If you are doing anything that software can do, you are working too hard. Work smarter with a cloud-based accounting platform that allows you to automate, eliminating the back and forth with your clients to collect paper receipts, invoices and documents, in addition to streamlining other tasks.
The time savings can be substantial and the platform will undoubtedly provide value. But have you considered how additional software solutions can help run your business more efficiently?
Building a company tech stack of integrated applications will create a productive, connected digital environment that will help you reach those business goals.
What Belongs in a Company’s Tech Stack?
Although no two businesses operate in exactly the same way, several applications will benefit most accounting firms:
- Payroll
- Document management
- Payments
- Billing or invoicing
- Expense management
Integration is key. It decreases the need to upload data manually from one application to another or rekey information, reducing the chances of human error. An integrated tech stack will also result in greater efficiency.
It replaces time-consuming manual tasks with automation, allowing your team to reclaim time each day to focus on customer relationships, providing innovative new services, and other high-value tasks that will help you grow your business.
When you optimize your company’s tech stack, you can also scale your business more easily with Software as a Service (SaaS) products that allow you to increase capacity without adding on-premises IT infrastructure. This allows you to provide more services to more clients, often without adding more staff, increasing your potential for growth.
Share the Wealth
Once you discover the value of automating processes with integrated business applications, share the key to greater efficiency with your clients. You can expand your business to provide advisory services that include helping build a company’s tech stack.
Your clients, from entrepreneurs new to managing a business effectively to seasoned enterprises that are looking for ways to modernize their processes, will benefit from your expertise and relationship with a cloud accounting vendor partner like Xero.
Xero has built relationships with a wide range of software vendors and certified solutions, listed on the Xero App Store that work seamlessly with its cloud accounting platform. Furthermore, you can find applications for businesses in a variety of markets and industries.
For example, you can help a real estate business automate commission or expense management, or enhance a construction company’s tech stack with applications that streamline estimates, scheduling, and project management.
With the right tech stack, your clients can replace hours of repetitive, manual tasks with time to follow up on leads or improve customer experiences.
However, don’t overlook the fact that helping companies build their tech stacks can also benefit your business. Connected systems will provide you with more data that results in deeper insights into your clients’ operations so you can tailor your services to their needs.
You also can create new touchpoints with clients so you can help them manage their tech stacks and create stickier relationships that lower your customer churn rate.
Building a company tech stack of integrated applications will create a productive, connected digital environment that will help you reach those business goals.
A Business Model for the Future
Transitioning your clients to a cloud accounting platform will, inevitably, mean your clients will ask about SaaS solutions that work with it.
Xero partner Kenji Kuramoto, founder and CEO of Acuity, says, “It will become necessary to be able to recommend apps. It is no longer acceptable for accountants to say, ‘I don’t deal with tech.’ We have to respond and help manage data in our clients’ businesses, and the only way to do that is through apps.”
Decide on how you will offer this service, whether white labeling the App Store and selling apps through your business or making recommendations and allowing your clients to subscribe to the SaaS solutions they need on their own.
You also need to support your team as they pursue app certification so they can advise their clients on the best solutions for their businesses—and for yours.
Operations are increasingly digital, connected, and automated, and accounting needs to keep pace. Explore the Xero App Store, contact SaaS companies whose products are listed there for demonstrations, and position your firm for growth and success.
To learn more, DOWNLOAD our ebook, “Build a Tech Stack for Business in the Digital Age.”
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