Canopy has a section on their website that I love. The narrative starts, "It used to be all an accountant needed was a calculator, a Rolodex and a good old fashioned work ethic."
That's partially true. I found that a mechanical pencil with a package of No. 2 leads, a package of Sanford Red pencils, a 12-pack of Kraftbilt Columnar Pads, and a whole bunch of 3M Post-its were essential to doing review or audit work.
The same section of Canopy's website specifies, "Now you need tools for client management, document management, workflow, payments, time & billing."
Indeed, things have changed. When did you last see a set of "columnar pad-based 'books'" for a business? I still have a stack of 13-column Columnar Pads, which make great swept-wing paper airplanes.
But enough nostalgia. Rather than look back, we want to explore the future. Canopy's latest rendition of their Practice Management Suite is a suite of software that brings together all your mission-critical practice functions.
Like your accounting firm, the Canopy suite is built around your clients, with Client Management as the foundation. From there, Canopy enables you to pick and choose the other modules you need, depending on what works best for you and your firm.
So, what are we talking about regarding the Canopy suite?
Well, built upon the Client Management core, you will find Workflow, Time & Billing, Insights, and Document Management. There are some ancillary components you can add when, and if, the time is right, but we will talk about those in a little bit.
Client Management
As I said, this is the core upon which the Client Management suite is built. This hub contains your CRM lists, emails, ownership, segmentation, records and client portals. The foundation of this core is good communication.
Who doesn't hate having to deal with email after email? They interrupt your train of thought, not to mention your workflow, and most of the time, they are a big 'waste of time.' Canopy's Client Management has a solution for "email pollution," they call it Canopy AI, which can review and write your email responses.
This nifty artificial intelligence (AI) can write professional emails in seconds based on the phrasing you select: formal, casual, to-the-point, etc.
And don't think using Canopy AI means needing another Inbox with all that more email to worry about. Not at all; Canopy can manage and allow you to view as many email inboxes as you have within the Client Management system.
All your existing inboxes can come together in this one place, ready to be screened for you with the power of AI.
When appropriate, Canopy AI can even send pre-built forms to gather requisite information from the "To party," whether a client or a third-party. This solution can take this action at the appropriate time based on the workflow schedule you have established for the related work.
But what would Client Management be without your client records, calendar, and integrated third-party information like QuickBooks data?
The central component of managing your clients is managing your 'client list' so you have all the pertinent information for each client. But you don't want to be forced into entering client information repeatedly in other databases. That's why Canopy can sync with applications like QuickBooks Online to exchange data to keep everything in sync.
Regarding syncing information, integration of Canopy Client Management with any or all of the calendars you find yourself working with, work calendar, shared work calendar, your calendar, and your phone calendar can all come together in Canopy.
Whether you use Google or Microsoft, your calendar will stay in sync to keep you on track.
Source: Furnished by Canopy
What would a Client Management app like this be if all this information weren't readily available via a Dashboard? Your Canopy CRM Dashboard provides convenient access to your clients and other essential information like emails and calendars.
You will quickly identify the information you are looking for by displays based on the best visualization style for the type of information maintained. Then, easily filter information for even greater convenience.
You also can configure alerts and reminders to keep you aware of mission-critical information, even key performance indicators for your practice. Your dashboard also serves as your reporting hub, with access to the information you need in the format you want, either on moment's notice or regularly scheduled as you determine best meets your requirements.
One of the most fantastic features of Canopy Client Management is the ability to engage with your clients in a custom-branded portal that can provide them with access to files, invoices, payments, and more.
You can request and receive files and critical information from your clients via the portal. Easy access lets clients upload information, documents and other necessary files.
The portal also makes it easy to share information with your clients, including their invoices, when you use Canopy's Time & Billing module. Your clients can even pay their invoices via the portal when you add Canopy Payments.
The Client Portal can serve as the gateway to a third-party scheduling tool that works with Client Management to make it easy to set up meetings with clients or let clients set meetings with you during your available time.
But probably the key to the Client Portal is that it's accessible via Canopy's Mobile app and can handle push notifications, file reviews, eSign documents, and much more right from any iOS or Android device.
Source: Adapted from Canopy website by Insightful Accountant
I could spend a lot more time on the Client Management hub of Canopy, but I still have four other modules to discuss.
Workflow
While we have a natural sense of workflow, societal pressures have turned that natural course into responding to calamity. Much of this is due to our inability to steer ourselves into the most efficient work (and life) stream.
Workflow-building skills seem to work the best when we have a tool that helps us maintain course. That's especially true in complex professions, like accounting, with significant responsibilities at stake.
This is why Canopy offers a workflow module so you and every team member can know exactly what they should be working on.
With Canopy's Workflow, you will gain visibility into the big picture by seeing how each piece of the work puzzle fits together, who is responsible for what, and when, and how far along everyone is in getting the puzzle put together on time.
To streamline the puzzle building, Canopy's Workflow allows you to build automation into the process using task assignment tools and templates that simplify routine tasks and will enable you to perform more essential activities.
