Autotask Group
96 Thompson Hill Road
Rensselaer, NY 12144
(518) 720-3500
www.autotask.com

Autotask Delivers Comprehensive Professional Services Automation Solutions to Emerging Services-Based Organizations

Preface

The market for Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions in emerging services-based organizations (SBOs) remains vastly underserved. Organizations with fewer than 150 employees have been difficult for most PSA vendors to find and reach. Ironically, these organizations may also be in the greatest need of an integrated enterprise solution that increases corporate productivity, management visibility, organizational knowledge, and profitability. Emerging SBOs have particular issues that their larger competitors inherently do not share, which include the following:

• Lack of critical mass to quickly assemble and manage large teams to address critical and timely issues facing clients;
• Diminished clarity regarding competitive services pricing given the relatively limited number of projects completed;
• A constrained knowledge base from which to build on; and
• A limited number of support personnel to manage the IT (Information Technology) infrastructure.

Limitations aside, SBOs have to address these issues in order to gain competitive advantage. Autotask Group, a PSA solutions supplier, adopts a managed service provider (MSP) model for delivering PSA to small and midsize organizations. The solution, also named Autotask, is the only solution Aberdeen tracks that is designed specifically for the needs of organizations with fewer than 150 users. Moving beyond the traditional PSA requirements of IT-related SBOs, Autotask includes functionality such as Service Desk for organizations that offer products and equipment as part of their service delivery.

In this Profile, Aberdeen analyzes Autotask Group and its PSA solution for the emerging SBO market. Aberdeen also explains why Autotask is currently well positioned to succeed in the emerging SBO market, as well as why Autotask will be successful in the future in markets serving larger organizations. Moreover, Aberdeen recommends Autotask for consideration by any emerging services-based organization requiring a management solution to operate more efficiently.

Market Positioning

Autotask began its venture into the rapidly growing PSA market with a vision to support smaller organizations that:

• Are underserved from a PSA perspective;
• Require an integrated solution to manage not only the services provided but also any associated materials and equipment; and
• Require ongoing service and support after their work was completed.

Autotask targets organizations with 20 to 250 users. The vendor's typical client is one that delivers products (such as computer hardware) as part of its service and has approximately 100 billable or chargeable resources.

Autotask uses the MSP model to deliver its solution. This delivery model has become the de facto standard for emerging SBOs in many enterprise application areas. The MSP model requires very little up-front cost to implement the solution, as customers do not have to purchase software licenses or additional hardware. The main costs are the professional services required to implement the solution and train the users, followed by a monthly fee based on the user count.

Integration with existing enterprise applications can present an additional cost. However, in many emerging organizations, these requirements are not significant and, in most cases, not immediately necessary. Autotask has been successful in delivering solutions via the MSP approach by maintaining a strict deployment methodology and by using its own solution to efficiently deploy Autotask for customers. Also noteworthy is that the Autotask product can be installed in three weeks or less.

Autotask's most obvious differentiator is its focus on the emerging SBO market. Another major differentiator - and perhaps its most notable - is that Autotask delivers integrated Service Desk capabilities with its solution. This capability makes it a strong contender for those SBOs that must provide ongoing client support. The vendor also has a number of other competitive differentiators, some of which include the following:

• A Web-native design that looks and feels like Microsoft Outlook and other Windows solutions and requires minimal training;
• The solution's ability to rapidly adapt and configure to core business processes; and
• An open system with robust application programming interfaces (APIs) and plug-ins that allows for ease of integration with third-party applications.

Autotask has also moved its solution to meet the needs of SBOs in markets not traditionally targeted by other PSA vendors; some of these include organizations in the manufacturing, construction management, and telecom industries. However, Autotask has other customers in the technology-related, creative services - (i.e., public relations/advertising/communications) and management consulting markets as well.

Serving the Emerging SBO Market Brings out Unique Competitors

The emerging services market sector is one that has been underserved by virtually every PSA vendor. As such, Autotask has been the target of very little competition. In few instances the vendor's competition has come from PSA vendors OpenAir, QuickArrow, and Portera - three software vendors that began by selling into the emerging market sector but now target larger organizations.

