RMI Connect Wrap Up

Resource Management Excellence

Enabling the Right Person in the Right Place at the Right Time

RMI Connect 2024 has officially wrapped up, and what an incredible few days it was! From thought-provoking keynote presentations and breakout sessions to impactful discussions on resource management (RM) maturity and excellence, and the latest advancements in RM automation, this year’s event truly embodied the collaborative spirit of the RMI community.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Focus Areas in the Expansion Era of RM: The ongoing pursuit of RM excellence, a strong commitment to demonstrating and communicating RM’s value, and the drive to expand RM capabilities across the organization.
  • Four Pillars of RM Excellence: Success hinges on four key pillars—highly skilled resource managers, efficient RM processes that ensure the “right person in the right place at the right time,” good quality data, and the effective use of automation tools.
  • RMOs are Maturing: As highlighted during member-led breakout sessions and panels, RMOs continue to evolve. Many cited the RMI Maturity Model as a crucial tool in their roadmap to achieving RM excellence.
  • The Exciting Future of RM Technology: With an increasing number of solutions catering to RM needs, some notable insights include:
    • Seamless integration of RM technology with complex middle-office systems is essential.
    • Striking the right balance between RM and project management collaboration is critical.
    • Gaps remain in technology that address the needs of RMOs.
    • While AI adoption has been slow, there are promising RM use cases that could drive significant value.
    • Immediate focus areas include refining processes, ensuring data quality, and managing change effectively.

THANK YOU!

A heartfelt thank you to all speakers, panelists, sponsors, and attendees for making this event so inspiring. Let’s continue the conversation and collaboration within the RMI CollabCommunity to keep the momentum strong!

Revisiting the RMI Connect 2024 Agenda:

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 – 11:00 AM ET – 2:00 PM ET

DESCRIPTION: As industries expand and global markets become increasingly interconnected, effective resource management has emerged as a critical factor for sustainable growth and competitive advantage. As such, the pursuit of RM excellence is on, and it has proven to be both exciting and challenging as organizations look to leverage RM capabilities as a vehicle to scale.  In this keynote session, RMI Managing Director Ryan Childers will provide valuable insights into strategies and leading practices for achieving RM excellence in today’s dynamic business environment and rapidly evolving “Expansion Era” of Resource Management. 

SPEAKER: Ryan Childers, Managing Director, Resource Management Institute

DESCRIPTION: Globalization of the economy has created opportunities for companies to innovate in how professional services are delivered. An effective Global Resource Management function can provide companies with a competitive advantage. However, building and operating a Resource Management function across multiple geographies comes with added complexities. For example, recruiting and retaining RMs, governance, forecasting demand, and automation are uniquely challenging. This workshop will summarize the latest industry research and share lessons learned in building a large Global Resource Management function at Amazon Web Services. 

SPEAKER: Gary Becker, Principal, Becker Business Consulting

DESCRIPTION: In 2022, our organization strategically identified resource managers as pivotal to our success in curbing attrition. To spearhead this initiative, we brought on board three dynamic individuals with diverse backgrounds to lay the foundation and implement our Resource Management (RM) program. As we delved into the program, it became evident that our organization had multifaceted needs that required targeted attention within the RM framework. Given our risk-averse nature, managing expectations and facilitating change were imperative, with leadership buy-in being a cornerstone.

This session will take you through the transformative journey undertaken in just one year, propelling us from ground zero to 2.5 on the RM Maturity Model.

SPEAKERS: Shannon McCarthy, Senior Consultant and Digital Analytics Services Resource Management Lead, LMI and Desiree Peyman, Resource Manager, LMI

DESCRIPTION: The Resource Management field is developing rapidly. Competitive workforce deployment requires us as resource managers to move beyond maximising staff utilisation.

Supported by (AI) technology, and using consultative skills, resource managers can develop into proactive business partners both deploy staff to strategic and differentiating work in projects, and scout opportunities for supplemental delivery of specific outcomes by external partners, thereby blending the best of internal and externally available skills.

I will take you along on the experience of Shell’s Resource Management practice in transforming to deliver on Shell’s ‘More value with less emissions’ strategy. I’ll focus on the behavioural shifts and our recent AI resource management deployment against the backdrop of a rapidly changing business context.

