Finally, a platform purpose-built for the professional services industry
This article was written by Jose Lazares, vice president, product strategy and management at Intapp
I’m excited to announce the Intapp Professional Services Platform. This AI-powered, intelligent platform enables firms to deliver a unified client experience across the engagement lifecycle – from developing business to onboarding engagements to servicing clients – all while managing risk and ensuring compliance. We built it to address the specific business needs, workflows and idiosyncrasies of client-centric, partner-led professional services verticals such as legal, consulting, accounting and financial services.
The timing of this announcement comes as professional services firms find themselves squarely in the client-empowered era. It’s a new world for this industry, and the rules of the game have changed. Clients are now setting the agenda and demanding more from their service providers. They want alternative fee arrangements, a modern digital experience, access to engagement metrics, more efficient service delivery and a superior user experience.
And, just to make things even more challenging, there are also non-traditional competitors to contend with, along with increased regulation and compliance requirements and increased demands for transparency and collaboration.
The stark reality for many firms today is that clients leave when they don’t get what they want; a recent survey showed that 60% of clients did just that in the past year alone.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Intapp Professional Services Platform helps firms succeed in this new and more challenging era. And by “succeed” I mean the platform helps drive growth, increase profitability and manage risk and compliance.
Even better news is our recent acquisition of DealCloud, which specializes in CRM and deal management for investment banking and private equity firms. Bringing DealCloud’s business development and CRM capabilities under the Intapp umbrella enhances our ability to meet the specific needs of professionals in this unique ecosystem.
It’s extremely difficult for technology to help most firms succeed, given their existing architecture. The majority of them operate with a disconnected set of siloed applications and manual, ad hoc processes that make it challenging for firm leaders to easily understand the state, cost and status of client engagements. This, in turn, makes it harder to adjust and adapt to changing circumstances. The results are cost overruns, write-downs and lowered client satisfaction and, ultimately, profit margins – if there are any – that are far from maximized.
In this client-empowered era we’re all part of, firms need to leverage modern technology to differentiate themselves and win more business than their competitors. The Intapp Professional Services Platform does just that, which is why more than 1,000 customers – including 96 of the Global 100 law firms, five of the top eight global accounting firms, and five of the top 10 global economic consulting firms – use it every day.
If your firm is facing the challenges I described above, I encourage you to learn more about the Intapp Professional Services Platform or contact us to discuss your specific challenges. It could be time for your firm to upgrade to the “modern front office” that professional services firms have been lacking for so long.
