Echoing Matt Harrington’s comments around bureaucracy, and Brandon Edwards thoughts on strategy, Deltek has observed a bit of a ‘tipping point” in the infrastructure of many firms that reach the kind of growth described here. Outdated tools, like those to manage engagements or capture time, fail to adapt to necessary new processes of a larger firm. The unintended consequence is often lots of manual steps- and more bureaucracy. Similarly, although perhaps to a lesser extent, those same business tools can also limit strategic planning: they lack the firm-wide visibility necessary to analyze past work, its results, and what kind of work, talent, and clients is the best combination for the firm’s long-term strategy.

As growth brings your firm to a certain plateau, don’t overlook the role of infrastructure in keeping you where you are- or in getting you to that next level.