SPEAKER: Koen Timmermans, Global Operations Lead, Shell

DESCRIPTION: Join Beth Hunter, Resource Experience Management (REM) Leader at Rehmann, as she shares the company’s journey in scaling its resource management function. This session will delve into the successes and challenges of transforming the scheduling function into a streamlined REM process. Key topics include rebranding efforts, the creation of a two-year roadmap, the importance of change management, and addressing challenges related to technology, data, and growth. Attendees will gain insights into the strategies used to achieve a cohesive and efficient resource management process. 

SPEAKER: Beth Hunter, Resource Experience Management (REM) Leader, Rehmann

FORMAT: Three moderated panel sessions organized by the following three maturity groups: Getting Started, Evolving RMO, or Mature RMO.

DESCRIPTION: Three moderated panel sessions organized by the following three maturity groups: Getting Started (Level 1-2), Evolving (Level 3), and Mature (Level 4-5). Each panel session will discuss how companies are pursuing RM excellence to produce better business outcomes.

RMI Connect attendees will be able to select which panel session they would like to attend. Each panel session will include Q&A with the audience to enable the panel to address as many questions from the audience as possible.

Thursday, October 3, 2024 — 11:00 AM ET – 2:00 PM ET

DESCRIPTION: The technology landscape for RMOs is expanding and innovating rapidly. Established players, newer vendors and the expansion of AI use makes this an important time for RMOs to assess their current automation. This session will provide insights on the state of RM technology and how it can positively help your RMO.

SPEAKER: Marc Lacroix, RTM Consulting

DESCRIPTION: Alison is becoming well-known for her engaging sessions at RMI events! This time round, she’ll be running an interactive session on how to achieve gold standard resourcing. Hans will also be on hand to explore the technical challenges and solutions for achieving resourcing excellence. Touching across areas like engagement economics, reporting, and generative AI – this will be another great opportunity to connect and explore resourcing best practices. Don’t miss out!

SPEAKERS: Alison Driscoll, Head of Enablement and Hans Fladsrud, Head of Product, ProFinda

DESCRIPTION: Join us to discover how AI-enabled Professional Services Automation (PSA) can revolutionize your approach to resource management. Learn how leveraging AI-driven insights can optimize resource allocation, improve efficiency, and significantly boost revenue and margins.

SPEAKER: Sandeep Kumar, Founder & CEO, Kytes 

DESCRIPTION: Join us for a dynamic session on change management, where we’ll share insights and proven strategies to help you successfully implement resource management in your organization. We’ll cover best practices for aligning your teams, navigating the rollout process, overcoming common challenges, and ensuring a smooth transition that delivers lasting results.

SPEAKERS: Nicole Tiefensee – COO & Co-Founder and Brian Naylor – Implementation Project Manager, Runn

DESCRIPTION: Join Banoo Behboodi, Vice President of Success Engineering, for an engaging breakout session that highlights the critical role sentiment analysis plays in professional services organizations—especially for Resource Managers. As the industry moves beyond traditional metrics like margins and utilization, sentiment analysis is becoming essential for driving operational excellence and enhancing stakeholder satisfaction.

In this interactive session, Banoo will guide a conversation with attendees, exploring how blending operational data—such as project timelines and budgets—with sentiment data, which captures client and employee satisfaction, provides a more nuanced and real-time assessment of project health. For Resource Managers in particular, understanding and responding to sentiment data enables more agile decision-making and leads to stronger relationships with both teams and clients.

Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute to the discussion and discover new strategies to bring sentiment analysis into your resource management toolkit.

SPEAKERS: Banoo Behboodi, Vice President of Success Engineering, Kantata

DESCRIPTION: Certinia is market leader in the delivery of Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions. In this session we will discuss how Certinia’s own Resource Management function optimises the utilisation of their professional service team to deliver successfully for customers. We will also touch on a number of customer experiences and there will be a short demonstration to visualize what this means for resource managers and others. Finally, with a mind to the future, we will take a look at the potential offered by technologies such as AI, and their likely impact on the world of professional services.

SPEAKERS: Andy Campbell, Director of Solutions Marketing, Victoria Cullinane, Resource Manager, and Chloe Stephenson, Senior Product Strategy Manager

FORMAT: Three moderated panel sessions each focused on one of the essential ingredients to RM Excellence: People, Process and Data, and Technology.

DESCRIPTION: Three moderated panel sessions each focused on one of the essential ingredients to RM Excellence: People, Process and Data, and Technology. Each panel session will feature targeted topical discussion around how companies are pursuing RM excellence to produce better business outcomes.

RMI Connect attendees will be able to select which panel session they would like to attend. Each panel session will include Q&A with the audience to enable the panel to address as many questions from the audience as possible.

Sponsor Showcase