Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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February 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 13 THE PROADVISOR SPOTLIGHT SPONSORED CONTENT A s Globa l Leader of the Quick- Book s On l i ne Products I n it iat ive Team, Hamilton is most excited to work up close and personal with some of Q u ic k B ook s O n l i ne's bi g ge s t advocates and product leaders. "I have a lot of passion for our clients and customers, and I'm really looking forward to continuing to connect with ProAdvisors. Luis Sanchez achieved g reat t h i ngs w it h t he ProAdv isor Program, and I want to continue to double-dow n on t he work t hat he started when he was in this role," said Hamilton. Under Sanchez' reign, the Quick- Books ProAdvisor program saw tre- mendous growth, more than doubling the number of QuickBooks ProAdvi- sors to 130,000 worldwide. Intuit has also launched and revamped several versions of QuickBooks Online, as well as various ProAdvisor certifcations and training. Hamilton has no plans to slow down this momentum either. He plans to continue to explore and roll out new approaches and oferings for the ProAdvisor Program, including a new QuickBooks Advanced Certif- cation that will launch on March 28, 2016. "Te areas that the team has focused on in the past have been spot on and we w ill continue to focus in those areas. As a result of their eforts, we have awa rd-w i n n i ng t ra i n i ng a nd certifcation opportunities. We are also working on increasing the number of partnerships with third-party apps in eforts to help accountants grow their practice online," said Hamilton. Intuit has built an entire ecosystem focused on helping accountants and their clients get onboard with their third-party app partners to eliminate pain points for small business owners. It has also worked hard to create a harmonious and seamless experience within this ecosystem. Te ProAdvisor program is closely aligned to helping accounting frms become a Firm of the Future. Intuit has worked to deeply integrate its ProAdvisor program into QuickBooks Online Accountant and plans to continue to do so in future versions. Every aspect of the integra- tion bet ween Quick Book s Online Accountant and the ProAdvisor Pro- gram leverages one of the three pillars of a Firm of the Future: embracing the Cloud, being a trusted advisor and stay ing connected. In fact, Intuit's Find-A-ProAdvisor director y helps ProAdv isors connect to new small business clients. "The whole idea behind getting connected and growing your practice is about ensuring that accountants have a presence online. Firms need a website because, as Jim McGinnis has said, 'Te web is the new lobby.' Tat's why we are focused on revamping our online directory to not only help fnd leads for accountants, but also the best possible match between small busi- nesses and accountants. It's really all m o v i n g t o w a r d t h e F i r m o f t h e Future," said Hamilton. One of the many benefts available to ProAdvisors who are already using Quick Books Online Accountant is free for life licenses for using one of t hei r pa r t ner apps a nd d i scou nt s t h at t he y c a n sh a re w it h c l ie nt s . I nt u it encourages ProAdvi- sors to get connected with the apps because t hey ca n get deeper insight into their cli- ents' work f lows that prev iously may have been unavailable. Another beneft is being able to see frsthand how these apps work before recommending them to clients. "We are thinking very deeply about how we can continue to invest in our ProAdvisor oferings, along with the entire QuickBooks experience for our customers. As they continue to grow their businesses, we want to empower their accountants to move to Quick- Books Online Accountant, if they are not already using the software. The deep integration between our ProAd- visor program and QuickBooks Online Accountant provides great benefits that can help accountants take their frms to the next level to become Firms of the Future," said Hamilton. Intuit is also investing in the mar- keting resources and tools it provides to help accountants get online and build their practice. Te resources are designed to g ive accountants best practices for social media and focus on building and establishing a business presence online, as well as tips for gaining followers and following others. While Intuit is investing in its pro- grams and infrastructure, the occa- sional setback does happen. However, Hamilton explained that while Intuit i s com m it ted to bei ng qu ic k a nd responsive when adversit y strikes. W hen the company received com- plaints of spam, it took swif action to reduce phishing attacks against its customers. One of the solutions is the ability for ProAdvisors to completely h ide t heir ema i l add ress f rom t he Find-A-ProAdvisor directory, opting to be contacted through a form instead. "Security remains a very high pri- ority for us. As such, we take security and phishing and spam schemes very seriously. Since learning of the issues, we have imple- me nt e d a v a r ie t y of phases to ensure that ProA dv isors' dat a is secure. We are moni- toring our systems daily and we have seen the percentage of phishing ema i ls d rop t remen- dously. Our customers can rest assured that our eyes are squarely on the issue and we are continuing to combat it," said Hamilton. "Te market is constantly shifing, which is why being a Firm of the Future is so important. You have to be ready and willing to embrace the change t hat's com i ng. For us, t hat mea ns continually talking to ProAdvisors and puting our ear to the ground. We want accountants to know that we're lis- tening, and if we're not meeting their needs, we want to hear about it," said Hamilton. For more information on the Pro- Advisor program, the new certifcation, a s w e l l a s FAQ s , v i s it t he I nt u it Accountants News Central ( htp:// blog.accountants.intuit.com ). L ate last year, Luis Sanchez, the leader of Intuit's ProAdvisor Program, transi- tioned to a new position within the company, passing the ProAdvisor torch to Chris Hamilton to lead the way. Hamilton has been busy carrying on the initiatives that were already in place for the ProAdvisor Program, while simultaneously planning for the program's future. The Road Ahead for Intuit's ProAdvisor Program