Insights Session - Moving Toward the Firm of the Future
At Sage’s partner conference, Insights, I will be presenting a session entitled Moving Toward the Firm of the Future (GEN34) on Thursday at 1:30pm.
In order to begin the conversation even before the conference begins, I am posting the abstract and inviting all possible participants to share their ideas and questions.
Peter Drucker coined the term knowledge worker in the 1950s, but we are only beginning to understand the impact of the transformation on business and society as a whole. This session, delivered by Ed Kless, will walk you through the transformation that you company needs to make from being a professional service firm to becoming a professional knowledge firm. If you are not interested in completely changing the way you look at your business, please do not attend.
Most professional service firms today operate using a variation on the following theoretical equation: Revenue = Capacity X Efficiency X Hourly Billing. This equation is hopelessly flawed in that it confuses causes and effects.
In this session we will create a dialogue around moving to the firm of the future or what I like to call a professional knowledge firm. The theoretical equation for this firm looks like this: Profitability = Intellectual Capital X Effectiveness X Pricing with Purpose.
Specifically, we will have conversations about making the following transitions:
- From focusing on revenue to focusing on profitability
- From focusing on capacity to focusing on intellectual capital
- From focusing on efficiency to focusing on effectiveness
- From focusing on hourly billing to pricing with purpose
While there are no quick fix answers to any of these transitions, we can begin to lay the foundation for change within our organizations. In order to prepare for our dialogue, please spend some time reading at the VeraSage Institute.
Also, please post thoughts, questions, comments below.