The Gist

Conscious Minds, a creative content studio, implemented Parallax in 2020 to obtain real-time project information and forecasting insights, helping the studio maintain its independence and operate more strategically and profitably. Within year one of implementing Parallax, Conscious Minds saw a 199% revenue growth, 133% increase in profit and 107% increase in revenue per employee.

The Challenge

Conscious Minds is decidedly independent. The content studio believes scoping deals on a project basis versus retainers helps it maintain its independence and disrupt the inefficient ways of the creative industry. However, this project-based approach made it difficult for Conscious Minds to plan projects effectively and forecast critical business metrics like utilization, revenue, and margins.

“It’s challenging to plan when running a time-based services business. Forecasting utilization and margin is also hard. We’ve always wanted to stay independent and away from retainer-based work. But in doing so, we found ourselves losing our freedom, handcuffed by a lack of planning tools,” said Cam DeArmond, CEO and managing partner of Conscious Minds.

Conscious Minds needed a strategic planning platform integrated with its sales pipeline to operate smarter, increase visibility, and track and meet business targets.

The Solution

When Conscious Minds learned about Parallax, it was a welcome relief. Not only could Parallax offer a solution for the content studio’s project planning and resource management, but it was also an intuitive product that was seamlessly integrated with HubSpot and Harvest. The other professional services automation (PSA) tools Conscious Minds had evaluated were too clunky and complex for a creative studio that valued ease of use and simplicity.

“From the jump, Parallax checked a lot of boxes,” said Jeff Keith, head of production and operations at Conscious Minds. “The platform gives us greater visibility into our resources to plan better. And it’s so intuitive — we could see that it would be very easy for us to use, and to have organizational-wide adoption of a new tool, it has to be easy to use. Plus, it looks good and feels sophisticated.”

The Results 

Parallax users at Conscious Minds stretch from leadership and operations to project managers and sales. Everyone within the organization experiences value from the platform, which is now a critical component of Conscious Minds’ operations:

• Resource Planning: Parallax helps resource and project managers allocate resources more effectively and proactively across current projects, providing the flexibility to view critical business metrics like utilization in a view that best suits the user – holidays or no holidays, PTO or no PTO. One of the most eye-opening things for Conscious Minds has been the employee snapshot, which includes the projects everyone is on and what utilization targets they have. That view has helped the company maximize resources and significantly increase utilization per employee.

• Forecasting: Parallax helps determine which resources the studio needs to hire based on its current capacity and resource needs based on the deals predicted to close in the sales pipeline, helping operations get a head start on resourcing needs to avoid kick-off delays or last-minute scrambles. “Can we take on everything forecasted with our current headcount, or do we need to bring on freelancers or make new hires? Parallax helps us answer those questions,” said Keith. Platform insights also help inform growth planning and forecast how the studio performs against growth targets. 

• Real-time Tracking: Parallax helps the team track and measure key business metrics in real time, including utilization, margin, and revenue. “We can immediately see if we’re on or off target,” said Keith. “Do we need to rethink how we will do this project, or should we talk to the client about getting additional resources? The Insights view in Parallax helps us have those conversations.”  

“The business results we’ve achieved since implementing Parallax have been significant,” said Keith. “We’ve seen an increase in profit margin and billable revenue per employee, which has been phenomenal. But it’s also given us visibility across the entire organization. We can now easily forecast, manage our resources, and generate reports on revenue margin, utilization, and more. We no longer have to chase details or worry about whether they’re accurate. Everything we need is at our fingertips.”

What’s Next for Conscious Minds?

Conscious Minds plans to incorporate a new service offering into Parallax, utilizing the platform to help shape and scope the duration-based offering. The creative content studio will also integrate its project management tool, Asana, with Parallax. 

The platform will continue to serve as the fulcrum for all of the company’s tools and systems, allowing the team to plan for and support the studio’s growth plans.