The Best Firms Are in Their Clients’ Pockets

Banks led the quietest (and possibly most successful) tech revolution of our time. It began by giving us options to see our bank account balances and transfer funds online, and ended with us literally carrying the bank around in our pockets all day on our smartphones. At no time did we feel upset with this trend - in fact, we were delighted!

Banks changed the client experience game forever by providing us a seamless and delightful way to get 90% of our banking done on our own time with no human intervention from banking employees. This game-changer set the bar high for other industries who quickly jumped on board. We now use delightful mobile apps to book travel, order food, reserve movie tickets, and more.

The accounting industry has embraced the cloud for accounting and storage, but as a whole hasn’t been quick to add apps that make it easy for clients to work with their firm. Instead, firms added technology piece-meal to solve security concerns and staff productivity issues. Very little attention has been paid to how easy these tech solutions are for clients to use, and as a result they leave most clients ignoring or refusing to use them. If a tech solution doesn’t meet the needs of both types of users (firm and client), it's time to look at solutions that DO meet both sides’ needs.

The best, most progressive firms are in their client’s pockets all day, via giving them an intuitive “accountant app” that clients are delighted to use to securely communicate and exchange sensitive documents with the firm.  

Let’s look at some of the benefits that can accrue (pun intended!) from giving your clients a delightful mobile app to use to communicate with your firm:

• Clients send documents on time! If you make it as easy to send you a document, as banks have made it for us to deposit a check, clients send them in quickly and on the first request.
• Staff can see all communication to and from each client, all in one place. No more email data silos!
• Security worries go away - when was the last time you worried about your bank’s security? With a modern “accountant app” to use to communicate with clients, you and your clients will never have to worry about insecure emails or scammers and phishers.

And what about clients? Will they like having an accountant app to communicate with your firm? You bet they will! Who wants to go and stand in line at a bank just to deposit a check? And who wants to have to call the bank to get a copy of a statement? NO ONE DOES. If you make it easy for your clients to send documents to you on the go, using just their phone, they will love you for it. And if you put all their important information and documents at their fingertips just like banks do, they will happily self-serve their documents without calling your firm.

When you meet them where they are and allow them to use the tool at hand (their phone) to conduct all business securely and easily with you, clients respond quickly and engagement and loyalty to your firm goes through the roof. And the BEST PART is that you don’t have to change any of your accounting or tax or practice management software packages.

In fact, presenting a modern face to your clients is fast becoming a differentiator. Ask yourself if you would (willingly) use a bank that didn’t have a mobile app. That’s the question that savvy clients will soon be asking about their accounting firms.

The best firms are in their client’s pockets and have become a seamless part of their day. That’s Client Experience 2.0 and at Liscio, we know a lot about helping accountants and bookkeepers become a seamless and welcome part of their clients’ day. If you would like to see how Liscio can help you delight your clients and help staff get more done in the process, please book a personalized demo here.