{"id":6655,"date":"2017-02-13T10:25:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T16:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=6655"},"modified":"2021-10-06T16:17:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T21:17:32","slug":"leveraging-the-cloud-to-deliver-better-client-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/client-relationships\/leveraging-the-cloud-to-deliver-better-client-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging the cloud to deliver better client outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I started to embrace the cloud and the paperless office just a year after starting my business in 2004, finding myself already out of file storage in my small office. In 2005, I contracted with a company to back up all of my files from my server in the cloud. I am extremely grateful for that strategic move, since just one year later in 2006, my office was burglarized and my local server, backup unit and all workstations were stolen. Without that offsite, cloud-based backup, I would have been out of business!<\/p>\n

Since then, as we have grown from a team of one to 15+, we have continued to embrace technology, and all of the new apps that come to market daily, to help us better serve each other and our clients. Our company is different from the traditional CPA firm, in that we focus on client service and consulting first, and then on compliance work. We collaborate with our clients on their day-to-day business challenges, as well as longer-term strategies for saving tax, maximizing cash flow and moving their business forward.<\/p>\n

Why did we transition more than 80 clients to QuickBooks\u00ae Online<\/a> (QBO) from QuickBooks Desktop in the last year?<\/p>\n

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  1. The QBO dashboard is amazing. In one view, we can quickly see how many transactions are outstanding. We can offer our assistance and \u201cupsell\u201d our bookkeeping services to help clients stay up to date. This allows us the opportunity to offer better advice, since we can see what is going on with our clients on a daily transactional level. As a firm owner, I can also see if my team is on track for fulfillment of our service commitments for our bookkeeping clients.<\/li>\n
  2. The live bank feeds! We have improved our security and efficiency with the \u201calways on\u201d bank feeds. No more passing out bank passwords to our team and waiting to download transactions. From the QBO dashboard, we can quickly see if the bank feed is broken so that we can proactively contact the client and check on the links.<\/li>\n
  3. There are so many apps that make data entry faster, easier and more accurate. We recommend apps to save our clients time and improve our clients\u2019 businesses. We commonly use Quotient<\/a>, G Suite<\/a>, Dropbox<\/a>, Receipt Bank<\/a>, Knowify<\/a>, Bill.com<\/a>, Intuit\u00ae Online Payroll<\/a>, FathomHQ<\/a> and ProfitCents<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  4. My team and I feel far more comfortable advising clients on their inquiries\u00a0because\u00a0we can see their data live with QBO. We are also far more efficient since we have one login to quickly access the client data files, and we can access this data anytime, anywhere. This totally beats having to login to a remote server and wait for a desktop file to open.<\/li>\n
  5. It is so much easier to train clients on QBO than QuickBooks Desktop. We can quickly assist with issues in real time, rather than getting a set of books that we have to spend hours tearing apart at year-end. It makes for a much better relationship when we can be consultative in our approach, rather than the \u201cnag\u201d that offers negative feedback at year-end.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Best Practices:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    1. We offer fixed-fee\/value pricing for our clients, and we provide annual engagements detailing our services. Of the 105 clients that we have on QBO, we pay for 84 of the subscriptions on wholesale billing. We also partner with other providers to obtain discounts on commonly used apps, and we include the software as part of our service.<\/li>\n
    2. We act as the system integrator and implementer. We find the apps to solve the client problems, and then we invoice them to set up, and integrate, the apps to be sure that they are configured correctly so that the data is correct.<\/li>\n
    3. We sell an upgrade and training package to our clients when we implement the QBO upgrade. Clients who want to save money by keeping their own books are properly trained, and we monitor them through the QBO dashboard to be sure that they stay on track with the new system.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Considerations:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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      1. Moving to the cloud requires ongoing training for your team. We have implemented the following training programs:\n