3Cloud scales smarter and staffs proactively with Certinia
Background
Scaling professional services demands operational agility
3Cloud faced the complex challenges of scaling professional services in a highly competitive market. These pressures intensified as the company expanded internationally, including a major operation in the Philippines, where government mandates required much longer hiring lead times.
"Because of the new constraints on our hiring timeline, we needed as much visibility into the needs of the sales pipeline as possible to accommodate the notice periods committed by the people we were trying to source, interview, and hire," states Casey Ryan, Sr. Director of Business Processes.
Anticipating resource needs early became critical, yet staffing decisions were still mired in lengthy leadership meetings. Lacking dedicated resource managers, the team often relied on incomplete information and anecdotal knowledge rather than dependable data.
With Salesforce already in place as its sales tracking system and system of record, 3Cloud recognized the need for a Salesforce-native professional services automation (PSA) solution to eliminate fragmented processes and costly data silos. To sustain its growth trajectory, the company required a unified PSA platform that could automate services forecasting, optimize resource allocation, and centralize trustworthy data for confident, data‑driven decisions.
"We were looking at other PSA systems," explains Jim Tatro, VP of Professional Services, "but with Certinia’s capabilities, along with the experience we had during the sales process, led us to believe that PS Cloud was the solution that would grow with us."
"Certinia’s Services Estimator truly unites our sales and delivery teams, bringing them closer to achieving shared goals. With Certinia on the Salesforce Platform, we gain a unified perspective. They are indistinguishable, which empowers our teams to work more effectively and collaboratively across the organization."
Challenge
Why fast growth demands more than manual processes
Without a unified PSA platform for forecasting and resource management, 3Cloud faced significant inefficiencies. These slowed decision-making, limited visibility, and introduced unnecessary risk into its scaling efforts.
- Disconnected departmental processes
Sales, services, and finance operated in silos. 3Cloud struggled to connect pipeline opportunities to tangible revenue and resource needs, obscuring the true financial impact of deals. This disconnect slowed collaboration across teams and created gaps between sales expectations and delivery capabilities. - Inefficient resource allocation
Without visibility into consultant availability and skill sets, leaders couldn’t proactively assign the right people at the right time. Projects often remained unstaffed until contracts were signed, creating delivery bottlenecks and hindering proactive hiring. These issues were amplified by 3Cloud’s expansion into the Philippines, where government regulations required longer notice periods for new hires. - Limited forecasting accuracy
Revenue and utilization forecasts relied heavily on manual inputs and speculative assumptions. Leaders faced constant pressure to make strategic decisions on incomplete information—exposing the business to missed targets and unpredictable revenue streams. - Unreliable data for decision-making
Without a single, trusted system of record, 3Cloud struggled to hold teams accountable for accurate inputs, eroding confidence in the information guiding critical decisions. Data was fragmented across teams and systems, creating multiple “versions of the truth” that slowed executives’ ability to act decisively.
Solution: Breaking silos and building decision-making confidence with proactive, data-driven planning
Centralized operations through Salesforce-native PSA
Real-time resource visibility and proactive planning
Accurate forecasting and executive confidence
Enhanced data trust and accountability
Centralized operations through Salesforce-native PSA
Real-time resource visibility and proactive planning
Accurate forecasting and executive confidence
Enhanced data trust and accountability
Results:
Achieving scalable growth with unified service operations
Today, Certinia serves as the backbone of 3Cloud's professional services operations, supporting approximately 900 consultants across multiple markets. “The move to a data-centric approach has revolutionized 3Cloud's financial forecasting, providing unprecedented accuracy and confidence for the leadership team,” emphasized Day. The CFO, CEO, and CRO now leverage real-time data to make strategic decisions about hiring, investments, and risk management.
Certinia also elevated the way 3Cloud approaches estimating services, replacing spreadsheets with a unified, collaborative process that aligns pricing, staffing, and delivery expectations early in the sales cycle. "We have implemented Services Estimator so we can see what's coming. We're able to work deals very early in the sales stages," says Ryan.
This shift has united sales and delivery teams around shared revenue goals, while reducing the friction that once slowed execution. With operations unified on Salesforce, 3Cloud eliminated manual handoffs and gained a single, reliable system of record to support continued growth.
Looking ahead, 3Cloud plans to extend Certinia’s impact with AI-driven capabilities for intelligent staffing and skill-based matching. What began as a PSA implementation has become a strategic foundation—one that underpins the company’s growth, scalability, and success in the competitive professional services market.
What our clients say
- Tyler Flora
- Senior Director, Professional Services
- Kurt Kuelz
- Vice President - Global Customer Outcomes
- David Laffineuse
- Worldwide Director of Service Delivery
- Mark Conklin
- Senior Director of Operations