Technology can be the difference between a good and a great business. But in order to succeed and unlock its full potential, you need to be able to decipher each of its technological features, and how best you can implement them into your business operations.
After all, running the likes of an accountancy practice is by no means easy. It is far more than simply a service, it’s the overseeing of a whole enterprise, and one in which maximum productivity and growth is rapidly sought. So, how can it best be implemented within an accountancy practice?
Here we uncover 5 ways today’s technology can be adapted to your business, helping you to grow your practice faster…
1. Automate your everyday tasks
Automation is by no means a new concept, yet frequent revisions to accountancy software, for instance Sage, means that the tools on offer today within an accountancy practice can be transformative within a business. In fact, they can speed up manual tasks by up to five times, making bookkeeping automated and effortless.
The advantages of such automation mean that not only do they eradicate labour-intensive processes, saving a practice significant levels of time, they can also empower accountants to take on additional clients, in a bid to grow.
2. Use real-time accounting
Cloud technology is ideal for practices looking to develop their software business management with an agile system that can adapt to your changing business needs. A fully hosted solution, such as Sage, for your business is an ideal choice for accountancy practices.
Such flexibility and real-time functionality enable accountants to give their clients anytime, anywhere access to data within just a few clicks. By offering customers a method to access their data simply and quickly, accountants can spend more time building relationships with existing clients and finding new prospects.
3.Be active and contactable on all platforms
In order to promote your business, accountants need to be accessible. By offering your existing clientele, and prospective ones, several contactable avenues, your clients can contact you whenever they need to. This can help to build trust and ensure that your services are recommended to others.
In this digital age however, your presence also needs to be seen on the likes of video calls, social media, and messaging apps in addition to more traditional face-to-face meetings, phone calls, and email. Also, it’s likely that the preferred contact for some clients will vary from that of others, so offering a good selection of availability over a variety of platforms is recommended.
The chosen form of contact needn’t be direct, for instance, the likes of Facebook and Instagram, enable non-direct communication with patrons, i.e. engaging posts that clients will find useful, from highlighting the services you offer or shedding light on ways to handle common bookkeeping challenges.
Posting thought-provoking content can help you to build a stronger online presence, while ensuring clients consider you to be a friendly and approachable brand.
4. Adapt your services to suit millennials
There are many ways in which to adapt services to attract millennial clients. And given that millennials make up 35% of the workforce (according to a report by KPMG), accountants wishing to grow their accounting business can benefit greatly by building strong relationships with their millennial clients. So, how best should you adapt your services to better suit millennial clients?
Going paperless is a great place to start, just as embracing social media is. But what else can be done? How about subscription pricing? Subscription pricing is something millennials have grown up with. The likes of Amazon Prime and Netflix are growing increasingly popular, with a low monthly rate that makes it a more affordable option to millennials (as opposed to a larger one-off fee).
And the same concept is now being applied to many other services, including that of accounting services. Millennial business owners are choosing to gain their accounting services through monthly subscription payments, so being sure that your practice offers different methods of payments, including an option to pay via monthly subscription, could stand your business in good stead.
5.Support the transition to mobile
Just as cloud computing provides the flexibility to work from anywhere, an app is too an advantageous tool for both accountants and their clients.
Smart phones are no longer used simply for making calls, taking the odd selfie, or posting on social media. Instead, they are being used to manage the likes of household utilities, banking, and budgeting.
Apps make this possible, and for those of us on-the-go (which is most of us), they simply can’t be beaten. So, why should your accounting be any different? The Sage accounting app helps to make life easier by giving users the functionality to manage their invoices and expenses on the go.
By encouraging clients to utilise apps, such as the Sage app, your patrons can make use of them wherever they are, so if they wish to send receipts, bills, or other paperwork to accountants via apps in real-time, they can.
The benefits for the accountant are also well-defined as fast, real-time access via apps means your job is made easier, while also being able to process items as they come in, and therefore providing clients with an outstanding service.
Looking for Software to Grow your Accountancy Practice?
If you’re an accountant looking to make better use of technology with software that will not only helps you to grow your practice but also brings additional benefits to your clients, M2M are here to help. Whether you’re looking for Cloud hosting, software support, or further information on the Sage software we offer, please get in touch…