Comment piece by Joel Oliver, CEO, MyFirmsApp and operators of the largest global custom App platform in the world for Accountants in practice that’s used by over 250,000 businesses.
“Securing that connection with our clients on their mobile devices has been fantastic for our relationship and allows us to have much more control over what programmes they have access to, as well as being able to release or remove programmes more easily over time.” Alan Woods, Managing Director of Woods Squared, a multi-award-winning accounting firm in the UK.
One of the key questions being asked in Australia is around the effectiveness of Apps and I thought it would be interesting for Australian accountants to hear how those in the UK are taking the initiative and developing a strategy to manage the client relationship in the digital economy.
Alan Woods, Managing Director of Woods Squared, a multi-award-winning accounting firm in Wirral, which last year grew revenue by 41% and trebled profits believes that there is an urgent need for accountants to take control of all the financial App-stacks and Add-ons that clients are accumulating on their Smartphones and make them really deliver. An App devotee, Alan says there are huge efficiencies to be gained by using the right cloud software and by creating a single environment for the client. How access is managed is a major consideration in this new digital world and it is important not to give away trusted adviser status as it is all too easy to be cut out of the loop.
Alan says: “With over 500 Xero Apps, and similar volumes of other cloud accounting programmes to choose from, you have to consider carefully how many can really help us and which are the most relevant to our business.”
“We have taken the decision to provide our clients with a preferred suite of Add-ons that are easy to access through a single sign-on through the Woods Squared App,” explains Alan. “This helps to make it quicker and simpler to use the tools our clients need on their Smartphones and allows ours to be the first name they see.”
“Being able to own and serve the digital relationship with our clients is paramount and giving clients everything, they need within a single App environment is great for both firm and client. Securing that connection with our clients on their mobile devices has been fantastic for our relationship and allows us to have much more control over what programmes they have access to, as well as being able to release or remove programmes more easily over time.”
The Woods Squared App was developed by market leaders, MyFirmsApp, and the practice is now in the process of migrating to its powerful next generation ‘OneApp platform’. The new future-proofed OneApp makes it easier to manage the digital client relationship and ensure all App-stacks and Add-ons are retained within the accountant’s own App.
The firm constantly reviews the new Apps hitting the market and that might be useful to clients. He suggests: “It very much depends on whether the firm wants to specialise in a particular service or on a particular sector. If it’s an advisory role, then there are a number of excellent Apps we would suggest. If the firm is focusing on an individual sector such as construction, then it could think about adding App Add-ons that help the client to plan and schedule jobs and manage workflow.”
“One of the challenges of introducing great new Apps and cloud software to clients is getting them to actually engage with them, and so by bringing them into the firm’s OneApp, it allows us to use push notifications to more easily lead and drive that new behaviour.
For more information, contact glenh@myfirmsapp.com
MyFirmsApp was the first and original developer of bespoke Apps and over the last five years, has grown to become the global number one provider, having developed over 1200 Apps for accountants and bookkeepers that are available in 11 countries and are used
by over a quarter of a million businesses daily to manage their finances.
No two providers are the same and MyFirmsApp is the only company to offer 24-hour on-going support, backed by the wealth of experience that comes from running the largest global customer App platform in the world for accountants in practice.
Joel Oliver | https://www.myfirmsapp.com.au/
- Add-Value by Offering Clients New HECS/HELP Repayment and Net Pay Calculators - 20 November 2018
- How to make App-stacks, Add-ons and Best of Breed Really Deliver - 20 November 2018
- MyFirmsApp Introduces its Most Powerful New Logbook Yet - 22 October 2018
