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-Firms put Client Portal and Document Management Upgrades first for greatest impact on Accounting Experience Management for Clients, Practitioners and Managers.
Special to Silicon Slopes Tech Summit, October 12, 2021, Silicon Slopes, UT – As the Q4 2021 accounting technology upgrade season heats up, Avii™ (Avii.com), a leading provider of accounting software applications and automation tools, is noting distinct trends in the priorities U.S. accounting firms are pursuing in Q4.
The two most important pain points surfacing this season are: 1) Client Portal, and 2) Document Management.
Client Portals
Although many senior partners express concern that clients do not prefer digital portals, the reality is that over the past five years, consumer clients have been taught, forced, and ultimately appreciated the use of secure digital portals for credit card, banking and health care interactions. In fact, clients are now questioning why some accounting firms are still relying on email for secure exchange of their personal and financial data and details. Among other things, 2020 and 2021 have significantly transformed accounting clients’ preference and even dependence on secure portals. From calls and interactions, we are seeing that firms who’ve not already significantly upgraded their client portals earlier in the COVID era are doing so now.
Document Management
The second top priority beyond the way clients and firms are connecting with each other is the process by which they request, exchange, discuss, store and ultimately destroy accounting documents. Stand-alone document management systems are now being replaced with integrated systems that create a seamless experience between clients and practitioners.
These modern systems remove the need for humans to send reminders, move documents from one system to another or to search folders to see what is delivered and what’s missing. The newest document management systems also integrate communication appended to the documents themselves. The best systems have ended the need to search email, text threads, stand-alone collaboration tools like MS Teams, and the myriad other disconnected tools they previously used for communication and exchange between clients and practitioners. The best systems present live dashboards to clients and practitioners, removing the need for reports and for reaching out to each other manually or through emails, texts or other collaboration tools to discover the state of workflows and projects.
The Advantage of an Integrated Portal
As a dynamic and integrated portal, Avii makes it possible for firms to connect and integrate their data, workflows, communication, and other critical digital experiences not only across Avii’s integrated platform but with virtually all other commonly known applications as well.
In addition to significant efficiency gains, this approach allows firms to identify the areas in most need of a technology uplift, or that will introduce the largest cost and efficiency gain. They can address the challenges through modular changes, one or more at a time, in any order they choose.
“In all, the priorities we’re seeing are vital to know, but not surprising,” notes Lyle Ball, cofounder and CEO of Avii. “As we’ve long maintained, while every area of support for the accounting process is vital, the front-office solutions that are customer-facing, such as client portal, onboarding tools, and document upload and management, are often the investments that bring the most immediate and dramatic lift to the firm’s success and profitability as well.”
Also beneficial to the modular and priority-based approach to improvements to Avii’s Accounting Experience Management™ is that it makes change management a manageable and perpetual process as opposed to attempting to make a giant technology transition in a single step. For clients, practitioners and managers, Avii’s continually rising platform elevates the way the work results are received and perceived, which is the very foundation of experience management success.
