Accountancy practice management software has come a long way. Today, features like automated billing and reconciliations are easily integrated into the day-to-day practice workflow of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK customers.

Our employees work side by side with our customers to create and manage these solutions – driven by a deep understanding of their needs and addressing the rapid changes in their environment.

However, it’s often hard to look beyond improving performance in day-to-day operations. Amid Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptions, accountancy practices and their clients are dealing with an unpredictable economic landscape. Future business planning can appear daunting.

However, technology can support accountancy practices (and their clients) in making informed business decisions, and planning for the future. In the first part of our Accountancy Practice Management for Future-Fit Growth series, we’ll explore how they can use technology to define and easily track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Doing so gives practices closer control of performance tracking, and deeper insights that will inform strategic growth plans.
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Saving Time

For several decades, business technology platforms have enabled practices to track performance metrics that they have customised. This highlights areas that qualify for improvement and underpins strategic planning.

Contemporary technology, such as CCH KPI Monitoring, makes setting up KPIs faster and easier for accountancy practices than ever before. This is vital today. The current business landscape demands that firms assess and amend KPIs more frequently, based on fresh market variables. KPIs such as client retention rate and business time-to-recovery have become increasingly prominent performance indicators in the past year. If clunky technology makes KPI management difficult, practices have less time and insight to plan future growth.

Reducing Risk
CCH KPI Monitoring makes it far easier to track KPIs and report on them. This is fundamental in minimising risk. For example, if a KPI is set to track and escalate debt filtered by overdue dates, the ability to easily set alerts and automatically generate reports is critical to practice performance management.

Some practices are manually running monthly reports to measure KPIs. Others are running real-time reporting engines, a key feature of CCH KPI Monitoring. This latter solution allows practices to review essential data at any time – covering both performance management and compliance requirements. They can do so remotely or on-premise.

This means that firms can assess issues before they become problems, and thus act proactively. Real-time reporting is a true asset in building a future-fit practice.

The Proof is in the Practice
A number of Wolters Kluwer customers have been using CCH KPI Monitoring for several years now. Our customers look to us when they need to be right. Ryecroft Glenton has successfully integrated CCH KPI Monitoring with its own system. This consolidates information from several sources, including CCH Central and CCH Practice Management.

“We can use the year end date to trigger a sequence of reminders. Have we asked for the books? Have they been received? If a request to a client has been outstanding for a certain period, the partner will receive an alert via email. For limited companies, we can monitor the corporation tax and Companies House filing deadlines – as well as the different deadlines for pension schemes”

– Ian Smith, partner at Ryecroft Glenton

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Your clients might not be as happy as you think.

Data from The Customer Service Institute’s annual Customer Service Index, which tracks the customer satisfaction levels of 275 UK businesses, shows the UK has room for improvement.

The report reveals that customer satisfaction across all age groups has fallen over the last year. However, it also highlights how to fix the problem, as clients say their customer service priorities are making it easy to contact the right person, improving employee behaviour and competence, and improving website navigation.

We know that brilliant customer care increases clients' likelihood of buying, making referrals, and forgiving mistakes. Yet many businesses still fail to deliver, particularly when it comes to answering the telephone. A bad call experience can significantly impact business and clients' likelihood of using your company.

Data from our own Global Customer Call Trends Report, published at the end of last year, revealed how impactful poorly handled calls can be.Following a poorly handled call, 38% of people would take their business elsewhere, 24% would write a negative review, and 38% would complain. Poor customer care has costly repercussions.

Positive experiences

So, for businesses striving to improve customer care, it’s vital to focus on the client experience and acknowledge that positive client experiences stem from positive business behaviours. These experiences require companies to get close to their clients and, more specifically, to:
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1. Know their preferences Whether using general market data, third-party studies, in-house customer surveys or CRM data insights, it’s essential to know what existing clients want, need and expect. Part of this requires a detailed history of your clients as individuals and the products and services they have already procured. Knowing what matters to them and how effectively your organisation meets their needs is also necessary. Perhaps they have specific views on how accessible they expect your people to be, the support they need or how quickly they want their needs resolved.

2. Solve their problems While business is almost certainly about solving problems, it’s also about improving clients’ lives. It’s necessary to forge a connection that goes beyond a mere transaction. On a basic level, this requires empathy and understanding to build rapport. People buy from people, after all. Problem-solving can be reactive, such as when clients ask for help with an issue, or pre-emptive, perhaps an accountant checking if payroll needs updating in light of a series of new recruits. Understanding the problems you’re solving for prospects and clients helps to build lasting relationships.
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3. Understand the client’s journey Every interaction with a business creates an impression and contributes to the client’s journey. A curt call handler, a tardy response or an inefficient process tarnishes that journey and diminishes the likelihood of repeat business. Conversely, the journey is improved when every touch point is friendly, professional, frictionless and considered from the prospect’s or client’s perspective. The focus shifts to maintaininghappy clients and, therefore, increasing the likelihood of upselling, cross-selling and retention.
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4. Capture feedback Clients and prospects are people. Their needs and expectations shift and change over time. Consider the Amazon effect, for example. Now, it’s universally expected that we can quickly get all products and services whenever we want them. This expectation is no longer just limited to retail; it applies to professional services, too. Understanding clients' expectations and feelings about your products and services is essential to maintaining a customer-centric approach. Are they happy with your service? What would they like to see changed or improved? How are their needs evolving? And do they want more from you? By capturing feedback, you keep clients’ real needs front and centre.
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5. Be consistent Positive customer experiences don’t happen by chance. They stem from consistent business behaviours and a customer-centric mindset firmly instilled in employees. They also rely on businesses having the proper procedures, tools, practices, and partners in place to ensure professionalism and consistency.

Getting close to clients and understanding and anticipating their needs will improve their experience and your approach to customer care. First impressions matter, but consistent, friendly, and professional customer care will keep them coming back.

‍Moneypenny handles more than 2 million calls and chats each year for more than 1,000 law firms in the UK, including 75 of the Top 200. Established in 2000, Moneypenny is the world's market leader for telephone answering, live chat, outsourced switchboard, and customer contact solutions. More than 21,000 businesses globally benefit from Moneypenny’s mix of extraordinary people and ground-breaking technology.

For more information, contact Helen or Sophie at Plume PR
Helen@plumepr.co.uk or sophie@plumepr.co.uk

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