This from Dan Martin:
The survey by the Independent Association of Accountants Information Technology Consultants (IAAITC) found only a tenth of firms promoted their websites, while just 14% accepted e-mail enquiries from prospective clients. Among those that did offer electronic contact, more than 30% were not registered domain names but generic web-based addresses such as Hotmail, AOL and Yahoo.
I’m surprised the ‘promoted’ figure is as high as 10% but then a lot depends on how you define ‘promote.’
Then there is this:
A recent survey found that 67% of SMEs now have internet access and 98% of these will send emails rather than fixed voice calls in many situations. So if an accountancy firm itself is not embracing, experiencing and using the technology how can it possibly claim to be a ‘business advisor’ to its business clients?
This has got me slightly flummoxed. Email – 98% rather than voice? Hmmm. Is this email or text messaging or both. I know the distinction should be obvious but I wonder. Also, why would you substitute voice for email when there are so many bundling deals offering free or very low cost voice on both fixed line and mobile lines? Does email have a certainty around delivery that people find re-assuring? What about other forms of communication? A lot of questions for sure.
Perhaps I’m being picky, but even if remotely accurate it would appear to confirm what I’ve been saying for more than a year. Professionals run the risk of being completely out of touch in a very short period of time unless they start taking notice of trends going on among their target audiences.
But that realisation might explain why Sage’s conference organiser is having kittens at the thought of all 2,000 customer and practitioner registrants for Sage Connections turning up on Wednesday. If they do then there could be some serious scurrying about to be done on the part of your truly.
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