Progress survey finds firms lose USD $60,000 yearly

A survey published by Progress Software found that professional services firms lose a median USD $60,000 a year to non-billable client coordination work. The study covered firms in APAC, India and Singapore.

The research identifies administrative work around client delivery as a persistent drain on time and revenue. Respondents said teams spend nearly 20 hours a week collecting documents and signatures, following up with clients, clarifying requests and tracking tasks.

Based on an average billing rate of USD $65 an hour, that translates to an annual median cost of about AUD $84,000 per firm. The survey drew responses from 355 firms across 10 industries, including accounting, legal, financial services and healthcare.

The findings suggest many firms have updated parts of their service delivery while leaving client coordination tied to manual processes and separate tools. That gap appears to affect both internal workloads and the pace of client engagements.

Nearly 70% of respondents said at least one in 10 of their quarterly engagements are delayed by missing information or workflow issues. The results suggest process fragmentation has become an accepted cost for many firms rather than a problem being addressed directly.

Time pressure

The survey comes as professional services businesses face pressure to improve margins while maintaining client service standards. Work that cannot be billed to clients can weigh heavily on firms that depend on professional time as their main source of revenue.

In practice, the burden falls on staff who must chase paperwork, answer repeated client queries and keep tasks moving across different systems. The data suggests this effort, though often treated as routine administration, takes up a notable share of working hours.

Progress also found a disconnect between operational friction and firms' views of their own processes. While respondents reported delays and administrative overhead, many still expressed satisfaction with how they manage client work.

That may reflect how deeply email, spreadsheets and ad hoc follow-up remain embedded in day-to-day operations. For firms that have long relied on those methods, inefficiency may be seen as unavoidable rather than measurable.

"Across APAC, professional services firms are embracing digital transformation to improve productivity, strengthen client relationships and support growth. Yet many client interactions are still managed through fragmented processes that create unnecessary delays, inefficiencies and governance challenges. As firms look for new ways to remain competitive, there is growing recognition that better client collaboration is not simply an operational improvement but a strategic business advantage. By bringing greater structure, visibility and intelligence to these workflows, firms can enhance client trust, support compliance obligations and deliver better outcomes, while freeing their teams to focus on the expertise and advice that clients value most," said John Yang, Vice President, APJ, Progress Software.

Client delays

The survey covered APAC, India and Singapore, offering a view across markets with active professional services sectors and differing levels of digital adoption. Despite those differences, the reported coordination burden was significant across the sample.

The industries included in the research share a common dependence on document handling, approvals and repeated exchanges with clients. In accounting and legal work, for example, delays in receiving information can hold up an engagement even when technical work is ready to proceed.

The same applies in financial services and healthcare, where document collection, signatures and compliance checks are often essential before the core work can move forward. Any bottleneck in those early steps can slow delivery and add cost.

Progress positioned the findings as evidence that client coordination should be treated as part of service delivery rather than peripheral administration. It argued that requests, document collection, task management and follow-up should sit within a more structured environment.

"Helping clients and providing positive client experiences is the primary goal of professional services firms. However, many firms are failing to deliver client engagement experiences that are streamlined, effective and efficient," said Loren Jarrett, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Digital Experience, Progress Software.

Jarrett added: "For years, firms have accepted fragmented client coordination as simply part of the job. Our research shows these inefficient, manual processes are not only costly but also detrimental to the overall client experience."

External industry analysis cited by Progress points in the same direction. "Professional services firms are growing fast, but the way work gets coordinated hasn't kept up. Too much still depends on disconnected email, spreadsheets and informal processes, which creates delays, margin pressure and inconsistent client experiences," said Amy Machado, Research Director, Content and Knowledge Discovery Strategies, IDC.

Machado added: "The market has demand for a better way to collect information, organise work and deliver for clients with confidence. Progress has built a platform specifically to solve those challenges."