Case study · Professional services

Professional services: Claire T.'s journey with the ORKYO Business Scan.

Consultants handle several engagements in parallel, and information is spread across emails, calendars, and individual files.

These case studies are examples designed to illustrate how ORKYO works.

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The illustrative case

Claire T.

Owner — Professional services firm

Sector: Consulting firm
Headcount: 6 people
What the business does: Consultants handle several engagements at once, with contractual deadlines to watch.

The starting situation

A typical week: engagement requests to qualify, proposals sent that await a decision, deliverables split across consultants, deadlines tracked in individual files, finished engagements not yet invoiced, and unpaid fees spotted late.

Decisions to take on engagements are made case by case, with no shared criteria.
Consultants' workload isn't visible before committing.
Some customer follow-ups depend on the memory of the consultant in charge.
The owner doesn't immediately know which files need her attention.

Information requested to put the Business Scan in context

Sector — Professional services

Headcount range — 1 to 10 employees

Company context

Current setup: Each consultant keeps their own file tracking
Illustrative activity: Consulting engagements run in parallel for several clients
Main difficulty: Important next actions aren't visible in one place

These details describe the scenario shown. Not all of them correspond to fields requested in the Business Scan, and no data is automatically retrieved from the company's software.

What the Business Scan reveals

The owner answers the ORKYO Business Scan V3: 17 questions covering customer acquisition and engagement, planning and execution, billing and money, and infrastructure and continuity. Each question has two parts and four answer levels. The questionnaire is the same for every business; results are then put in context based on sector, headcount, reported impacts, and the owner's validations.

The four sections

1. Customer acquisition and engagement
2. Planning and execution
3. Billing and money
4. Infrastructure and continuity

How it works

• 17 questions
• 2 parts per question, so 34 parts total
• 4 answer levels per part
• About 10 minutes
• Available without an account; creating one is optional
• Can be saved to an ORKYO space and resumed securely
• Explanatory guide available throughout the questionnaire
• An overall maturity score and 8 scores by dimension
• A reported-impact step, followed by context from sector and headcount
• Owner validation, then an optional choice of 0 to 3 priorities
• A personalized summary distinguishing ORKYO's urgency ranking from the recommended operational order

Dimensions likely to come up in this scenario

Devis et conversion
Planification et capacité
Organisation / équipe
Processus / documents

Actual results depend solely on the answers and impacts reported by the owner.

Example of possible findings

Inconsistent engagement qualification

Accepting an engagement relies on individual judgment.

Capacity not allocated

Workload per consultant isn't compared before committing.

Individual customer tracking

Each consultant keeps their tracking outside a shared space.

Next actions hard to see

The owner has to ask for file status to know where to step in.

Owner validation

ORKYO doesn't decide on the owner's behalf. Every finding is put to them, and they respond using the options shown in the app:

Yes, it's important
Yes, but not a priority
No, that doesn't apply
I'd like to discuss it

The priorities chosen

Clarify which engagements to accept and schedule
Allocate capacity across files
Make important next actions visible

In this example, the owner chooses these priorities. A real user can select 0, 1, 2, or 3.

Why were these priorities chosen?

Clarify which engagements to accept and schedule

Finding: Inconsistent engagement qualification
Impact on the owner or team: Commitments made with no shared criteria
Why this priority was chosen: A poorly qualified engagement later weighs on the whole team.
Desired benefit: Decide to accept on a shared basis.
First concrete action: Define criteria for accepting an engagement.

Allocate capacity across files

Finding: Capacity not allocated
Impact on the owner or team: Uneven workload between consultants
Why this priority was chosen: Available capacity drives the deadlines that get promised.
Desired benefit: Commit to deadlines with full knowledge of workload.
First concrete action: Make each consultant's workload visible.

Make important next actions visible

Finding: Next actions hard to see
Impact on the owner or team: Follow-ups and deadlines spotted late
Why this priority was chosen: What isn't visible doesn't get prioritized.
Desired benefit: A shared view of upcoming actions.
First concrete action: Gather the next actions for every engagement.

A file, from request to payment

1. Customer request
A client asks for support; the request is logged and qualified.
2. Preparing the proposal
Scope, deliverables, and estimated workload are gathered in the file.
3. Sending the proposal
The proposal is sent with its expected decision date.
4. Following up on the proposal
An unanswered proposal shows up among the follow-ups to do.
5. Customer acceptance
The acceptance and the engagement's scope are logged.
6. Scheduling the engagement
Work is assigned to consultants based on their actual capacity.
7. Carrying out the engagement
Deliverables are produced and progress stays visible to the team.
8. Preparing and sending the invoice
Reaching a milestone or finishing the engagement triggers the invoice.
9. Following up on an unpaid invoice
Unpaid fees show up in the receivables follow-up.
10. Receiving and recording payment
Payment is recorded and the engagement is closed.

This example describes a recommended path, from the customer's request to payment. It does not describe an automation already performed on the owner's behalf.

The gain being sought

Immediately find the status of a file.
Know which quote needs a follow-up.
Spot finished work that needs to be invoiced.
Identify an unpaid invoice to follow up on.
Limit duplicate data entry and information searches.
Reduce follow-ups done from memory.
Spend more time on clients, operations, and growth.

If 9 files a week each require 10 minutes of avoidable searching or follow-up, better organization could free up about 1 h 30 per week.

This illustrative estimate is not a promise of results. The actual gain depends on the business's volume and organization.

Before / with a more structured organization

Before

• Scattered information
• Follow-ups done from memory
• Forgotten quotes
• Delayed invoicing
• Irregular follow-ups
• Limited visibility into payments

With a more structured organization

• File status visible
• Next action identifiable
• Quote tracked
• Finished work passed on to invoicing
• Invoice followed up on
• Payment recorded
• Owner less dependent on memory

ORKYO urgency ranking

1. Make important next actions visible
2. Allocate capacity across files
3. Clarify which engagements to accept and schedule

Recommended operational order

1. Engagements qualified
2. Capacity allocated
3. Responsibilities clarified
4. Next actions tracked

Where is your business losing time between the customer's request and payment?

The ORKYO Business Scan helps you spot the main administrative friction points and choose up to three improvement priorities. About 10 minutes, no account required.

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