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Anyone who works in a project-based role understands the challenges that come with the job. From managing resources and timelines to tracking costs, often across multiple clients, a successful project involves many moving parts. And as a project manager or co-ordinator, it’s your job to see the bigger picture, while keeping operations smooth. ERP systems are a useful tool to help businesses keep on top of their projects, in addition to valuable financial, HR and procurement functions. But many traditional ERP systems can’t keep up with the complexities of modern business needs, which is why Unit4 stands out as a platform designed to make lighter work of managing projects, people and performance.
In this review, we’ll take a look at what makes Unit4 a smart choice for businesses and professional services, its key features and benefits and more.
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A platform built for project-centric firms
Unlike many of the enterprise resource planning systems that are out there for industries such as manufacturing or retail, Unit4 has been designed from the ground up for project-based and service-oriented businesses. From managing client engagements to consulting projects and internal activities, Unit4 allows firms to bring together project management, financial operations and delivery processes under one application.
With a design that’s wholly focused on project delivery, businesses no longer have to juggle multiple tools to track progress or view profitability. Unit4 ensures all aspects of the project lifecycle, from planning and proposals all the way to delivery and billing, can be tracked using a single program. One of the key benefits of using a single system is that the centralisation makes it easier to identify risks, optimize workloads, and ensure project timelines and budgets stay on track.
End-to-end financial and billing management
Financial accuracy is one of the most important aspects of professional services firms. Unit4 makes light work of managing some of the most complex areas of a business, such as managing budgets, forecasts, billing cycles and revenue recognition. It does this across projects, entities and can even track results in different currencies – ideal for global or multi-national firms.
One of Unit4’s strengths is its ability to accommodate complex billing arrangements, such as time-and-materials or fixed-fee projects, without the need for manual adjustments. Using Unit4, teams can generate invoices, handle currency conversions and verify data accurately against project accounts. These features can help reduce errors and provide valuable real-time insight into areas such as cash flow, allowing firms to carry out precise and timely reporting.
The financial and billing management features of Unit4 give it an edge over smaller systems, which may not have the features or capacity to manage multiple projects with ease.
Optimized resource and talent management
People are at the heart of any professional services business, and ERP systems need features that help manage resources and talent effectively. Unit4 comes with a smart resource allocation system that can help firms match people to projects based on availability, skills and experience – saving time and making often difficult decisions much smoother, and data-driven.
These features not only help managers choose the right talent for each job, but can also help improve utilization rates, making sure nobody is underused or overloaded. For employees, Unit4 allows them to view their own workloads, manage their skills and access performance tracking. For firms that encourage development and continuous improvement, these tools can help deliver while allowing employees to take charge of their progression. This can also help improve employee engagement, and could even improve turnover rates.
For businesses with a people-first approach, Unit4 can support different goals while helping to contribute to a more motivated and efficient workforce – something that isn’t always possible with multiple, poorly integrated systems.
Cloud-based for effortless implementation and scaling
As a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Unit4 benefits from a cloud-based infrastructure that is constantly updated. With integrated templates for professional services, implementation is smooth and efficient, allowing businesses to experience results quickly.
Being cloud-based, Unit4 can also be scaled according to business needs. It’s flexible and agile, allowing it to evolve alongside the business.
Unified data and real-time insights
A stand-out feature of Unit4 is its data unification. Finance, HR, procurement and project information all feed into a single system to help firms make data-driven decisions, and say goodbye to siloed ways of working.
Unit4’s analytics tools provide real-time insights into areas such as utilization, margins, costs and project progress. This transparency allows business leaders to make confident decisions quickly, without needing to rely on delayed reports or manual spreadsheets, while reducing the chance of error.
Profitability and performance visibility
Unit4 allows businesses to stay on top of performance through its insightful dashboards and KPI trackers. Monitoring budgets against actuals allows finance teams to review margins in real time, while leaders can get the important overviews that to see company-wide profitability.
The insights provided by Unit4 can help maintain consistency, reduce overspending and ensure projects deliver both quality and profitability.
Reducing administrative workload
Unit4 features some smart tools to help busy teams automate routine tasks. From reporting to timesheet generation, these tasks can be taken care of automatically to free up time for other areas of project management.
Time-saving tools can help drive motivation and improve employee engagement, especially in high-stress areas where time is of the essence.
Pros and cons of Unit4
Pros
- A tool designed specifically for project-based and service-oriented firms.
- Brings together finance, HR, procurement and projects in one unified system.
- Real-time insights.
- Cloud-based SaaS platform for scalability and flexibility.
- Automation tools to save time on administration.
- Improved employee experience and engagement.
Cons
- A comprehensive platform that may need some initial training for implementation.
- Pricing varies depending on company size and requirements.
- Could be too advanced for smaller firms requiring fewer insights.
Who is Unit4 suitable for?
Unit4 is the ideal tool for mid-sized and large professional services firms, as well as consultancies and project-led organizations. For those looking for a single solution to manage finance, HR and operations, Unit4 can help deliver.
While smaller firms may not need the program’s full suite of features, it can still improve processes and make things more efficient for businesses operating on a smaller scale.
Final verdict
Unit4 is a smart, agile and robust tool that can really benefit project-based businesses. Making lighter work of financial management, data analytics and resource planning, it could be the ideal solution for firms looking to improve project visibility and boost performance.
For businesses looking to make better decisions, engage with employees and deliver better value to clients, Unit4 could be the ultimate solution for a comprehensive ERP tool.