Create tasks with different conditions and actions; when a task is changed, have alternative workflow options configured to align with the overall goals.
Source: Provided by Canopy
This workflow automation also means that the AI incorporated into the tools and templates you build improves work accuracy and reduces human mistake-making possibilities.
Of course, workflows aim to fit that puzzle together, meaning the project must first be defined. That's where the project management features of Canopy Workflow come into play.
You will create projects, define tasks, allocate time, and manage every aspect of each project with a firm-wide view over every project and sub-set of it. And not only does this high-tech display give you the current status, but you also will see the historical aspects and the overall project timeframe.
When coupled with Canopy's Time & Billing module, the built-in time tracking supplies your Workflow module with the critical actual time information to compare and contrast each project's allocated (and budgeted) time.
Collectively, the two functions, working hand-in-hand, keep your projects from going awry and keep you on budget and on target.
Time & Billing
It may be true that accountants are finding alternative ways to bill their clients, but studies show that most still rely on time as a primary method of invoicing clients. Even when they use flat or project-based billing, they still track the time required to ensure they are profitable.
Accounting for the time your firm members spend on their work assignments is as important as accounting for how your clients spend their funds. With built-in timers and time entry windows, Canopy Time & Billing makes it easy to record your time for every client on a project, task, and sub-task basis.
That means no more lost time when it comes time to invoice.
Canopy knows everyone has a preferred format for invoicing their clients. That's why you can easily customize invoices for configurations like single-line or multi-line descriptions with items or groupings, tasks or projects. You can hide or show invoice columns as quickly as you select and display logos.
And what good does it do to invoice a client if you can't get paid? You provide valuable services and advice to your clients daily; getting paid for your work shouldn't be difficult. But the reality is that sometimes, it is the most challenging part of what your firm accomplishes.
Many times, paying you is as difficult for your clients as you getting paid by them. Canopy Payments credit card processing for accountants can resolve those difficulties for you and your client.
Consolidating your outsourced payment methods into a simple and convenient collection method offering credit card or ACH within the Client's Portal can be day saving. When you make it convenient for the client to review that invoice and pay it at the time of review in the portal, you will significantly reduce billing turnaround time.
And for those invoicing with fixed service rates, Canopy's work-in-progress feature lets you see what's been billed as a percentage of completion of the overall service or project. It increases your insight into the hours spent regarding the fee set. And did I tell you there is a Canopy module all about insights?
Insights
By diving deep into your data, Canopy Insights makes you fully aware of your firm. You finally will know what's going on with your firm with your data and data analysis tools as part of the same management tool.
When you arm yourself with 'the truth of the data,' you open up the potential for problem-solving and innovation. Insights' deep dive into your firm's data reveals how and where you're most profitable, as well as where you're losing money.
In addition, you will gain insight into which team members are most efficient and who's the most inefficient.
Source: Provided by Canopy
Insights lets you see your data quickly in a recommended visualization style, which you can easily change or refine to your preferences. With the Liveboards feature, you will not only see your data, but also see it updated in real time.
Number crunching is one thing; keeping track of the wealth of documents you acquire as an accountant is another. That's why Canopy Practice Management has document management designed for accountants.
Document Management
Let's face it: keeping track, filing, indexing and all the other related document tasks can be a royal pain. Most of the time, that pain starts with a pile of papers that have some importance or relevance to one of your clients, their project or their taxes.
Canopy takes documents seriously by eliminating the piles of paper and taking you paperless. That means no longer thumbing through piles of paper because your documents will be organized and accessible like never before. Not to mention the space-saving.
Your team will gather, process, and share the information digitized from documents because they are saved directly within Canopy. And when it's time to retrieve the documents you need, Canopy's Desktop Assistant is like having your own file clerk to gather and sort all the information you need.
Then, preview the rendered documents, open and edit or annotate them, and return them to the safety of the cloud. Share documents with or without annotations via shared folders, client portal, or email if needed.
And when you create new documents, they can be linked, bundled, or redistributed to any number of document folders. Best of all, the integrated eSignature functionality of Canopy's Document Management means client signatures are a built-in capability with an idiot-proof design.
Murph's Summary
Canopy's Practice Management is a fully customizable suite of tools that you plug together based on the needs of your firm. You can start with Client Management, the fundamental CRM core of the Canopy suite, and then add other modules as your firm changes, grows, and develops additional requirements.
We have all heard stories about cloud-based applications being inaccessible. Yet, Canopy's purpose-built platform boasts a 99.99% uptime, so you won't be wasting time trying to log on, load documents, or connect to the portal.
And Canopy's Client Portal is not only the optimized way you will communicate with your clients but the way you will solve all your client-related problems like getting documents, obtaining e-signatures, sending your invoices and getting paid ASAP with Canopy Payments.
Using Canopy's Practice Management, you will keep your clients, team, and yourself engaged and happy with the needed information, tools, and access.
For more information, see the Canopy website.
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