The client
PeopleFirst Advisory is an HR and people consulting firm with 12 consultants, providing HR advisory, policy design and compliance consulting services to SMEs.
The firm manages multiple ongoing client engagements, each involving information gathering, documents, reviews, approvals and recurring advisory work.
As the client base grew, manual onboarding and administrative coordination began consuming increasing amounts of consultant time. PeopleFirst needed a more structured way to manage client delivery without adding administrative staff or taking consultants away from billable work.
Cinqd capabilities implemented:
- CRM and client management
- Builder and forms
- Task management
- Workflow automation
- Client collaboration
- Workload and utilisation visibility
The challenge
PeopleFirst’s consultants were spending too much time on administrative work surrounding client engagements. Each new client required similar information to be collected and onboarding activities to be coordinated manually. Documents and approvals were often exchanged through email, making it harder to quickly identify what had been received and what was still outstanding.
Managers also had limited visibility over consultant workloads. As more projects were added, understanding who had capacity and where delivery was becoming delayed required additional coordination.
The problem was not the consulting work itself. It was the growing amount of administration required to keep that work organised. This reduced billable utilisation, slowed client onboarding and created unnecessary pressure on consultants.
How Cinqd helped PeopleFirst streamline client delivery
Making client onboarding more efficient
Cinqd helped PeopleFirst create a more structured onboarding process for new clients. Digital forms could be used to collect required information at the beginning of an engagement, reducing the need for consultants to repeatedly request details through emails and documents.
Once the required information was captured, the appropriate tasks and workflows could guide the team through the next stages of onboarding. This reduced repetitive administration while giving clients a clearer and more consistent starting experience.
Standardising consulting workflows
PeopleFirst introduced repeatable workflows for recurring activities such as HR audits, policy reviews and advisory projects. Instead of consultants managing similar engagements in different ways, common stages could be structured with clear tasks, responsibilities and deadlines.
Consultants still had the flexibility to adapt their advice to individual client requirements, but the operational process surrounding the engagement became more consistent.
Simplifying documents and approvals
Client documents and approvals were brought into a more structured collaboration process. Clients could provide required information and documents without relying entirely on long email chains, while consultants gained a clearer view of what had been received and what still required action.
This reduced unnecessary follow-ups and helped engagements progress with fewer administrative delays.
Improving consultant capacity visibility
As the number of client engagements increased, Cinqd gave managers a clearer view of workloads across the consulting team. Managers could see where consultants had capacity and where workloads were becoming heavier, helping them distribute new work more effectively.
This made it easier to support growth without automatically adding administrative resources or overloading individual consultants.
The results
PeopleFirst reported improvements in administration, consultant utilisation and client delivery after introducing Cinqd.
40% less admin time
More structured onboarding, digital information collection and repeatable workflows contributed to 40% less time spent on administrative activities.
Higher consultant utilisation
Reducing routine administrative work gave consultants more time to focus on billable client activities.
Faster client onboarding
Structured forms and onboarding workflows reduced the manual coordination required to get new engagements started.
More consistent delivery
Repeatable workflows gave consultants clearer processes to follow across audits, reviews and advisory engagements.
Better workload visibility
Managers gained a clearer understanding of consultant capacity, helping them allocate work more effectively as client demand increased.
Before and after Cinqd
| Before Cinqd | After Cinqd |
| Client onboarding repeated manually | Structured onboarding workflows |
| Information collected through emails and documents | Digital forms capture required information |
| Documents and approvals scattered across emails | More structured client collaboration |
| Consulting processes varied between engagements | Repeatable consulting workflows |
| Limited visibility over consultant workloads | Clearer capacity and utilisation visibility |
| Consultants spent significant time on administration | More time available for client work |
The overall impact
Cinqd helped PeopleFirst create a more scalable operating structure around its HR consulting services. By connecting client information, onboarding, documents, tasks and workflows, the firm reduced the amount of manual coordination required to manage each engagement.
Consultants could spend more time on client-facing and billable work, while managers gained greater visibility over workloads and delivery.
Instead of adding more administrative resources as the business grew, PeopleFirst established repeatable processes that could support a larger client base while maintaining a consistent approach to delivery.
Could Cinqd help your consulting firm?
Cinqd brings client management, forms, tasks, workflows, collaboration and team visibility together in one connected business operating system.
Reduce repetitive administration, standardise client delivery and give your consultants more time to focus on higher-value client work.
Book a demo to see how Cinqd can help your consulting firm scale with less administrative complexity.
