While in London... oh goodness, anything that follows that phrase must be fantastic! And it was! London is densely populated, which means deep and engaging conversations about the same topic from many perspectives.
While there, I was fortunate to listen to a panel discussion at QuickBooks Connect which revolved around app consulting. The discussion moved through: client needs, selection, recommending, implementing and supporting apps. Admittedly, app consulting is not what most accountants thought they would be spending a great deal of time doing. But the reality is our clients are reaching out for help in the apps market and who better to guide them than their accountant.
App consulting is another good example of "who moved my cheese." If we are truly steering our clients into more profit and a better understanding of their books, than we must acknowledge apps are a way to increase efficiency and transparency. By utilizing apps, we create an opportunity for better management decisions.
Through active listening to multiple perspectives light bulb moments can be created.
Liz_QBC-London_Golden-circle_Panelists
Peter Harris, Head of Partnerships at Intuit was the facilitator of the panel which consisted of Charlotte Ing, Emily Mockett and Matt Flanagan.
The discussion started by defining what does engaging in apps mean?
- Create a suite of tools to help SMBs Prosper
- Improve system processes
- Fixing business problems
- Save time or analyze data to achieve goals
- Implement apps to engage in more than just a financial level
- Remove the clunky systems and fine tune it
- Small businesses can now have access to big business systems
Q. Do you recommend apps to every client?
- A1. No, if the app creates a segmented system, do NOT use it - even if the solution is great - overall it creates more work
- A2. Not every problem has an app and not every app solves all the pieces of the problem (a bad app is still a bad system)
- A3. But remember, the small business must adopt the app as part of their processes to be successful
Q. People do not like change. How do you convince them to use apps?
- A1. One solution is to find the most enthusiastic team member and ask them to internally lead the team
- A2. Celebrate the phases
Q. Which apps to recommend
- A1. Carbon helps with office communication efficiency for the "on the go firm." It has a searchable data base, templates and milestones
- A2. Receipt Bank solves the big need for capturing expenses and can be performed on the go
- A3. For reporting apps: Fathom and Futrli
Q. Why do people give up on apps?
- A1. Maybe they never fully setup or adopted the app. It's key to investment time in the beginning to ease the process.
- A2. About 3 months of training and support will help them learn the app
Q. How do you justify your value if the apps can take over your job
- A1. You take on an advisory role and no longer just inputting data
- A2. Apps are an opportunity. They allow you to see the numbers in real time, allowing users to plan more effectively
Q. What app has changed your life
- A1. Online banking access
- A2. What's app
- A3. Instagram
Q. What apps are missing from the market
- A1. Sales commissions apps
- A2. Property management
- A3. How much money can I take out of my business
Audience Questions
Q. With over 600 apps, how do you stay tuned -
- A1. what's the top 10 apps in the market you want to focus. discover what are your client’s top app needs
- A2. If you try to do it all they will drain your time and resources
Q. How to train customers with apps? Face to face or one day course?
- A1. Using Zoom train one client at a time
Q. How likely are you to use an app which is not integrated with QBO?
- A1. I look at what does that app do? Are there similar apps that do the same? Go to intuit and suggest an app
Q. Staying up with apps.
- A1. Ask for app demos from time to time
Q. How do you charge for apps; packaged or client pays?
- A1. Both depends on what the engagement looks like with the client. Do they have other services we offer them, then we package it up? Otherwise, we just bill them for the software and the integration and training.
Q. Do you think apps are going to combine forces? For example, the top market leaders might acquire the smaller ones.
- A1. Sure, but there is a lot of room in the market.
- A2. Yes, I think the larger apps will buy out the smaller ones
Q. QBO now pulls in receipt capture, should apps be worried?
- A1. Most of the apps at this time dive deeper than QBO but possibly over time a takeover / catch up could happen.
- A2. QBO is an open platform which means they welcome the technology others have created and do not want to do it all
In Summary
I personally enjoy app consulting, and this robust conversation was an opportunity to observe how others are dealing with similar issues. Our clients are looking for help when making these decisions and it was refreshing to get a new perspective on how others are moving forward in this area.
Feel free to share your own answer(s) to some of these same questions by submitting your answers as 'comments' below. Just be aware that your comments don't show up immediately and that all comments are moderated so 'keep them clean folks.'