Contents of CPA Practice Advisor - MAR 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

Page 38 of 38

THE CHANGE AGENT
sure businesses will ever stop creating paper, but until they do, we must be able to digitize that paper immediately to keep our cloud-based, mobile-
management soſt ware was back
on my server? I would probably just hold this
ability to get that docu- ment to its right location as soon as possible. It allows for speed, agility and scalability of your processes. If all team members are trained on how this works, then no one slows anyone else down (are their tax fi les to be reviewed in the partner's fl oor right now?). What if I were in the back of my car,
scanning documents, but I had no internet access, thus using my desktop as a temporary holding location? My scanned documents would
probably have sat on my desktop for some time waiting for internet access until either the client or the team members in our fi rm asked where they were. KTA: create the abilities within your fi rm to get knowledge to its end point without any layovers. Any intermediary stop-overs (like a computer desktop or the corner of your physical desk) can kill your efficiency and create information log-jams. What if I were in the back of my car,
and I wanted to pass out some To Dos to my team members but my practice
data in my brain or on a sticky note until I can get to my soſt ware. Having our Customer Relationship Manage- ment (CRM) soſt ware (as opposed to practice management software) online allows me to quickly purge my brain of what my client just told me to pass along to one of our team members. KTA: the brain of the fi rm owner is a bad place to store data! T e quicker data can leave a brain and
JUST LIKE ANYTHING YOU DO IN YOUR FIRM,
YOUR FIRST CONSIDERATION MUST ALWAYS BE YOUR CUSTOMERS.
make it to a 'To Do' on a workfl ow platform (we use XCM Solutions), the quicker the work can get done for the customer. What if I am in another city and am
producing paper that my team members need to begin work for that client? The ability to digitize paper is a
must because paper is always being generated within processes. I'm not
March 2012 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 39
accelerated firms moving forward. KTA: digitize paper as early in your processes as possible (like scanning client documents up front in your tax prep process). T e earlier you scan, the earlier you can shred. And the earlier you shred in your process, the less temptation you will have to touch that paper twice. Twice-touched paper is the doom to all business processes for many reasons. Here are two: (1) it demands you be localized near the paper itself and (2) you have to pay human labor to cart it through your firm. Paying administrative people to cart paper through a fi rm is just plain dumb.
The Real Purpose of Mobile Technologies Just like anything you do in your fi rm, your fi rst consideration must always be your customers. T is consideration is the biggest planning step of all on
your way to the cloud, and then mobile. What if your clients don't want you to be cloud-based and mobile-based. For me, I would tell you that you have the wrong clients. But maybe you can't make that move yet. Make sure in everything you do, it is all centered around meeting the needs of the customer. If you fail to consider this, and then go cloud and mobile, you may tick a lot of people off. So don't do it right now if it's wrong for your customers. So, you have to ask yourself, is
going mobile really what your cus- tomers want? Why not ask them? If you are ready to go mobile, but your clients are not, then you have a deci- sion to make: will you begin the long process of changing your client base, or will you stay behind while all other fi rms move to become mobile? Only you can look ahead to the future of our profession and try to innovate where your new customers will want you to be. And this bit of knowledge cannot be found in my magic man bag, which is not a purse!
2012
Innovation Award
Nominations Open