FinancialForce.com Announces Complete Services Resource Planning Solution

FinancialForce.com, the cloud applications company, introduced FinancialForce SRP, the first complete Services Resource Planning solution.

Built entirely on Force.com, the solution combines Salesforce CRM, professional services automation and accounting to help services companies sell, deliver and bill projects collaboratively.

"We have already seen tremendous value from linking our CRM and PSA applications in Salesforce," said Tom Link, CTO, Universal Mind, in a statement. "It provides the entire company with better insight into our customers and the services we are providing to them, rather than the fragmented view of customers, projects and resources many services organizations struggle with today. The addition of a cloud accounting application that also 'speaks Salesforce,' will deliver further visibility and efficiency benefits. These business activities are dependent on one another and cannot truly be synergistic and collaborative without connected systems that mirror the way we work."

It is a known fact that professional services firms have not been fully served by the various point solutions available on the market. The service organizations, lacking effective end-to-end solutions, are left to address different parts of the project lifecycle through separate, siloed applications: CRM to manage sales, PSA to manage people and project portfolios, and accounting products for billing, accounts receivable and project accounting.

A recent study by Services Performance Research titled: The 2011 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark has exposed the impact of a siloed approach on utilization and profitability. Around 214 professional services organizations were surveyed by the authors. Also, they analyzed firms against a maturity model which included metrics to measure the value of systems integration and real-time visibility. Companies with integrated CRM and PSA systems, according to the study reported higher bid/win ratios, higher project margins, higher utilization and higher revenue per billable consultant.

"There's a real need in the market for a complete SRP solution," said Scott Guinn, Research Director, Enterprise Applications at IDC, in a press release. "An end-to-end solution on the Force.com cloud platform can deliver compelling benefits to services companies, particularly those who don't have their Salesforce CRM system well integrated to PSA."

The company said that FinancialForce SRP, working as the only end-to-end solution for services companies on the Force.com cloud platform, closes the loop between sales, project delivery and accounting.

The same secure, scalable Force.com platform as Salesforce CRM is shared by FinancialForce.com applications. The platform enables services companies to run all of their core systems on a single solution with common customer account records, user interface, login, workflow engine and reporting tools.

"Professional services organizations need to focus their attention and resources on selling and delivering services, not wrestling with technical integration or administrative burdens," said Todd Bursey, general manager, PSA at FinancialForce.com, in a press release. "With our SRP solution, FinancialForce.com is making it possible for the first time for these companies to leverage the full power of the Force.com platform to optimize their businesses."

In related news, Linvio's PaymentConnect has been integrated with FinancialForce Accounting for improved customer service software.