Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/94658
By Randy Johnston FROM THE TRENCHES Building Value by Thinking Strategically F irms tend to build their strategic plans around the times of their annual meet- ings. For some of you, that is now, and for others of you this planning process falls at different times of year. However, many of your clients do their strategic planning between October and December in preparation for the coming year. The closest most of us get to helping clients plan strategically is to minimize tax impacts by doing some tax planning in late October, November and early December. Helping clients save money is good, although somewhat tactical. Wouldn't it be good to help clients, and your firm, make money by thinking strate- gically? The Simple Formula As you have seen repeatedly in this column, you need to have a business strategy and business tactics before you have an Information Technology strategy and tactics. Te idea is you have to have a well-conceived busi- ness strategy to align the IT strategy with the business strategy. While reviewing some recent firm survey data, I was appalled that 81 percent of firms have no formal written IT strategy. In fact, only 12 percent of firms have a formal writen IT strategy. Te statistics are similar for business plans. A philosophy learned from expert and now great friend, Dr. Bob Spencer says: "If it's not in writing, it doesn't exist!" Tis is true for business plans, IT plans and business conti- nuity plans. Do you have your strategy, tact ics and budget in writing? Another sta- tistic that comes f rom repeated survey data that is very counterintui- tive is that when more is spent in IT, the money taken home by partners is greater. If IT spending is between 5-12 percent of top line revenue, the amount taken home will be the highest. If you try to save your way to more Mr. Johnston is executive vice president and partner of K2 Enterprises and Network Management Group, Inc. He is a nationally recognized educator, consultant and writer with over 30 years' experience. He can be contacted at randy.johnston@cpapracticeadvisor.com. money taken home by spending 0-5 percent of top line revenue, you've guaranteed that you'll take home less money. Tis is not to say that you can afford to squander a single dollar spent on IT, but to remind you that you have to spend money to make money. Your clients need the same knowledge. There are lots of approaches to business planning that work. A favored simple approach is "Te One Page Business Plan," by Jim Horan (www. onepagebusinessplan. com). Tere are many other methods that are quite good where goals are laid out with indi- v idual steps and r e s pons i bi l it i e s assigned. You need to have a method that you con- sistently use for your firm and with your clients. Further, you need accountability for when things go right and wrong that is more than simply a compensation discussion. Now, the technology can kick in. YOU'LL HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO HELP YOUR CLIENTS. Other columns in this issue, including ones written here in the past, talk about all the new things to expect in the coming year. A simple list of major changes include: Windows 8, Office 2013, Windows Server 2012, SQL Ser ver 2012, Exchange 2013, UltraBooks that include Thunder- bolt hardware for increased speed, broader use of SSDs, increased R AM to 8GB, more use of cloud applications, and a preponderance of bolt-on applications that extend capabilities of existing products. You'll see new generation account- ing soſtware, soſtware improvements for tax notices and appeals with products like Beyond415 and Value- Appeal, and new releases of soſtware from the major publishers like CCH, Thomson and Intuit that improve integration. But with all of these technologies HOW do they fit your client's needs and your firm's strate- gies? Tat is the question. The Opportunity If you can conceive services needed December 2012 t www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 29 by your clients that are not traditional compli- ance services, you will have opportunities to assist the clients year- round. Te clients will trust you more, call on you more for advice and in the process be willing to share more of their newly found abundance with you. You will have to be prepared to be innova- t ive, f lex ible and thought ful whi le blending in a mix of reasonableness to your recommendations. It will be helpful if you can bring a few tools to the table whether those technologies are business planning tools, budgeting tools, financial reporting tools or specialty applications to solve specific problems. You may even have to help them navigate new Microsoſt tech- nologies or strategic decisions about the cloud and mobility. You'll have to leave your comfort zone to help your clients. The Action Consider your firm's business plan- ning approach. Can you improve this and convince other partners that the change is good for your firm and your clients? Can you select the appro- priate tools for your firm and be pre- pared to use them with clients in the future? Build your plan for the future looking at both your firm and your clients. Include a strong dose of vision and technology and make a difference in your local market. Improve your firm and consider how you can help your clients more. If you proactively help with new services, you'll see the difference you have made in your clients before many others around you. You'll be glad you acted to make the difference.