Professional service (PS) firms face unique challenges, particularly when dealing with sensitive information outside their firewalls while operating with limited cash and expertise. The vendors servicing these firms typically fall into three categories:

• Consolidators
• New entrants
• Point solution providers

Firms relying on legacy systems are confronted with a critical “stick or twist” decision, each option carrying significant implications.

Introduction: The Perilous “Stick or Twist”

As anyone in business knows, “stick or twist” decisions are inevitable and difficult. PS firms often grapple with legacy systems from vendors whose track record in adapting to contemporary user requirements is questionable. New demands, such as seamless service delivery and cloud integration, exacerbate this issue. Consequently, firms must decide whether to “stick” and hope their systems evolve or “twist” and switch vendors.

Stick or Twist: Exploring the Options

Extend: The Point Solution Approach

Some vendors offer point solutions that integrate with and address specific gaps in legacy systems, such as onboarding services. This approach involves a patchwork of solutions, balancing cost and convenience.

Stick and Twist: A Combined Approach

Recognising these challenges, we have developed a strategy that combines the advantages of both “sticking” and “twisting”.

The Legacy System Dilemma

Firms that rely on legacy systems, which have been in place for extended periods and serve essential functions, often find it challenging to innovate. These systems, evolved over time to support key processes and hold vast amounts of data, pose significant risks and costs when replaced, as highlighted in our “Productivity Lock” report.

However, the rapid pace of technological advancement has often left legacy systems behind. They hinder innovation, productivity, and agility. A recent report indicates that 48% of UK employees waste three or more hours daily due to inefficient systems.

Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that:

• Over a third of employees report their employers still rely on manual administration processes.
• Approximately 26% of an employee’s day is wasted on avoidable administrative chores.
• For over 40%, administrative chores prevent them from completing core tasks.
• Another study shows that more than half of UK employees are dissatisfied with workplace technology.

Our “Productivity Lock” report demonstrates that these pain points contribute to costs equivalent to 30% of back-office expenses.

What Can Be Done?

The pressure on firms due to the shortage of skilled personnel willing to perform mundane tasks, coupled with rising labour costs, is significantly altering the cost-benefit analysis. Historically, low-cost and readily available human resources were attractive compared to the costs of automation, particularly replacement strategies.

However, the rapid growth of new technologies, including low-code platforms, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Large Language Models (LLM), provides an alternative to replacement.

Connect and Extend: A Modern Solution

“Connect and extend” strategies leverage existing legacy systems by connecting to them and utilising their data through modern, process-oriented user interfaces, significantly reducing human-driven tasks through automation. Examples of their potential include:

• Quickly and intelligently ingesting high volumes of data from third-party sources (email or web forms) for automated processing.
• Extracting or inputting information into systems without APIs or back-end integration, eliminating human intervention.
• Utilising a library of pre-built connectors and tools to execute tasks within an overall process without requiring developer resources.
• Creating highly effective and sophisticated websites or client portals in hours or days, achieving deployment time reductions of up to 3,500%.

Why Is This Important?

Ambitious firms now have a third option to consider. As the “do nothing” approach becomes increasingly untenable and the risk of replacement strategies less attractive, “connect and extend” emerges as the smart choice. This approach enables firms to:

• Unlock potential capacity increases (imagine a 26% increase).
• Reduce the cost to serve clients (addressing the 30% of back-office costs).
• Accelerate innovation by creating added-value services and focusing personnel on human-oriented tasks.