MISSED CALLS = MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
COULD OUTSOURCING BE THE ANSWER?

Moneypenny

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.

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

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

“Apogee are not just aprinting company, theyconsult with us and go onto deliver a full end to endservice from concept toinstallation. They go aboveand beyond and we lookforward to continuing ourjourney with them”

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

“Apogee are not just aprinting company, theyconsult with us and go onto deliver a full end to endservice from concept toinstallation. They go aboveand beyond and we lookforward to continuing ourjourney with them”

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

“Apogee are not just aprinting company, theyconsult with us and go onto deliver a full end to endservice from concept toinstallation. They go aboveand beyond and we lookforward to continuing ourjourney with them”

Corporate events agency who benefited from greener graphics initiative

“Apogee are not just aprinting company, theyconsult with us and go onto deliver a full end to endservice from concept toinstallation. They go aboveand beyond and we lookforward to continuing ourjourney with them”

We know that missed calls lead to lost business – and nowadays, with the advantage of technology that alerts businesses to the number of calls they’ve failed to answer, ignorance is no longer bliss. The impact of having inadequate resources to handle inbound communications is plain to see, and if you’re hoping for growth in 2025, burying your head in the sand isn’t an option.

Standing out from competitors has never been more critical, and one way to create a positive, lasting first impression is with impressive telephone client service. By outsourcing inbound calls, accountants can ensure their firm never misses a call again while focusing on more productive, profitable tasks.

But how does outsourced telephone answering work, and could it be suitable for your organisation?

Louise Walpole, head of the finance sector from Moneypenny, explains.

What is an outsourced telephone answering service?

A telephone answering service is a popular alternative to hiring a full-time in-house receptionist. An outsourced provider, like Moneypenny, provides a PA or team of PAs to answer calls exactly as if based in a firm’s office.

The receptionist screens calls, transfers callers to the relevant people, or takes a detailed message and immediately sends it via text or email.

Do all calls need to be answered by Moneypenny?

Firms can opt for an all-calls answered service, which diverts all calls to your answering service provider. A vital benefit of this service is that it gives a seamless customer experience and helps a firm appear bigger and more professional.

Alternatively, firms can select an overflow service that only activates the divert when lines are busy. This is an excellent option for firms with in-house resources to answer calls that want to ensure clients are not left on hold or put through to voicemail.

This was the case for Yorkshire-based firm BHP. Andrew Hibberd, BHP’s Technology & Innovation Director, said: “Before working with Moneypenny, we missed 25% of our calls (peak times, lunch, annual, and sick leave). Rather than letting the overflow calls from reception go into a hunt group, distracting our chargeable teams, we implemented an overflow solution with Moneypenny, and overnight, our missed calls were reduced to 1%!”

Will the caller know they’re speaking to an outsourced team?

No – as part of your introduction to Moneypenny, we get to a firm and how they want us to answer their calls. We’ll discuss how they’d like us to greet clients, what questions we should ask them, and whether the firm prefers that we try to transfer the call to a team member or write up a message and send it via text or email.

What happens out of hours?   

In today’s 24/7/365 society, clients will call in the evenings and on the weekends. An outsourced telephone answering service is an affordable solution for providing firms with a 24-hour service that meets all their needs.

As standard, calls will typically be diverted to a professionally recorded voicemail system outside of usual business hours. Moneypenny, however, can answer calls 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with our dedicated 24/7 team – even during holidays like Christmas.  

Our accountancy clients tell us that this revolutionises their working week, allowing them to switch off during the evenings and weekends without worrying about missing any calls.

Can Moneypenny integrate with other systems my business uses?  

Absolutely. We offer a suite of integrations, including Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Clio and many more.  

As we enter 2025, don’t let missed calls hold your firm back. Be sure to maximise every opportunity by capturing every lead and always being available. By staying agile, you can operate a seamless business while keeping overheads to a minimum and ensuring outstanding service delivery to both existing clients and prospects.

For more information on how we can support your firm, visit www.moneypenny.com/uk

Louise Wilson
Dec 2024

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