In reality, Autotask's main competition comes in the form of "home-grown" manual and nonintegrated point solutions. These applications have a minimal capacity to support a growing business, let alone provide integrated information to enhance decision-making. As a result, the most significant problem that Autotask faces is convincing small organizations that an integrated solution is both necessary for increased efficiency and profitability, as well as cost effective to deploy and manage. More importantly, Autotask can serve as the foundation for achieving long-term growth objectives. In the short term, Autotask must build name recognition and provide client success stories to establish it in the emerging services market sector.

Autotask 2.0: PSA for Emerging Services-Based Organizations

Autotask 2.0 addresses a growing need of smaller organizations seeking to boost productivity and visibility into operations. The solution also offers the ease-of-use and affordability demanded by emerging SBOs. And, even though Autotask is marketed to smaller organizations, it has the functionality and scalability to handle much larger concerns.

In order to deliver the functionality to enable SBOs to better manage operations and receive greater visibility into the organization, Autotask provides integrated functionality to support the different requirements of services execution that currently include the following:

• Executive Dashboard - provides executives and upper-level managers with a one-page snapshot of the critical key performance indicators (KPIs) for professional services and project measurements in their companies (Figure 1).
• Planning Proposals and Resources - enables project managers to plan projects from the proposal stage through resource allocation to billable job. Users enter contract terms and billing rates and use wizards and templates to set up project phases, tasks, milestones, and estimates.
• Project Automation Workspace - streamlines the management of a project portfolio. Project managers can visualize, track, and update project plans and manage tasks and resources. Gantt charts can be used to understand critical paths and dependencies; receive automatic notification of changes; keep notes in a project journal; track critical delivery dates on the project calendar; log issues; track project costs; and share or discuss documents, drawings, or photos as part of the project.
• Client Access and Project Extranet - enables client involvement in the service delivery process. Using a standard Web browser, users can log in to a secure, view-only Web site. Clients have real-time visibility to see work-in-progress, status reports, work detail, and project journals. They can also place change orders, service orders, and project requests online. An optional project extranet extends interactive project participation to clients, consultants, or designers.

Figure 1: Autotask Executive Dashboard

Source: Autotask Group, April 2002

• Time Attendance and Expenses - eliminates manual time and attendance methods and automates expense reports. Executives can track billable and non-billable time, send automatic reminders when timesheets are due, and automatically roll up billable project time and expense reports in project reports. It manages employee time off and includes workflow for routing and approval and comprehensive reporting for Human Resources and Payroll (Figure 2).
• Project Billing and Reconciliation - automatically gathers billing information from contracts, project and service time, and expense reports. Items can be selected, edited, or modified to prepare billing detail reports or departmental charge-back information for accounting. This module features multiple billing rates per person across multiple projects and automatic notification for retainers and billing.
• Enterprise Service Desk - handles all internal and external customer service requests, internal IT issues, and service desk trouble tickets from entry and routing through resolution. Customer service representatives can manage requests in multiple queues by priority, problem type, or length of time in the queue. An optional service level agreement (SLA) automatically monitors, tracks, and sends alerts when issues are not handled according to contract terms.
• Reporting & Performance Analysis - more than 100 real-time reports and graphs provide insight to more effectively manage and monitor resources, projects, performance, and costs. It enables export to Microsoft Excel for additional analysis.

The type of integrated functionality provided by Autotask is new to many emerging SBOs. Aberdeen notes that, even though Autotask's service desk capabilities are unique among competitors in the SBO market, Autotask has found that more than 80% of its customers identified the need for Service Desk automation as a primary pain-point.

Autotask offers a role-based pricing model with a monthly subscription fee for professional users. Nonprofessional staff can enter time and expense information on the projects to which they are assigned. Autotask also offers Client Access, which enables clients to have real-time information about the cost and status of their projects - a selling point that Aberdeen deems mandatory for PSA solutions in the future.

