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Welcome to the December 2009 Right Networks Newsletter. It is an exciting time of
year and we wish you and yours the best for the season and beyond. We have a lot
of new and updated offerings since our September newsletter including the launch
of QuickBooks® 2010 hosting with thousands of users already upgraded. We are
also now hosting Method Integration and Qvinci® (both featured below) plus NELiX®
TransaX with ACH support. Also available are updated versions of Peachtree Premium
and Quantum, Bill.com, BillQuick®, Xpanded Reports, and more. In addition, we
continue to strengthen our integration with Thomson Virtual Office CS™. We
are also proud of the continued growth in the adoption of our exclusive consolidated
reporting platform by not-for-profit and franchise organizations across the U.S.
In this issue we are featuring an article on Customer Relationship Management by Naseem Saab,
President & Founder of DPS Consulting and Results Software. Naseem is a recognized
pioneer in the CRM industry and office automation technologies and a national speaker
and published author on CRM.
We are also featuring an article about this year's Sleeter Conference,
hosted by the nation's premier group group of accounting software consultants,
with over 600 members located throughout the US, Canada, and abroad.
The article explains why "Accountants Must Be Technology Consultants"
and the benefits of attending this outstanding, annual conference
focusing on accounting technology.
As always feedback is encouraged and we would love to hear from you. We are constantly
trying to improve our services and want to be certain we are meeting your needs.
We keep you in mind as we continue to improve Right Networks and want to give you
the opportunity to make your voice heard. If you have any other questions about
Right Networks or our offerings, please contact us.
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by Naseem Saab
Once considered a luxury reserved for large enterprises, CRM software has become
a critical component for success that is accessible to all business. CRM provides
firms with reliable & centralized data, competitive marketing advantages and
improved client satisfaction. Having the right CRM in place is a key ingredient
to manage and grow a successful business.
What is CRM? (Customer/Client Relationship Management)
Businesses need to have client information readily available that is complete and
up-to-date. This information must include details on pending and past business transactions,
sales inquiries, communications, as well as any client problems and how they were
resolved. Firms used to consider this type of centralized and comprehensive information
source a desirable option. Now it is considered a business necessity. As the speed
of business increases and the amount of information grows, businesses are forced
to do more and more with even fewer resources making CRM software a critical component
for success.
Benefits of CRM
A CRM system is only as valuable as the information it contains, and the ease with
which the information can be accessed when needed. That being the case, a good CRM
must first and foremost be well designed and easily navigated. Your CRM system becomes
the source of knowledge that tells you what have been your most valuable business
sources, and where you should focus your marketing efforts. Whenever you pick up
the phone your CRM system becomes your information hub, where you go to immediately
know who it is on the line, how you know them, what they were promised, what was
delivered and whether it's all been paid for. With a good CRM, businesses can expect
to increase sales, reduce costs and improve cash flow. Once you have centralized
all of your client information, sales opportunities, documents and communications
history the CRM provides business continuity and makes information a truly valuable
business asset. Hosted CRM adds the advantage of being accessible anytime, from
anywhere.
CRM Integration
No one needs a case study to tell them that it's time-consuming and even frustrating
to search for a particular email or document. Add to that the problem when it's
on someone else's PC or might have been archived or deleted. When the CRM system
integrates with Outlook and also has a Document Management capability you have an
almost complete contact record, with all of your client-related emails, documents
and notes in one place. The time savings and improvement in client service are significant
once you eliminate the need to look in different places for all the client-related
information.
Staff Accountants and Bookkeepers report that too much of their time is spent preparing
QuickBooks reports for Sales and Management personnel. And Sales and Management
complain that the account information they have is rarely up-to-date enough because
they have to wait for Accounting to provide periodic reports. A CRM system that
properly integrates with QuickBooks will give everyone in the organization visibility
to the data they need, without giving them access to the books.
When a CRM Solution is designed to be fully integrated with both Outlook and QuickBooks,
the CRM system becomes all-encompassing to the data that matters from communications,
to operations to finance. CRM empowers firms to respond to client requests and sales
opportunities with great speed and efficiency, regardless of whether they are a
small business or the largest, most well-staffed corporation.
Conclusion
CRM can provide firms with competitive advantages and improved customer/client satisfaction
- two things that are particularly important to grow your business. Consider the
benefits to your firm and to your clients' firms in implementing an integrated CRM
solution, and the impact that this would have on the business.
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Accountants are their clients' most trusted business advisors, but what accounting
professionals often don't expect is how many of their clients will also turn to
them for technology advice. But for clients, it makes sense: Since clients ask their
accountant which bookkeeping and other programs to use, they'll also turn to him
or her for advice on how to use it, and how to implement the infrastructure and
business processes that surround the bookkeeping software.
So if you're an accountant, guess what? You're also a small business technology
consultant. And if you don't feel up to the task of providing technology consulting,
you have two choices. A) You can develop the knowledge and resources in your firm
to deliver technology consulting services, or B) your competitors will take clients
from you who seek what you can't deliver.
This special relationship between clients and their accountants has not been missed
by the accounting software vendors, either: Most of the major accounting software
companies have 'accountant channels' of some sort. They also know that accounting
practices often want as many of their clients as possible to use the same system,
because it simplifies and streamlines client services, while reducing staff training
costs.
