Engagement Management in a Professional Services Project

Posted: January 7th, 2009 | Tags: Engagement Management | No Comments »

I picked up today on a conversation on the Project Manager Networking Group (PMNG) on LinkedIn that was started by this article.  The discussion that followed is very interesting and indicated to me that this is a topic that most Professional Services organizations have to deal with.  Very few have mastered this skill yet.  My comment on the discussion was as follows:

I agree with Bob on his comment about our tendency to put people and our clients in boxes. It makes life easier for us, but clients do not appreciate it.

Thus, the role of PM and Engagement Manager on a specific account will need to depend on a number of factors. What is most important in any Professional Services team is that this is aligned with the corporate strategy. Thus the company’s strategy will drive the account strategy which in turn has to shape the account plan and thus the role that each person will play in the account.

Some of our clients have not been very positive on the introduction of a EM into an account. Their major concern is the “one voice/face” that they want to have from the Professional Services supplier. Who is in charge? Who talks on behalf of the company? On the other hand, some clients have raised concerns about the project manager being more concerned about his/her company’s bottom line than the success of the project. In this case the introduction of an EM makes a lot of sense.

My personal experience have indicated that the roles and approach is not a set formula. It is something that has to be formulated and improved with the account team and the client. Over time, as trust is established, the most appropriate engagement model for the specific client will come to the fore .

At SAP we have been dealing with this topic quite a bit.  What complicates our situation even more is the fact that we are also the software vendor and that we also work with other Professional Services organizations in most large accounts.  Thus we need to be Service Provider, Software Vendor and Partner all at the same time.  When dealing with large multi-nationals, this becomes very complicated and needs a fair bit of effort to maintain all aspects of the relationships.

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