The Resurrection of Canadian Manufacturing

The crash of the financial markets threatened to eliminate the importance of Canada's manufacturing sectors. With over 300,000 jobs having been lost as a result of the financial crisis, economists were reluctant to paint a rosy picture of the future of manufacturing in Canada. But according to the Financial Post, the manufacturing landscape in Canada is beginning to flourish, particularly for businesses whom had managed themselves well enough during the economic collapse.

Interestingly enough, businesses that were able to survive the crash did so without succumbing to off-shoring practices; rather, they innovated at home to continue to illustrate their strength as a business. In order for manufacturing firms to innovate and withstand some of the issues that arise with an ageing labour force, they will need to invest in proper on-boarding solutions and other technologies that not only encourage a younger workforce to thrive in their business, but also allow them and your business to continue to innovate and become best-in-class leaders in their field.

Click here for more details about how we can help your manufacturing firm become best-in-class leaders.
 

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The 2012 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark Report

Last week, Service Performance Insight released The 2012 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark. SPI puts out this report every year to help Professional Service Organizations compare their yearly results to their "benchmark of peers". There was significant growth in the last year, and the results show that the technology professional service industry is booming!

SPI mentions that some of the year's highlights include:

Revenue growth: the leading indicators for growth — annual revenue growth, headcount increases, size of the deal pipeline and percentage of revenue in backlog — were all up in 2011, almost recovering to the pre-recessions highs seen in 2007. Year-over-year revenue growth (13.7%) has consistently outpaced year-over-year headcount growth (10.1%) which means PSO’s are continuing to ratchet up productivity.

Salaries are up: After three years of layoffs, headcount and salary freezes, base salaries and incentive compensation increased across all major job categories. The average base salary for seven job titles (senior manager, project manager, business consultant, technical consultant, solution architect, account manager and training specialist) rose 4.8% in 2011 on top of an 11% rise the year before.

Productivity continues to improve: The percentage of billable staff compared to total staff has risen every year from 67% in 2007 to 73% in 2011. At the same time average billable utilization across all global geographies and verticals has increased to 70% in 2011 up from 65% in 2008

One of our Partner's Gord Smith, speaks in the article about how Ideaca benefits from using the PS Maturity Benchmark report:

“We have used the PS Maturity Benchmark for many years to measure key aspects of our firm and to gauge the progress we have made. We have made some fundamental changes based on the benchmark to improve our firm’s overall results. I have not been able to find data as comprehensive from any other source.”

Gord Smith
Partner

Have a look at the press release featured on Business Wire and check out

www.spiresearch.com for more details on The 2012 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark Report.

 

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