This channel marketing strategy has its benefits for the accountants, because most
vendors such as Intuit and Sage Software offer free or discounted software for the firms
to use in-house and they provide advanced training that helps accountants be better
prepared to support their client's needs by having greater knowledge on how the
programs work. There are also discounts and reseller programs that provide additional
revenue for accountants. Technology companies that make add-on programs that enhance
QuickBooks, Peachtree and others have also joined this trend, offering many of the
same benefits.
Yes, there's some quid pro quo going on and it definitely can be a revenue-enhancer
for accounting firms, but this relationship ultimately benefits the client. After
all, a good in-house bookkeeping application and specialty programs that enhance
that system help the small business be more efficient and productive, but it also
helps if their accountant knows the program and can assist with implementation and
other issues. If the client's accounting and business process systems can integrate
with the accountant's tax systems, then it's even more beneficial, because it makes
it easier and more efficient for the firm to provide services and support for the
client.
But how can your accounting practice keep up with the latest changes to those programs?
And how can you find the add-on solutions that can help your clients succeed?
All of these vendors are clamoring for accountants to learn their product by providing
webinars, online demos, and telemarketing activities, but it is really difficult
for the firm to sort through all the different solutions and decide which ones to
work with and/or recommend to their clients. This is where live conferences can
really deliver for accounting firms. By focusing dozens of technology vendors into
a dedicated event that lasts just a few days, the accounting firms can very efficiently
learn about many different solutions in a concentrated amount of time. But how do
you know which event to attend?
Vendor shows are great resources, but often fall short because they do not discuss
or engage products or solutions from competing vendors. Society conferences like
the AICPA's Tech+ and those for members of groups like the American Society of Women
Accountants, National Society of Accountants and American Accounting Association
are good shows for professionals who want to see and prepare for what the future
holds and engage in networking opportunities. Likewise, the several regional and
state conferences, such as those in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, give a good
overview of technologies for the profession.
When it comes to technologies that small businesses use, and how accountants and
consultants can become more knowledgeable and skilled with those programs, the annual
conference produced by the independent Sleeter Group offers vendor-independent training,
expert knowledge, networking and VAR opportunities for all of the major small business
software and SaaS options.
Held this year November 9-12 in Orlando, the Next Generation Accounting Solutions
Conference had more than 60 different sessions, covering virtually all aspects of
QuickBooks and other small business accounting software products, in addition to
third-party 'add-on' solutions. Organized by The Sleeter Group, the largest small
business technology consulting network in the country, the conference included keynotes
and seminars by the top accounting and technology experts in the country, including
Darren Root, CPA.CITP, Randy Johnston, Leslie Shiner, Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP, Gail
Perry, Greg LaFollette, CPA.CITP, and Doug Sleeter.
The conference's CPE-eligible educational sessions and exhibit hours focused on
giving professional consultants and accountants actionable knowledge that can help
them better serve their clients. Among the sessions offered this year, nearly all
were targeted directly at accounting professionals seeking to improve their technical
skills and marketing methods for improving their practices. Several sessions in
the technology, consulting tools, and best practices areas provide attendees with
a deep understanding of how the fact that software tools, operating systems, and
related technologies work together to create an overall system is critical to succeeding
as an accounting software consultant. These sessions focused on how trends in hardware,
multi-media, networking, and security will change how you work with clients and
what you'll recommend for their internal systems.
According to The Sleeter Group's founder, Doug Sleeter, another key theme for this
year's conference is the concept of taking your practice online. Several sessions
focused on how technologies are changing the whole paradigm for the accounting services
business. Online applications and Web services which were once considered too slow
and risky are now becoming integral to a number of business processes. From payroll,
to A/P, to document management and even inventory management, the Software-as-a-Service
(SaaS) world is changing the whole landscape of solutions for your clients and how
you collaborate with them. These sessions demonstrated practical ways to take advantage
of these new solutions to grow your revenues by providing new and better services
for your clients.
As technologies are quickly emerging and business processes are evolving, the opportunities
are endless. Several marketing, management and business development sessions help
accountants understand the opportunities for developing and managing their practice
to prepare for the 'next generation' of clients. Whether just starting out, or are
ready to take their business to the next level, attendees benefitted from the experience
of successful professionals who presented tips and techniques for success in the
lucrative market for accounting technology consulting.
Another key to success is in knowing where to specialize and focus your services.
Every industry has its own vocabulary, methods and processes specific to the business.
By specializing your practice, you'll be better prepared to efficiently work with
clients in your chosen specialty. At this conference, several leading industry experts
share insights from their experience to help you navigate through the marketplace.
These sessions focused on some of the key technologies and methodologies needed
by vertical markets such as Point-of-Sale, Not-for-Profit, and Construction.
No conference focused on small business accounting would be complete without a full
set of sessions from Intuit. The Intuit Academy training sessions, presented by
Intuit product managers and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors focused on what's new
in QuickBooks and dived deeply into Premier Accountant Edition, Client Data Review,
and Intuit Statement Writer. In addition, Intuit gave details about new Intuit Payroll
options, Intuit Payment Solutions, and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program.
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Create your own screens, tables, fields, actions, applications and portals. You
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Some starter template examples are CRM, Customer Center, Employee Center, and Vendor
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P.1.888.925.6238
www.methodintegration.com
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