How Datumo reduced unplanned bench by 29% and extended resource planning to six months

Datumo delivers specialist data-engineering and cloud projects that require precise combinations of technology experience, seniority and availability. Knowing that a data engineer will be free is not enough; the company also needs to know whether that person has the right cloud-platform, architecture and tooling experience for a specific client need.

As the project portfolio grew, the information required for resource capacity planning became fragmented. Current allocations, expected project end dates, likely extensions, employee skills, planned absences, recruitment activity and sales pipeline demand were maintained across separate spreadsheets, project plans and conversations between sales and delivery.

This made future availability difficult to assess at company level. A specialist could appear fully allocated until only a few weeks before an engagement ended, leaving limited time to secure an extension, identify another client project or start a targeted recruitment process.

The same fragmentation slowed sales responses. Confirming whether Datumo could assemble a team with the required skills often depended on checking availability with several delivery managers. The result was reactive bench management and slower staffing decisions.

Datumo needed a single view that connected future supply of specialist skills with confirmed and potential project demand.

Datumo introduced Synthelio as a shared resource-planning layer for delivery, sales and operations.

Each consultant profile combined primary and secondary skills, seniority, cloud-platform experience, current and planned allocations, expected project end dates, extension probability, partial availability and scheduled time off.

A single allocation timeline distinguished confirmed work from likely extensions, soft bookings, planned internal moves and demand originating from the sales pipeline. This allowed teams to separate committed capacity from scenarios that still required commercial confirmation.

Sales began recording expected resource demand before a contract was signed. Each demand record included the required role, skills, seniority, number of people, target start date, expected duration and sales probability. Synthelio could then compare upcoming demand with consultants rolling off current engagements.

The delivery team began reviewing both three-month and six-month availability horizons every week. The three-month view supported concrete allocation, extension and bench-prevention actions. The six-month view supported capacity planning, recruitment and skills-gap decisions. For longer-term workforce planning, Datumo also used scenario views extending up to twelve months.

Instead of asking only who was available now, sales and delivery could see who would become available, what skills they had and which future opportunities could use that capacity.

Operational planning extended from two to six months

After introducing the new planning process, Datumo extended its reliable operational resource-planning horizon from approximately two months to six months. The company could see upcoming project completions, likely extensions, partial availability and skill shortages early enough to take action. Strategic workforce and recruitment scenarios could be modelled up to twelve months ahead.

Unplanned bench hours reduced by 29%

Potential bench situations became visible several months earlier. Sales and delivery had more time to secure project extensions, present specialists to other clients, plan partial allocations or use available capacity in presales and internal initiatives. Unplanned bench hours fell by 29%, primarily through earlier reallocation rather than higher overall workload.

For this case study, unplanned bench means paid employee availability that was not assigned to a client project and had not been deliberately planned as time off, training or internal work.

Initial staffing proposals prepared in under two hours

Before Synthelio, confirming whether Datumo could assemble a team with a specific combination of skills could take up to two working days and require input from several delivery managers. With skills, allocations and future demand in one view, sales could usually prepare an initial realistic staffing proposal in under two hours.

This allowed Datumo to respond to clients faster and identify earlier whether a new opportunity could be staffed internally, required a planned reallocation, or justified recruitment or partner support.

Results summary

• Unplanned bench hours reduced by 29%

• Operational resource-planning horizon extended from 2 to 6 months

• Strategic capacity and recruitment scenarios available up to 12 months ahead

• Weekly availability reviews conducted across 3-month and 6-month horizons

• Initial staffing proposal time reduced from up to 2 working days to under 2 hours

• Sales pipeline demand connected with future specialist availability

• Bench risk and skill gaps identified before current projects ended