The gist

Viagio, a custom software development firm, was searching for a solution that would allow them to improve their resourcing and forecasting processes and uncover revenue-driving insights for their operation.

The challenge

At Viagio, every project is custom, therefore, every project is uniquely scoped. Not having productized services made resourcing and forecasting challenging and typically required pulling in people from across the business to weigh in on what’s needed for the current and future state of the business. 

They needed a source of truth to streamline decision-making, and they wanted a solution that enabled data-backed conversations about everything from estimates and scoping to timelines and resourcing. The team searched for a partner and a solution that could quickly answer their questions, eliminating the need to scour spreadsheets to compile insights.

The solution

Viagio selected Parallax for its strategic resourcing and forecasting capabilities—and it has delivered. 

As Parallax captures a view into secured work and deals in the pipeline, Viagio leaders gained a more comprehensive picture of the business and could scenario plan more efficiently. It helped better shape projects during the sales and resourcing process as well by sharing insights into when they could realistically start, who would be needed, and if they had capacity. 

The platform serves as a welcomed “forcing function” to be more detailed and timely with project financials, helping the team see if projects are going off course and any upcoming utilization drop-offs due to projects wrapping or time off around holidays. Incorporating these checkpoints into their sales and delivery processes helped reduce the stress around resourcing and streamline the kick-off of new projects. 

With the adoption of Parallax, the Viagio team also switched from task-based planning to duration-based planning. This approach allowed them to go from weekly to quarterly revenue planning, which helped improve their forecasting accuracy.  

The outcome

7% utilization increase: As ongoing projects end and new projects start, the Viagio resourcing team can easily see the changes in Parallax ahead of time, and act on them. They regularly review their six-week forecast and have conversations about concerns and opportunities, using Parallax as the catalyst for the conversations. What resources are becoming available? What new projects need shaped, and what resources are available to assign? “Having these conversations every week has led to an increase in utilization and adjusted our behaviors around resourcing and forecasting for the better,” said Roberts.

Revenue-driving insights: Insights gleaned from Parallax led to decisions that ultimately made the business more profitable. For example, the team had been offering continuity support for clients, helping them address high-severity issues with their previous solutions. This service was costing Viagio extensive time and resources to execute correctly and started to impact team morale. Parallax provided revenue data showing that the continuity model wasn’t a revenue-driving service in its current form, and the team was able to change the service model to ensure profitability.

Project margin insights: “Just being aware of margins has been pretty insightful from a project health perspective,” said Jeremy Roberts, Solutions Architect and Delivery Leader. “If we want to add a senior engineer to help the project along at a non-billable rate, that might be fine—but let me first check the impact that will have on margin. Parallax allows us to play around with numbers and see how our margins will change so we can make the best decision possible for our teams and business.” 

Hiring insights: Viagio is an intentionally lean business, ensuring there’s enough work to match the team so no one is sitting on the bench. Getting this right, however, was tricky without insights into current work vs. what’s in the pipeline. Utilization forecasting capabilities from Parallax have allowed the team to refine their hiring decisions, making them confident the right people are hired at the right time to support the work. 

What’s next for Viagio?

The Viagio team coordinates closely with its customer success team at Parallax to strategize new ways for leveraging the tool. They look forward to further integrating Parallax with its other valuable solutions, including Jira and Asana.