6 common professional services project manager pain points (and how to solve them)

In this article, we explore the most common pain points project managers face in professional services environments–from executive reporting overload to billing delays and capacity issues. More importantly, we‘ll show how to solve them using modern tools and proven strategies–so your team can stay focused on delivering value.

The role of a project manager in professional services

In professional services, like IT Services, Business consulting, or Engineering, the project manager is key to turning client needs into successful project outcomes. Unlike product-based industries, professional services rely on delivering expertise and value through people. A project manager ensures that work is delivered on time, on budget, and within scope, while keeping clients and teams aligned.

But their role isn‘t just operational. Project managers act as strategic communicators, translating client expectations into clear plans and keeping delivery teams focused. They handle shifting priorities, track progress, and manage budgets and resources, all while maintaining client satisfaction.

In a service environment where change is constant and resources are shared, project managers need a strong mix of leadership, problem-solving, and business sense. With the support of PSA software, they gain real-time visibility into finances, timelines, and capacity–enabling smarter decisions and consistent delivery across all projects.

Here‘s a common scenario for professional services team leaders:

Another work week has begun and you received a calendar invite for a Wednesday executive update meeting. You already know you‘re going to have to cancel any meetings you booked today in order to start gathering all status updates from each department. Once gathered, you spend hours summarizing the information from various platforms like Google Sheets, Excel documents, phone calls, and emails. You‘ve now spent four hours combining this information into a PowerPoint presentation for your executives. That‘s when you then get asked to include the previous week‘s data as well. Now you restart your process all over again.

This example, and other pain points reviewed in this article, are typical for professional services organizations that don‘t have a centralized project management platform. In this article, we review how Birdview PSA helps our clients resolve these common pain points.

1 – Difficulty Providing Updates to the Executive Team

Before switching to professional services automation software, professional services teams often have difficulty efficiently updating their executives. Managers frequently scramble to collect information from fragmented systems or reach out manually to team leads. This can lead to delays, miscommunication, or missed KPIs during high-stakes meetings. The result is a reactive reporting culture that adds stress to already overloaded teams.

Solution – Real-time Executive Reports and Dashboards

For a more proactive approach to providing either high-level or in-depth information for executives, this is where our professional services clients find Business Intelligence Reporting useful. With this reporting tool, executives have access to real-time data and insights without managers manually putting reports together for them. Birdview PSA dashboards include:

• Team Performance and Workload
• Quoted vs. Actual Labour Cost
• Resource Loading by Skill
• Project Progress and Portfolio Health
• Budget Variance and Forecast Accuracy
• + much more

Executives can self-serve insights at any time, ensuring alignment without disrupting project momentum.

2 – Complex Project Billing

Professional services companies often encounter complex billing situations that can‘t be covered by a single flat rate. Factors like service types, hourly rates by role, and regional rate variations all contribute to a messy billing structure. This not only introduces room for manual error but slows down billing cycles and increases the risk of lost revenue.

Solution – Flexible Rate Cards and Role-Based Billing

Birdview PSA simplifies billing through dynamic rate cards. You can assign different billable rates by role, project, or client, and even track historical rate changes. This ensures consistent, accurate invoicing and enables project managers to forecast revenue more reliably. The rate card system also integrates with BI tools, allowing finance and leadership teams to analyze cost and revenue trends in detail.

3 – Long Billing Cycle

Relying on outdated, disconnected tools like Excel sheets and legacy billing software often leads to long invoicing cycles. When teams track hours in one system and billing is handled in another, manual handoffs introduce delays. This creates bottlenecks for your accounting team and slows down your cash flow.

Solution – Built-in Time, Expense Tracking, and Automated Billing

Birdview PSA‘s Financial Module streamlines billing by consolidating all project costs–including labor hours, expenses, and rate card logic–into a single interface. Once work is completed or milestones are reached, the system automatically generates accurate invoices based on pre-set rules. Teams can:

• Track billable vs. non-billable time
• Monitor actual vs. estimated costs
• Automatically apply approved rate cards
• Instantly generate invoices with audit history

This significantly shortens the delivery-to-cash cycle and increases billing transparency.

4 – Lack of Accountability & Missed Deadlines

When task assignments live across emails, spreadsheets, and verbal updates, it‘s easy for priorities to fall through the cracks. Without a unified view of what‘s been done and what‘s still in progress, managers can‘t confidently track progress or hold teams accountable. This often results in missed deadlines, delayed deliverables, and stressed-out employees.

Solution – Assignment Pages and Smart Notifications

Birdview PSA addresses this with the “My Assignments” page–a personalized task view where each team member can see all their tasks, deadlines, and priorities in one place. Paired with the Notifications Center, users receive timely alerts when tasks are updated, comments are made, or approvals are needed. This creates a culture of visibility and accountability while reducing manager micromanagement.

5 – Project Handoff Gaps Between Sales and Delivery

A common but overlooked pain point in professional services firms is the disconnect between sales promises and delivery execution. When project details are not accurately passed from sales to delivery teams, confusion arises around scope, timelines, and client expectations.

Solution – Sales-to-Delivery Workflow Automation

Birdview PSA offers built-in workflows that ensure a smooth handoff from CRM to project management. As soon as a deal is closed, project plans, budget templates, and scope documents are automatically populated into the platform. This reduces manual entry, avoids misalignment, and helps delivery teams start strong with complete context.

6 – Unclear Resource Availability and Capacity Constraints

Many firms lack a clear view of who is available, when, and with what skill sets. This leads to unintentional overbooking of staff or idle capacity that affects project delivery and profitability.

Solution – Visual Resource Planning and Forecasting Tools

Birdview PSA provides resource heatmaps, capacity reports, and skill-based assignment filters. Managers can easily match people to the right tasks while seeing who is at risk of burnout. The system‘s “what-if” planning tools also allow for scenario modeling, making it easier to plan for future demand or shift resources when project priorities change.

To learn about what other features can help your professional services business, we invite you to book a free demo to get a more in-depth look at our software and how it can help you deliver successful projects to your clients.

 

FAQ on professional services project manager pain points

❓ What are the most common pain points for project managers in professional services?

Project managers often face challenges like scope creep, poor visibility into project progress, resource overload, billing delays, and pressure to meet executive reporting demands–all while keeping clients satisfied.

❓ Why is executive reporting such a time drain?

Without centralized data, PMs must manually collect updates from multiple teams and tools, summarize them, and build reports for leadership. This leads to lost productivity and outdated insights.

❓ How can missed deadlines be avoided in professional services?

Missed deadlines are usually the result of poor task visibility or lack of accountability. A project management tool that offers real-time updates, personal task lists, and automated reminders can help teams stay on track.

❓ What causes delays in billing and revenue collection?

Delays often stem from disconnected systems. When time tracking, expense logging, and billing are handled in separate tools, it slows invoicing. An integrated PSA platform speeds up billing and improves cash flow.

❓ How can project managers handle team members being stretched across multiple projects?

Capacity planning and resource allocation tools help PMs understand workload distribution. By visualizing who’s overbooked and who’s available, managers can rebalance assignments before burnout occurs.

❓ What tools can help reduce these pain points?

A professional services automation (PSA) platform like Birdview PSA can centralize project data, automate billing, enhance collaboration, and provide real-time executive dashboards–all in one system.