Figure 2: Autotask Expense Entry

Source: Autotask Group, April 2002

Core Autotask Architecture

Autotask only requires organizations to have Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser and access to the Internet. Because the solution is hosted, there is no additional hardware or software required for implementation. Autotask also has the following attributes that make it desirable for organizations that look to customize and build functionality on the solution:

• A browser programmed "on-the-fly" with Javascript and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language);
• A core solution that uses SQL (Structured Query Language), Active Server Pages, COM objects, VML, XML (eXtensible Markup Language); and
• An offline module that runs as a Windows application for users not connected to the Internet. Once back online, the remote user automatically synchronizes with Autotask.

Autotask has developed an XML API that can be used to automatically import data from systems like Microsoft Project, eliminating the need for double entry. That is a desirable feature - one that many PSA solutions currently do not offer. The vendor is also using XML to integrate the solution with other enterprise applications as well. And, Autotask takes advantage of its partnership with Time Warner Telecom to provide a scalable and secure host to the solution. Moreover, the vendor has a partnership with Paychex, a leading supplier of payroll processing services.

Over the next six months, Autotask plans to enhance its core solution - adding to its depth and breadth. These development efforts will focus on the following:

• Adding resources for forecasting, skills, and proposal planning, as well as integration with third-party applications;
• Offering developer APIs and plug-ins;
• Translation and localization for non-English-speaking users; and
• Addition of a robust Opportunity Management functionality for enhanced forecasting.

Autotask is also developing the capability to use "wizards" to prebuild both proposals and work-order-based services, as well as SLAs. For the automation of proposal preparation, the solution will allow project managers to drag-and-drop core proposal sections into a document. Along with inputting project delivery parameters - time, people, material, etc. - the solution will calculate the cost to deliver the service and create metrics on which to measure success.

For services that are oriented toward work-order processing, Autotask will enable users to "pick-and-click" various types of services and associated materials and equipment, thereby pre-estimating service time and cost. The net effect will give organizations better time and cost estimates for future services delivery.

Customer Observations

Aberdeen conducted interviews with several Autotask customers. Those who spoke with Aberdeen gave the solution very positive reviews. Most interviewees had never seen or heard of a solution that could support their business process requirements. The key attributes that users noted of most value include the following:

• The ability to manage their core people, processes, and costs, enabling standardization of processes;
• The solution's rapid deployment, ease-of-use, and minimal requirement for training - even for individuals with minimal computer skills;
• Autotask's central repository, which offers a single database for accessing corporate information and integration with other enterprise solutions; and
• The reporting capabilities that help users better understand and analyze their business.

Areas in which customers felt Autotask needed more functionality were in the planning and forecasting of opportunities. The vendor has stated that these needs are part of its Opportunity Management development efforts.

Aberdeen Conclusions

Autotask takes an innovative approach to the PSA market, one that allows its customers to better manage people, projects, time, and costs. The vendor provides advances in areas where most PSA solutions have yet to venture - including the delivery of services and products, as well as success in new vertical markets. Autotask has developed its solution to meet the needs not only of the "typical" SBO, but also of those individuals who provide out-of-the-mainstream services.

As the market for PSA solutions increases, it has become increasingly important that vendors demonstrate the ability to rapidly move toward profitability rather than show a "grow at all costs" mentality. Aberdeen is particularly impressed with Autotask's management structure and its desire to grow the business at a rate that will hold down costs and keep the vendor financially viable.

Autotask does have several challenges to face in the next few years; increasing name recognition and minimizing the cost of sales as a percentage of revenue being perhaps the two greatest. However, the vendor has several distinct advantages over its competitors, including its support of organizations currently outside the mainstream PSA market and the functionality that provides for ongoing service - Service Desk - and support, to name a couple.

While almost every PSA solution provider is working to sell in the midsize and large market sectors, Autotask is squarely positioned with emerging enterprises. The vendor arms executives with the tools to better understand and manage their organizations - no matter what the size. And Autotask gives employees and clients alike the ability to efficiently make decisions to improve operations. Aberdeen recommends that organizations in this unique market sector strongly consider Autotask.

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Copyright © 2002 Aberdeen Group, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts

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