With busy season just around the corner, implementing advanced workflow automation now can help your firm save time, be more productive, deliver higher quality services and improve its client experience. The key to achieving this is to leverage available technology, including the implementation of an advanced practice management platform. This will allow you to meet all of these goals in the following five ways:
For a deeper dive into this topic, make sure to join our webinar "Advanced techniques to automate and standardize your workflow" on December 10 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. You can register here.
Maximizing the benefits of automation best practices. You and your team can save hours every week by programming a practice management platform such as Intuit Practice Management to carry out basic tasks, so you can focus on work that requires your personal touch or builds your relationships with your clients.
Integrate integral components of your tech stack to optimize your workflow. Integrating your your tax and accounting software into a practice management platform is the key to being more productive and efficient this busy season and beyond. Having all of your client and workflow data in one place allows you to have 20/20 vision of your firm’s operations and enabling your team to work at the highest levels of productivity.
For example, Intuit Practice Management is the only practice management software that deeply integrates with Lacerte and ProConnect, so you can enjoy a truly streamlined workflow all the way to e-file completion.
Eliminate manual data collection and reminders that help reduce the “client chase.” Reducing data entry and ensuring contact information is always up-to-date with a platform that allows you to synchronize your firm’s data with the most current information from your clients allows you to take advantage of this workflow automation best practice.
This approach also significantly reduces the time spent following up with clients one-on-one for their information. Instead, the right practice management platform will give you direct access to your client’s data, synchronizing it with your firm’s own accounting systems.
Access and use templates to drive further efficiencies. One of the keys to leveraging advanced automation to elevate your firm’s service delivery is the ability to access and utilize templates. This not only saves you time, but also makes following best practices that drive workflow efficiencies simple. Intuit’s Practice Management software includes an extensive library of best-practice tax, accounting, audit, and advisory templates which are already built in. You can also quickly customize them to your firm’s current workflow and make them available for your staff to use.
Assign tasks to your staff and your clients to keep workflow smooth and productivity high. When deciding to implement a practice management platform, you should choose one that allows you to create a task for every single step in your workflow—both those performed by your employees and those that require clients to act.
With the right platform, you will also be able to assign tasks to clients, including scheduling requests and auto-reminders, so no one on your staff has to spend valuable time chasing after clients at the expense of productivity
Leverage technology to build unique workflows for your team and clients. The ultimate goal of using a practice management platform is to create alignment and accountability across your firm’s unique workflow. This is why having a flexible system that can be customized exactly the way you need it to be is so important.
Consider each step of your firm’s specific workflow process, then assign the task to a role or an individual or team and set a due date. If your firm chooses Intuit’s Practice Management platform, as team members and clients accomplish tasks, you’ll be notified, and work statuses will be automatically updated in the system, so you’ll always have a complete picture of your operations and the status of your clients’ interactions with your firm, too.
Now is the ideal time to automate and standardize your firm’s workflows to eliminate common, time consuming tasks. This will free your team to give your clients more attention and elevate the quality of your firm’s services. It will also help you optimize efficiencies with the implementation of standardized operating procedures, boost productivity and keep everyone moving forward to reach your firm's goals.
For a deeper dive into this topic, make sure to join our webinar "Advanced techniques to automate and standardize your workflow" on December 10 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. You can register here.