To begin, let’s look at the professional services industry as a whole. The accounting sub sector alone generates around $180 billion a year and over $2 trillion is the combined revenue of all professional service firms in the United States (2018). And, approximately 9.3 million people are employed in the industry. This shows us that there is a lot of opportunity for growth.

The professional services industry has been faced with a number of disruptors including a diminishing talent pool, a technological revolution, and certainly new business models that include services that are personalized but maybe not ‘in person.’ Those firms that have pivoted and rolled with the punches have held on and maybe even flourished; those that sat stagnantly, likely haven’t survived. While the road has been long and dark, the profitability of the industry is looking up. With careful planning, professional service providers can get back to doing what they do best, serving others. Digitalization is essential to almost every industry, and it is certainly key in the professional services industry. What are the challenges you have been facing?

The global pandemic has accelerated a trend that’s been happening for many years in higher education.

More schools are closing their doors each year because they can’t meet enrollment numbers. At the same time, colleges and universities are spending over $85 billion on software technology tools…they need this technology working better for them in order to overcome the outreach and enrollment challenges they’re facing.

Today’s prospective students engage with content at a rate that most schools can’t keep up with. That’s why HubSpot built a CRM and marketing platform totally different than others on the market.

Most institutions still operate under two outdated realities:

1. A linear prospective student journey
2. A highly-siloed handoff between marketing teams and enrollment managers

But the reality is that your prospective student experience is anything but linear, right?

To begin, let’s look at the software and technology industry as a whole. There are close to half a million tech companies in the U.S. in sectors like e-commerce, cyber security, artificial intelligence creation, you name it, that employ 7.3 million people. With a global worth of $1.7 trillion dollars in information technology, it’s clear that there are a lot of opportunities for growth. 

The software and technology industry is one that is broad and encompasses many verticals. The market is extremely fast moving and unpredictable and constantly growing. That, along with balancing product creation with your own ever-changing technology needs can certainly be challenging. Before we dig deeper into the other challenges the industry is struggling with as a whole, answer the following questions: What are the challenges you are facing in your software and technology space?

Several years ago I started an LLC in New York State, where new businesses are required to announce themselves in a newspaper for 6 weeks. A print paper. I stuck my head in the sand for a month, then started Googling how to get it done: which newspapers were acceptable, how much it would cost, etc.

Not only was the information hard to find, it turns out that in NYC this is an especially stupid and expensive process. A rude Kings County clerk told me I needed to go downtown for the details, because he’s not allowed to provide them over the phone or through email (“I don’t make the laws, lady”).

Confused about what century I was living in, I went back to Google looking for ways to get out of the publishing obligation. Surely this was just a silly technicality that wouldn’t really affect my business, right?

Hey, neighbor! You put a one-page list of your pet grooming services in my mailbox last week. Problem is, I don’t have a pet. So you wasted paper on me. And many others like me. You also didn’t put a website on your flyer — what’s up with that? I Googled your business name and couldn’t find your site there either; only some reviews on Yelp.