For years I had a truly collaborative relationship with the Financial Services Risk & Compliance practice and a handful of the leading ISV (independent software vendor) partners operating in that space. There was plenty of business to be had for all, so long as everyone played their part.

 

One year, by the end of the first half, the sales teams were really cranking. The sales pace was ahead of plan and the teams were imagining a financially rewarding year. As we were preparing for our first half review I presented to my services partner the list of accounts forecasted to close in the 3rd and 4th quarters. The services practice leader paused, leaned back in his chair and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sold out for the year. I have no bench.” This came as quite a surprise and more than a disappointment to the sales teams, the software provider in particular.

 

In hindsight the source of this dilemma lay in great part with inadequate longer- term planning between the sales and services teams. Had we built a Plan of Record with a twenty-four month horizon and performed some “What-If?” modeling, we may have had sufficient time to on-board additional services capacity to meet market opportunity.