Scaling up comes with challenges for consultancies with growth ambitions, from managing increasing workforce to growing a pipeline of complex projects. Rapid expansion could see some companies stretched beyond their core competencies and derail potentially successful businesses.
Maintaining end-to-end visibility of projects helps minimise budget blowouts, missed deadlines and damage to client relationships and ultimately reputation. The absence of systems and meaningful data insights to inform decision-making and resource allocation could potentially thwart their growth trajectory.
BSE’s strong growth underpinned by management system
Building Services Engineers (BSE) has transformed from a small consultancy to a national group with 95 team members across Australia. Its portfolio of projects ranges from medium to high-density residential developments to aged care facilities, educational institutions, and complex infrastructure projects.
“We deliver hundreds of projects a year,” says Jessica Chesser, BSE’s National Operations Manager. “Some are quick consultations, while others are large-scale designs.”
The consultancy offers valuable lessons for others looking to expand their operations. BSE sidestepped the common pitfalls of scaling up, adopting Total Synergy’s cloud-based project management platform 15 years ago to support its rapid expansion.
One of the first challenges BSE tackled was keeping the communications lines open when they opened offices across Australia. Total Synergy’s platform became a central hub for project information, enabling real-time updates and document sharing.
“Whether we’re adding specialty disciplines, team members, or a new office location, it’s something we can do in half an hour,” Chesser says.
Platform flexibility and data insights support project pipeline
BSE’s diverse project portfolio could have caused bottlenecks from lumpy resource allocation. However, the scalability and flexibility of Total Synergy’s platform provides an important birds-eye view so that no opportunity was missed no matter how large the project.
“Total Synergy works well for both models – whether it’s a week-long project with a $5,000 fee or a $500,000 project,” Chesser says.
One of the benefits is the platform’s ability to provide crucial data insights, allowing better financial visibility and tight control over costs. It is a key tool for more than 880 Total Synergy clients and 15,000 users across 16 countries. The software provides real-time insights into project progress, resource allocation and financial performance to help businesses make data-driven decisions.
“It gives us a cost breakdown of what client fees have been allocated to the project, so our project leads can understand how we’re progressing against fees,” Chesser says.
It provides real-time data on outstanding payments, types of projects in the pipeline and work distribution across different sectors and geographic locations. This facilitates better strategic decisions and the ability to identify growth opportunities and potential blockages. This level of visibility and control is crucial in an industry where project complexities can quickly escalate into problems.
Total Synergy a ‘single source of truth’
A recent example is the Anglicare Woolaware Shores aged care facility in southern Sydney. This complex, mixed-use project with staged construction required meticulous planning and coordination to stay on time and within budget.
“We utilised all the different aspects of Total Synergy with stage design, multiple disciplines, and managing our internal costs to deliver the full scope of the project,” Chesser says.
She says the real-time data, scalability and flexibility helped resolve common pain points throughout the project of cost, timing, data compatibility and user experience. Retaining a detailed oversight helped maintain cost control, allocate resources and break down client fees.
“It gives us a cost breakdown of what client fees have been allocated to the project, so our project leads can understand how we’re progressing against fees,” Chesser says. This bird’s-eye view allows BSE to identify potential issues before they escalate, ensuring projects stay on track and within budget.
Founded in 2000, Total Synergy developed a comprehensive suite of features to support end-to-end project management, from resource allocation and time tracking to financial management and client communication. In the 2024 financial year, the software system processed 25 million hours in timesheets, created 480,000 invoices and handled $6.8 billion in invoice totals.
Chesser describes Total Synergy as BSE’s “single source of truth”. She says it extends beyond a project management tool; it is a one-stop-shop practice management system that has helped streamline BSE’s processes across the business, integrating contact database management with project finance and invoicing.
Leveraging the power of real-time data
As BSE grew, so did the volume of data they needed to manage. Total Synergy’s platform ensures that BSE has access to critical data to assess project success, profitability, and customer satisfaction, translating raw data into actionable insights. The financial forecasting and workload management insights helped them make data-informed decisions.
“We have to make sure we’re making the best use of the talent we have in the organisation, but also that we’re not overworking them,” Chesser says. The platform’s forecasting capabilities allow BSE to effectively allocate resources and plan for future growth.
“It gives us a really great snapshot of when our work is starting,” Chesser says. “Having visibility of the next month, three, six, twelve months is incredibly important for business decisions.”
“Total Synergy has been really pivotal to our growth.”