I have consistently said that at least in the short term, professionals will support more than one SaaS/cloud package. Late last week I saw early evidence that is occurring. Check out Nimbus Accounting which is both ‘FreeAgent friendly’ and a certified Xero advisor.
Elsewhere I now regularly see professional firms displaying their allegiance to a SaaS/cloud player. Pattinsons for example dedicates a page to Xero that includes a helpful introductory video. It says:
Using Xero we can help our clients to stay in control of their business and quickly and easily lend a hand when the bookkeeping becomes complicated from time to time.
It also lets us offer proactive advice on how our clients’ businesses are performing, without having to wait until months after the year end. Better still, you can continue to use Xero while we are working on your accounts, meaning that you won’t have a pile of paperwork to process once your end of year accounts are finished.
Back in the day I can recall seeing the odd Sage logo but I don’t recall ever seeing pages devoted to the vendors’ solutions or talked about in this way. Is what we’re seeing a reaction to what’s happening in the broader market? That is hard to tell without undertaking a thorough market assessment. What is abundantly clear is that progressive firms recognise that we have moved way beyond pure compliane.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, SaaS/cloud solutions do one thing that no on premise software allows – the transformation of business models. It means that professionals can genuinely deliver on the promise of ‘trusted advisor’ status but in real/near time. It relegates compliance to commodity status. It doesn’t eliminate the requirement to check data going in, but ut does help prevent repetitive errors. That’s a good thing.
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We are also Xero Certified and FreeAgent friendly and offer unlimited training and support on both systems. We genuinely feel that its the best way we can support our clients.
@OneAccounting Can you say why?
@dahowlett From an accounting perspective, it helps our clients keep their records in better shape throughout the year which allows us to spend more time working with them to help them grow their business as opposed to doing bookkeeping cleanup. From a client perspective, the benefits are endless. The software itself is much easier to use if you don’t come from a financial background. You don’t have to worry about backups or updating different versions of the software. You can have multiple users without paying high licencing fees. You have up to date information on your accounts whenever you need it (with FreeAgent you can even run an estimate of your tax liability). Xero offers automated bankfeeds and FreeAgent is currently beta testing the same. And the client can work in real time with their accountants on any issues they need help with. We find that our online software users are far more on top of their finances and, in some ways, are in a better position to meet their business goals.
@OneAccounting That’s awesome – well done you and your clients
We followed your advice at Caprica Online Accountants a couple of months ago and moved away from just offering KashFlow to also offering Xero, FreeAgent, Clear Books and Sage One. We’ll probably add e-conomic before long too.
Decided that it’s not up to us to dictate what software is best for a client plus if we can be experts in understanding how the difference packages are suited to different businesses then will be best positioned to offer clients something that really works for them.
@TimCaprica timcaprica I absolutely get what you’re saying. So how do you reckon you’re going to manage the different incoming formats etc when they need pushing into final accounts production? You might want to check what @topaccountants is up to.
@dahowlett@topaccountants I agree that getting nice efficient processes is going to be the challenge (un)fortunately we’re still too small to really have to worry about scalability quite yet. But I’m very aware of what LedgerScope are up to and also very eagerly awaiting their migration tool!
Just thought I’d throw into the mix that we’ve deliberately gone against using multiple packages. I’m aware it’s potentially a risk from an “all eggs one basket” point of view…which does scare me from time to time, but I’m fairly confident all the main players (FreeAgent, Xero, Kashflow) aren’t going to disappear overnight.
Some would say it limits our market, but whilst I am delighted with our current client base, I know it represents <1% of FreeAgent users, so I don't think it provides a real restriction on our growth.
What I think it does do is give people the confidence that we really know the software inside out. If they're an existing FreeAgent user and look at our website, then look at another accountant's site which mentions half a dozen packages, they perhaps feel more confident going with us.
I wrote an article complimentary to this one on the ICAEW IT Counts site here: http://www.ion.icaew.com/blog/AdrianPearson/site/posts/?bid=21542.
My old firm is probably 75% Xero now, and all new clients are “nudged” in that direction. However, I believe that because, increasingly, new-generation clients will choose the software/service that suits them before they choose their accountant, firms must be able to support multiple platforms with little friction.
It is for this very reason that I developed Ledgerscope.
If a really interesting new client comes along, one that you know you will enjoy working with and is very profitable, are you really going to turn them away because they wont change from the accounting software that suits them best, not you?
@topaccountants – that makes perfect sense and demonstrates a maturity of thinking that at times has been lacking in the profession. Models will evolve and this is just one important iteration of that process.