and insights. This enables you as the CFO to make the best decisions where and when they are needed. In the rapidly-changing SaaS market, this is a huge advantage.   No more silos: With automation, information and data flows freely between teams. This means consistency and accuracy. AND, it delivers comprehensive reports so that you always have a complete picture of the company's financial health.  It’s all yours if you want it   Accurate numbers, reports, and forecasts are a must.   Just like accurate data made it possible for Alexander the Great to conquer vast territories in ancient times, you need the best data to guide your company to success.   When you say yes to automation, you cut down on the risks and penalties that outdated manual processes bring. You cut down on mistakes. You cut down on wasted time. And silos and miscommunication. You can finally stop putting out all those fires.   Why not give you and your company the same chance for success that you give your customers?  SaaS discounting lowers customer LTV by 30%. -Paddle Say goodbye to inaccurate forecasts and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge revenue automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the revenue process.