Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/146073
SUCCESSFUL SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTING By Doug Sleeter Change Management Doesn't Work I f you Google the phrase "change management" you'll get 724 million results! And you can find over 80,000 books on the topic. So I guess it's a popular phrase, but it simply doesn't work. Ever since my days as a Macintosh evangelist in the 1980s, I've been involved with change management. In those days, I spent all my waking hours trying to convince people that the mouse is a very useful device and that fonts and graphics on the computer screen would be something they would never want to be without. Apple had a laser-sharp vision about the future of the personal computer, and we set our sights on dramatically changing the way people work. But geting people to adopt Apple's vision was much harder than convincing cus- Doug Sleeter is the founder of The Sleeter Group, a national group of accounting software consultants who serve small and medium-sized businesses. He is the host of the Accounting Solutions Conference and the author of several books including the QuickBooks Consultant's Reference Guide, and the leading market college textbooks QuickBooks Fundamentals and QuickBooks Complete. For more information visit www.sleeter.com. Doug can also be reached at Doug.Sleeter@CPAPracticeAdvisor.com. 20 tomers to implement a change management program. Fast forward to today where it seems everyone is talking about the cloud, and that every business should move all their systems to the cloud. Some frms are implementing change management programs in the old fashioned way in hopes that their managers can somehow force the organization to switch all their processes and systems to the cloud. But I think managers are missing the concept that most people are allergic to "change management." People don't like to be managed, but they will always follow good leadership, backed by a solid vision. In fact, most people are desperate to fnd good leadership. So the question for you is not about how you manage, but how you lead your frm and your clients to beter success. Missing from all the talk about moving to the cloud are two key questions: What is the vision, and what is the roadmap? To develop your vision, let's pretend you're starting a new frm. Would you buy servers, LANs, firewalls, and expensive sofware that only runs on Windows PCs? Would you buy dozens of file cabinets to store paper-based records? Would you buy high-volume copy machines, and high-speed printers? What about the phone system? Would you buy long-distance plans, or use hosted VOIP systems with forwarding to cell phones, speech to text messaging, and voicemail forwarding by email? Would you invest in separate ofce spaces for your staf and a large client reception area? Will you expect your staf to be in the ofce every day? Will your clients bring their records in August 2013 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com shoeboxes, and pick up their printed fnancial statements and tax returns? I'm sure you'll fnd many of the answers to the questions above are diferent today than they were just fve years ago. So as you build your vision of your future frm and of your client's businesses, consider each of today's entrenched, traditional technologies, and design new-world approaches to replace those systems. Let's start with the following vision: 1. LOCATION In today's business world, your selection of a physical location for your ofces is not nearly as important as it used to be. Your new frm should focus more on providing a home base where your staf will meet and coordinate activities, but less on the size of individual ofces and facilities. Perhaps focus on a large common area or meeting room, as opposed to lots of cubicles or ofces. Te ofce will become a gathering place as opposed to living quarters for your staf. Make sure you locate in an area with high-bandwidth Internet access, and close to services you'll need at the ofce such as food, supplies, and deliveries. 2. ANYTIME/ANYWHERE ACCESS TO ALL FIRM AND CLIENT INFORMATION For every piece of technology you select, the goal should be to provide every employee with web access to all data and applications they need to perform their jobs. Te vision is to provide a way for every employee or contractor to perform all of their job duties from anywhere. Even if you decide not to allow people to work from home, you want systems in place so people can work from anywhere. 3. PAPERLESS DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Embrace paperless document management systems. If your frm relies on paper to operate, you won't be able to achieve most of the goals contained in the vision of your new frm. 4. FRAUD PREVENTION AND SECURITY CONTROLS • Invest in systems to implement information security and fraud prevention. Te best way to prevent fraud is to remove the opportunity for fraud to occur. • Implement password management systems like Lastpass.com that will lock down all passwords in your frm, allowing management to share (and unshare) access to sofware and websites. Enforce strong passwords, and educate your employees about best practices for password management. • Select cloud service providers that have strong security compliance certifcates (SOC2). 5. AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS • Invest in systems that provide automated workfow. • Tink zero-entry at every step, and automation of every business process. Zero-entry technologies allow accountants to be collaborators with small business owners. For the frst time ever, we can now help clients manage their accounting data in