Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/680172
20 May 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com BRIDGING THE GAP By Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP Is It Easy To Do Business With Your Firm? Easy Button For Clients Providing clients with the tools to easily collaborate with your team and complete the tasks you request of them is a must in today's rapidly changing environment. Tanks to the cloud and mobile devices, your clients are enjoying their highest degree of ease in conducting their day to day business. W hether it be personal or professional, we can no longer focus all technolog y deci- sions inward on what works best for operating the frm. A n external facing lens is needed to provide your clients with the easy buton they are now accustomed to having. What Easy Buttons Look Like Easy butons can come in all shapes and sizes and range from simple to complex. Ultimately, the goal is to limit conf usion, complex it y and miscommunication and give them one thing to do: hit the easy buton. Here are a few examples: • E m b e d a c h a t f e a t u r e i n y o u r website for clients and prospects to easi ly reach a k nowledgeable and friendly member of your frm. • Send your clients a digital packet of all the information they need for a meeting or to complete the next step in the work fow. A lso be able to point t hem to a locat ion w he r e t he y c a n r e f e r e nc e t h at information at any time. • Prov ide them w ith a technolog y tool that walks them through the process of providing tax informa- tion and documents click by click (think TurboTax). Integration/Automation Cloud technologies ofer greater i nte g r at ion a nd autom at ion opportunities than we've had in the past. Te architecture of the solution, mobile capabilities and level of openness the company has adopted are becoming as, if not more, important than simply feature and function. Expectations among clients, employees and partners are changing regarding how data fows between systems. As mobile devices continue to proliferate, the number of tasks we can perform by simply taking a picture is becoming much larger. Processes are moving toward "click it and forget it" as the systems automatically handle more and more of the manual tasks with algorithms. A re you ofering these capabilities to your clients? Streamline Your Workfow Equally as important as the technol- ogy tools are the processes your frm employs to do business with your clients. Leading frms are leverag- ing Lean Si x Sigma principles to strea m l ine work f low for bot h internal operations and client facing processes. Tey aren't just looking for ways to make their jobs easier but also to make it as easy as possible for clients to do business with the frm. From simplif ying the process for data collection to providing an easy to use system for work product delivery, the goal is to minimize any hurdles the client must overcome in their interactions with the frm. Attitude is Key W hi le technolog y and process combine to provide powerful tools for your team and clients, the overall atitude within your frm is also criti- cal. You must maintain a focus on continuous improvement and make it pervasive at all levels of the frm, starting at the top. Leaders should evangelize the desire to make the clients lives easier and recognize/ reward those that bring ideas to the table that achieve this goal. In the end, if you adopt the strat- eg y of always looking for new easy butons for your clients, you will have a client base that exudes hap- piness. And, in turn, they will reward you by buying more ser vices and referring you to family and friends. Tus, achiev ing the grow th that we all seek in today's competitive environment. 2 0 M a y 2 0 1 6 • w w w . C P A P r a c t i c e A Jim Boomer is a shareholder and the CIO for Boomer Consulting , Inc. He is the director of the Boomer Technology Circles™ and an expert on managing technology within an accounting frm. He also serves as a strategic planning and technology consultant and frm adviser in the areas of performance and risk management. In addition, Jim is leading a new program, Te Producer Circle, in collaboration with CPA2BIZ and the AICPA. jim.boomer@cpapracticeadvisor.com I f your frm is like most, you are constantly look- ing for ways to fuel growth. Te fastest and easiest way to grow is by leveraging your existing client base. And to do so you need to make sure that your base is full of happy clients. Afer all, happy clients tend to buy more services and refer your frm to friends and family. Sure, quality, timeliness and great overall service go a long way towards high client satisfaction. But so too does the ease with which clients can interact and do business with the frm. Are you efectively leveraging technology to provide your clients with an easy buton?