I enjoy sharing the story of our unique business model at Phoenix Endeavors. It is commonly met with a bit of skepticism but generates interesting discussions and contemplation. We are constantly adapting as we encounter new challenges, but thus far have enjoyed success despite our lack of traditional structure.
Our partnership began in January of 2007 as four friends with the simple mission of providing the best SAP systems implementation and support service in the Minneapolis-St Paul area. Our model, business practices, and growth have followed this focus.
One of our first decisions was to keep things extremely simple from an organizational perspective. We don’t maintain a physical office or hire any employees. Our focus is on long-term client success, so we spend our time on site working collaboratively with our clients. The limited administrative duties we must complete are shared amongst partners or outsourced, so we can keep simple processes and a streamlined cost structure. A small board is elected annually from within our Principal Partners — one of only two tiers of partners we maintain. We have a dedicated client relationship partner tasked with matching partners to opportunities, but project success and professional development are the responsibility of every partner.
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We have grown steadily over the years, but only by adding further well-qualified partners. Our first concern is always that our quality of service will improve as we welcome new talent. This approach has proven beneficial to both our clients and partners as we’ve expanded our capabilities and knowledge base while maintaining high expectations. If we encounter a rare situation where we don’t have an available resource, we work through networks of only our most trusted colleagues to ensure success for our clients.
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We’ve been fortunate that there are opportunities to optimize SAP implementations right here in our hometowns. This allows us the best of both worlds — our partners get the growth opportunity of working with a variety of clients while being able to maintain personal and family balance through minimal travel. We’ve been able to attract and retain a talented team despite the current prevalence of consultants flipping between firms after each project. While we’ve grown to almost 30 partners, our consultants continue to have deep and broad SAP, technical, and business experience. Our annual turnover is a low 2%.
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This local cadre of senior resources has also proven to be a benefit to our clients. Many of us have clients with whom we’ve worked on a variety of projects for 10-15 years. We may move along upon completion of a successful initiative but are available to return or consult as our clients unearth new business opportunities. Our exposure to a variety of implementations expands our knowledge base and makes subsequent projects more efficient. It’s far more than a cliche that we care about the ongoing success of our clients — we rely upon strong organizations in the communities where we live and work.
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As you can see, we’ve built a unique organization that has served us well thus far. Undoubtedly we’ll face new opportunities and challenges to which we’ll adapt in the years to come. With a strong base of partners and clients, we feel well-positioned to continue providing top-quality service through whatever might come our way.