Mavenlink Blog

Raymond Grainger

Ray Grainger is the Founder and CEO of Mavenlink.
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Recent Posts

To Compete, CIOs Must First Build Trust

Most of us grew up with our parents telling us not to get into strangers’ cars. Today, we regularly open ridesharing apps on our phones and willingly ask strangers to drive us places. Ridesharing apps can track where we are during our ride, who our driver is, and even allow us to send our route and estimated time of arrival to friends. This interaction—which essentially amounts to hitchhiking—is made possible because technology facilitated instantaneous trust building within a transaction...

8/22/19 7:30 AM in: Project Management, Resource Management, Operational System of Record

In an Increasingly Competitive Market, Professional Services Firms Need a Focused Approach

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the professional and business services is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry. As a result, services organizations are clamoring to adapt to meet the needs of both their clients and the rapidly evolving spectrum of services for project-based work.

7/30/19 7:30 AM in: Marketing, Project Management, Agency, Strategy

Digital Transformation and Harnessing the Power of the Modern Distributed Workforce

Over the past decade, the global workforce has evolved substantially, and it is accelerating. The drivers of this evolution are manyfold. The global competitive landscape is relentless; there are generational shifts giving rise to different work modes and behavior; the pace of technology acceleration seems unstoppable; and business has gone through a dramatic digital transformation requiring companies to have a more fluid, agile workforce model.

12/28/18 7:30 AM in: Project Management, Resource Management

4 Resource Management Practices that Improve Business Agility

Historically, services organizations have managed the planning and scheduling of resources through informal ways, where tribal knowledge is a critical element of the process. For example, resource planners often have years of history and close working relationships with many personnel, with conversations across the office, email, unintegrated point solutions, and spreadsheets most commonly used.

9/13/18 7:00 AM in: Resource Management

The Four-Step Guide to Dealing with Difficult Customers

In 30 years of serving clients, I’ve seen all sorts of situations, from clients who communicate poorly to those who seemingly can’t be pleased.  Oftentimes, there were steps on my end I could take to make the situation better with any relationship. In this post, I’ll share with you the four core best practices I’ve learned for dealing with difficult customers.
5/8/17 9:13 AM in: Strategy

How to Gain A Competitive Advantage with Customer Trust: 6 Simple Steps

Trust is critical in any client-provider relationship. Your clients should be able to trust your quality of work, ease of communication, and that you can deliver what you promise. Not to mention, customer trust is an ideal way to gain a competitive advantage over your market.

5/5/17 11:09 AM in: Strategy

2017 Economic Trends: The Specialization of Labor & Global Resourcing

In the world of services, we’ve seen global resourcing strategy come up a lot in recent discussions. That is because today what are seeing is a dramatic acceleration of the specialization of labor. There is a reduced call for the Renaissance man, who can do a little of everything. There is a greater call for people who have specialized skills and as a result, a great need for global resourcing strategy.
4/4/17 6:00 AM in: Leadership

The 2017 State of the Services Economy Series: An Introduction to the Service Level Economy

I see more opportunity for businesses in the services sector than at any other time in my 30 years of experience in related industries. Economic forces are driving a tremendous amount of demand for a myriad of services.

11/17/16 6:00 AM in: In The News, Project Management, Resource Management, Strategy

A Note from Mavenlink CEO about the Company’s Recent $39 Million Investment from Goldman Sachs

This is an exciting time for the services industry, and investors know it too. It is expected that firms within the creative and professional services sector — notably marketing agencies, IT services firms, management consultants, engineering firms, and architecture firms — will generate $3 trillion in 2016. And this market opportunity is growing rapidly, at least 2x the average GDP growth in the US.
11/15/16 9:00 AM in: In The News

The Four Surprisingly Obvious Challenges for Today’s Service Providers

This article is excerpted from the exclusive Mavenlink ebook, Thriving in a Service Level Economy.

7/20/16 6:00 AM in: Strategy

The Great Enabler: Technology

This article is excerpted from the exclusive Mavenlink ebook, Thriving in a Service Level Economy.

7/11/16 6:00 AM in: Strategy

Payment Schedule: How to Get Clients to Approve Work

Without timely client approvals, you may not be able to collect cash. To make sure you stay on payment schedule, try these three best practices for gaining client approvals. 

7/8/16 10:34 AM in: Strategy

What is the Globalization of Services?

This article is excerpted from the exclusive Mavenlink ebook, Thriving in a Service Level Economy.

7/6/16 6:00 AM in: Strategy

The Evolution of Businesses Ecosystems

This article is excerpted from the exclusive Mavenlink ebook, Thriving in a Service Level Economy.

6/29/16 6:00 AM in: Strategy

Impact of Brexit on Work Today

The votes are in! The United Kingdom has officially decided to leave the European Union. Mavenlink CEO Ray Grainger shares the impact "Brexit" has on the future of work. 

6/24/16 1:37 PM in: In The News

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