Mark Orttung, the new CEO of Projectworks, is a consulting veteran and an early adopter in the technology world.
Mark started his career at Accenture (see: most profitable consulting firms of 2024), studied artificial intelligence, helped create the Palo Alto Technology Center, started a SaaS company in the 1990s, and served as the COO and President of Bill.com.
Most recently, before joining Projectworks, Mark was CEO of Nexient (now NTT's Launch), America's largest 100 percent U.S.-based software services provider, through a 400+% growth in headcount and delivered 40% revenue CAGR for five consecutive years.
Passionate about the consulting industry and emerging technology, Mark has a wealth of knowledge that informs his predictions of the future of consulting. Join us as we speak with him about what consulting services can expect in the coming years.
What is it about the professional services/consulting industries that you're passionate about?
Professional services firms get the opportunity to develop an industry-leading viewpoint as they work with multiple players in a given area. With this unique point of view, they can help their clients up-level their businesses.
I especially enjoy working with smaller consultancies as they are typically mission-driven in a specific area and can really accelerate progress across an industry.
What opportunities do you see in 2024 and beyond for professional services firms?
One of the things I learned when I started my career at Accenture is that the best services firms reinvent themselves every two to three years to continue to provide more value to their clients.
45% of CEOs doubted their company's current trajectory would keep them viable beyond the next decade. As the pressure to adapt rises, more CEOs will prioritize big moves to support reinvention - PwC's 27th Annual Global CEO Survey.
As the best firms look to continue this trend, I think these timeless underlying areas will define the opportunities:
Great experiences
The best firms will continue to find more and better ways to deliver a great experience to their clients and clients' customers.
Whether the firm is building software, designing buildings and structures, or helping clients with strategy, the firms that deliver the best experience will be the leaders.
Integrating tech into new solutions
The pace of technological innovation will continue to accelerate as the broader industry invests in machine learning and augmented and virtual reality and continues to integrate devices and software further into business models and personal experiences.
The firms that help their clients best take advantage of the new technologies in the context of their businesses and personal experiences will see dramatic growth.
Decarbonizing
Individuals and businesses alike will continue to raise the priority of moving toward net zero carbon emissions over the next decade or two.
Firms that can help drive this process will see significant growth globally.
Fewer than half of Fortune 500 companies reduced their reported emissions last year - Climate Impact Partners.
What's the opportunity ahead for professional service automation software?
In the coming years, PSA software platforms must be closely connected to the customer experience and provide innovative features. Based on my time working at and with consultancies, the best software options for professional services will incorporate 3 things:
Ease of use
Easy-to-use software gives smaller firms the ability to run with metrics and systems that are better than what the largest firms work with.
Software that's easy to use will gain more traction from staff and increase the benefits your business sees from the platform.
Greater forecasting abilities
Integration of the entire business from the sales pipeline to the general ledger will give firms a seamless view of how the firm is performing and predict how it will perform in the coming quarters.
Creating a reasonable forecast of future revenue is perhaps the most difficult of many difficult planning exercises - Duke School of Business.
Using software to forecast your revenue will save your business countless hours and improve the accuracy of predictions.
AI-based systems
AI-based systems will help with many of the key pain points consultancies face. We've got a great list of the top pain points and we'll have some exciting new features to announce in this area later this year.
You grew Nexient from $35M to more than $130M in five years. Do you have any advice for others trying to emulate this success?
During my time at Nexient, I led the team through extreme growth periods. As CEO, we went from 250 to 1,100 employees and achieved a 40% revenue CAGR for five consecutive years. This was an incredibly rewarding time for me, and I learned so many in those 5 years.
Here are some of the top lessons I took away from my experience at Nexient:
Have a clear purpose.
You need to be really clear as a team on the mission or "why?" statement. Having this clearly defined will make day-to-day decisions much easier.
A growth mindset is key
Team members with a growth mindset and a thirst for learning can overcome whatever obstacles come their way.
Collaboration drives success
Building a team with a high conversational capacity is critical. The team's ability to deal with difficult issues in a collaborative, productive way is key to success.
Build clarity
Clarity on roles and decision-making really accelerates an organization and allows it to grow faster.
Identify and remove friction
There are thousands of tiny issues that add friction to an organization. Building a culture of constantly identifying and removing friction points creates a fast-moving team.
It's great to have you and your experience on the team, Mark. How can our customers or partners best reach you?
Thanks, it really is wonderful to be here. I would greatly appreciate any customers or partners reaching out.
Send me an email at mark@projectworks.io and please go ahead and connect with me on Linkedin.
