Nimbl Consulting

A New Zealand based consultancy on what changed once three disconnected tools became one system, and what that meant for managing business performance as it grew.

For years, Nimbl ran the business across three separate systems: a spreadsheet for pipeline and leads, a time and expenses system, and Xero for the books. None of them talked to each other, and every report meant manually pulling numbers from all three.  

“Everything else [now] sits in CMap” Jayesh Rama.

Nimbl is a New Zealand based business transformation consultancy working primarily with government agencies, helping them design strategy, refine operating models and deliver the change that follows.  

At a Glance

• One System: CMap replaces spreadsheets, replaces the time and expenses system and manual reporting for pipeline, projects, budgets and invoicing.  

• Already, around one day a month is saved on manual data manipulation, reporting and administration

• A single source of truth creates visibility across people, projects, utilisation, pipeline, and financial performance.

• Engagement leads are now accountable for tracking budget versus actual figures throughout delivery

The Challenge

Before CMap, Nimbl managed different parts of the business across three different systems. Client opportunities were tracked in spreadsheets, a separate system to record timesheets, leave and expenses, and Xero handled financials and invoicing.  

“Life before meant working across disparate systems without any interfaces, and less visibility across our business” Jayesh Rama.

When Nimbl were working with a small number of clients and a team of around 15-20 people, the business was able to get by from pulling information together from multiple sources.  

Reporting was often based on month-end snapshots rather than a real-time view, which made it harder to stay on top of understanding the pipeline, project delivery, utilisation and forecasting as the business grew.  

Why Change?

The decision to invest in a purpose-built system was driven by Nimbl’s growth ambitions. Founder Tom Arkell  wanted better visibility across the business, better decision-making, and less time spent on administration and internal reporting. Just as importantly, he wanted consultants spending more time delivering value to clients and less time stitching information together from multiple systems.  

“In order to be able to continue to grow at the pace that we were looking for, and to scale sustainably into the future, we needed to get a lot more streamlined and get better visibility of our business to make better decisions” Jayesh Rama.

What Changed?

From tracking utilisation to understanding what it’s worth

For Jayesh, utilisation remains one of the key metrics in a consulting business. Nimbl could already measure utilisation before moving to CMap, but the difference today is the ability to understand the financial impact behind those numbers. Alongside the financial impact, the team can better understand capacity, workload, and where resources may need to be rebalanced across the business.

“Having better understanding of the connection between utilisation and the financials is probably the game changer for us. We’ve now got much better visibility at the detailed level [projects, resources, consultant level] on the financial impact of increasing or not hitting our utilisation targets” Jayesh Rama.

Having visibility at project, team, and individual level means Nimbl can identify issues earlier, whether that’s unused capacity, future resource gaps or consultants carrying too much workload.  

From three disconnected systems to one source of truth

CRM, project management, expenses and invoicing now sit within a connected workflow. The platform has become such a central part of day-to-day operations that the team has nicknamed it Mavis, reflecting how embedded CMap has become as the system people turn to from project management and resourcing to forecasting and reporting.  

Invoices can now be created within CMap and automatically transferred to Xero, removing manual steps from the process.  

“Now, invoices can be created within CMap, and there’s an automatic integration to Xero to send out invoices to clients” Jayesh Rama.  

From leadership oversight to engagement-led accountability

One of the biggest operational changes has been how engagement leads oversee projects.

Engagement leads can now estimate projects, monitor budgets and review progress within the same system. With access to the same information as leadership, they can make better decisions throughout a project’s lifecycle and take greater ownership of delivery outcomes.

“You’ve got the tools, you’ve got the visibility, and so therefore we’re holding you accountable to make sure that this project or engagement is managed effectively” Jayesh Rama.

From month-end reviews to week-by-week tracking

When asked what would create the biggest gap if CMap disappeared tomorrow, Jayesh’s answer was immediate “engagement management”. Teams now have visibility of resource plans, project budgets, and actuals as work progresses. Rather than waiting until month-end, they can review how a project is tracking on an ongoing basis and make changes where needed.

Results

Jayesh estimates the practice saves around one day per month that would previously have been spent collating information and preparing reports. Beyond the time savings, the biggest benefits have been:

• Better visibility of performance across the business

• Reduced manual transfer of information between systems

• Greater confidence in reporting accuracy  

• Better understanding of utilisation and its financial impact

• Improved project and engagement management

What’s next?

Nimbl’s aspiration is to become the most impactful business transformation consultancy in New Zealand. As the business continues to grow, the focus is on:

• Continuing to improve resource planning, utilisation, and team capacity management

• Strengthening recovery and margins

• Improving forecasting capability and confidence

• Building a stronger understanding of future demand through pipeline

• Not only to be able to grow, but to grow profitably and sustainably

CMap remains central to this goal by providing visibility across projects, people, utilisation and pipeline as the business scales, helping Nimbl balance growth, project delivery, resource planning and profitability as it continues to evolve.

Takeaway for firms like yours

A few things worth taking from Nimbl’s experience, whatever stage your firm is at:  

• If your systems worked for a team of fifteen, don’t assume they’ll hold at fifty. Nimbl’s spreadsheets and disconnected tools weren’t broken; they just stopped scaling once the business did

• Utilisation is only half the picture until it’s connected to the financials. Tracking an aggregate percentage is easy. Drilling into the details and underlying drivers to make the right decisions took a system that could join the two up

• Accountability needs tools, not just expectations. Nimbl couldn’t fairly hold engagement leads to their numbers until those leads has the same visibility as leadership did

• You don’t need a system to fail before you replace it. Nimbl’s decision came from wanting to keep growing at pace, not from a crisis, which meant it could plan the switch rather than scramble through it