How Consulting Firms Can Turn KPIs into Competitive Advantage

In today's evolving consulting landscape, turning KPIs into meaningful growth drivers is more important than ever. In our recent webinar From Data to Decisions: Making KPIs Work for You, we explored how consulting and research firms can transform KPI tracking into a true competitive advantage, powered by insights from the 2025 Deltek UK Clarity Study.

KPI Challenges in Consulting: Key Findings from the Clarity Study

Deltek's 2025 UK Clarity Study, based on responses from 200 leaders across professional services firms, paints a clear picture: firms are under pressure to improve how they define and track performance.

Key findings include:

• 56% of firms report that they need to improve how they track project profitability.
• 51% say they struggle with monitoring utilization rates effectively.
• Finance teams face growing challenges in managing growth, aligning with executive leadership, and retaining qualified staff.

These gaps highlight a broader issue: while firms understand the importance of KPIs, many lack the tools or frameworks to track them in real time. This disconnect limits their ability to make timely, data-driven decisions — especially in a market shaped by economic uncertainty, rising costs and talent shortages.

How to Rethink KPIs for Strategic Impact

To help firms rethink their approach to performance measurement, Bernard Marr, a globally recognized futurist, bestselling author, and advisor to many of the world's leading businesses and governments, shared important insights during the webinar. With over 30 years of experience in business strategy, technology, and performance management, Bernard is known for making complex topics accessible and actionable.

Bernard observed that organizations often fall into the trap of measuring what's easy or what others are measuring, rather than focusing on what truly drives performance. In his view, KPIs should serve as tools for improvement, not merely instruments of observation.

A more strategic approach begins with asking the right questions. Rather than jumping straight to metrics, firms should first define their strategic goals and then identify the key performance questions (KPQs) that will guide their measurement efforts. This ensures that KPIs are not just numbers on a dashboard, but meaningful tools that support decision-making and continuous improvement.

He also emphasized the importance of balance in performance measurement. While financial KPIs are essential, he stressed that indicators related to customers, internal processes and employee engagement are equally critical. He encouraged firms to harness the power of AI to analyze qualitative data, such as customer feedback or employee sentiment, to uncover insights that traditional metrics might overlook.

Ultimately, Bernard underscored that if KPIs are not used to learn and improve, then measuring them serves little purpose. The real goal is to identify what matters, gather the right information, and use it to make better decisions.

Empowering KPI Strategy with Deltek Maconomy^TM ERP

To bridge the gap between strategy and execution, firms need technology that delivers real-time, actionable insights. Deltek Maconomy, purpose-built for project-based businesses, offers a powerful platform for KPI management that empowers every role to make smarter, faster decisions. As Jenny Hedenborg, Deltek's Principal Solutions Engineer, explains, bringing opportunity, project and finance data into one system enables teams to track and act on KPIs in real time — ultimately boosting revenue, utilization, profitability, and overall financial performance from a single intelligent solution.

Key advantages of Deltek Maconomy include:

• Live dashboards that update KPIs in real time, giving leaders instant visibility into performance.
• Predefined best practices with built-in dashboards that reflect industry standards, helping firms get up and running quickly.
• Configurability that allows dashboards and reports to be tailored to reflect firm-specific goals and metrics.
• Self-service access so leaders can explore data independently, without waiting for monthly reports.
• Intercompany functionality that provides a unified view of KPIs across entities, enabling consistent performance tracking, streamlined reporting, and faster, data-driven decisions at every level of the business.

Maconomy is further enhanced by Dela^TM, Deltek's AI business companion. With the digital assistant Ask Dela, users can query the system in natural language, whether asking for a project’s profit margin or a client’s win rate, and receive instant, data-driven answers. This makes KPI insights more accessible, actionable, and aligned with strategic goals.

Steps for Turning KPIs into Business Impact

The message is clear: KPIs are not just about tracking performance, they’re about driving it. To stay competitive, consulting and research firms must:

• Define KPIs that align with strategic goals.
• Use technology to track and visualize performance in real time.
• Foster a culture where data informs decisions and supports continuous improvement.

With the right metrics and the right tools, firms can navigate uncertainty, improve profitability and build a foundation for long-term success.