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Ep: 19 Top experts answer: "What could the tech/software vendors do better to serve accountants?"
The Accounting Answers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, asks critical questions of the experts, leaders and influencers who shape the decision-making of accountants, CPAs and finance professionals. Today we ask:
What could the tech/software vendors do better to serve accountants?
You'll hear insightful and passionate answers from these 5 experts and influencers:
Randy Johnston | Thought Leader & Genuine Renaissance Spirit for all Accounting Technology
Randy Wootton | CEO at Maxio advising B2B SaaS companies on next stage growth
Richard Kopelman | CEO at the North America's fastest growing accounting firm, Aprio
Rob Nixon | Coaches Accountants on creating massive profits and massive time
Rob Pillans | Accounting firm coach, mentor and consultant based in Australia
Tune into more on this daily show for short, sharp episodes that keep you informed of what's happening in the accounting world and the whole ecosystem of consultants, organizations, vendors and advisors who serve them.
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Brought to you by Rightworks, the ACCOUNTING ANSWERS PODCAST is hosted by Rob Brown, co-founder of the Accounting Influencers Roundtable (AIR).
On this weekly show with short, sharp episodes, Rob asks 110 experts and influencers the critical questions shaping the accounting profession. It keeps you informed of what's happening in the accounting world and the whole ecosystem of consultants, organizations, vendors and advisors who serve them.
Go to https://www.rightworks.com for secure, remote access to all your core apps, all in one place. Special deals and discounts for accounting professional and firms, plus a community of high quality content and resources to grow your firm.
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Host Rob Brown is a renowned presenter, facilitator and chair of high-level conferences, panels and events globally for the accounting and fintech profession. He is retained by many professional networks, alliances, associations, practices and vendors to chair their events and provide high-level interview content for their communities. He is a dynamic speaker and accomplished expert on trust, reputation, employer brand, talent, career development, succession, gen z/generations, employee advocacy and executive presence. https://www.linkedin.com/in/therobbrown/
Rob is author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and his TEDx talk ‘The Personal Brand of You’ has been viewed over 300,000 times on YouTube. He is a stroke survivor, has epilepsy, is a committed Christian and has a black belt in kickboxing. He is based in Nottingham UK, home of Robin Hood, plays chess and backgammon, loves orange chocolate and is allergic to grapefruit.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/accountinginfluencers
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Rob Brown: The future of
accountant, isn't just about
numbers and financial statements.
It's about empowering businesses to make
informed decisions, navigate complex
challenges, achieve their financial goals.
And everyone recognized that Kansans
are at the heart of this and must become
trusted partners with business acumen
expertise in data analytics, storytelling,
strategic guidance, taking the clients
towards success and whatever your role
is in this ecosystem, you need to stay
ahead of the curve to stay relevant.
And that's why this accounting
answers podcast was conceived to
keep you informed and competitive.
I'm your host, Rob brown, and
I've interviewed 111 accounting
experts, leaders, advisors, vendors,
and influencers in the last few
months and collected for you the
very best and latest thinking on
what works and what is coming up.
And this week, they show 10 to 15
minutes gets you the low down on
what matters today in the rapidly
evolving accounting landscape.
And the professional is shed
in its traditional image of
number crunching, embracing a
bold new future data technology,
strategic guidance, reign Supreme.
I've asked the same five questions
throughout covering the next
generation of accountants.
The proactive advice they need to be
given the drivers have changed the
role of tech and software vendors
post the best predictions for the
next few years, let's get started and
hear what our experts have to say.
Today, we're again, asking
people who care about accounting.
A simple question.
What role do the tech providers
and software vendors play in
the evolution of the industry?
Technology's playing an increasingly
crucial role in the accounting profession.
And the consensus is the tech industry
needs to step up to meet the evolving
demands of accountants, but how exactly.
Listening as another five of our
111 influencers and experts share
their wisdom and their best insights.
I'm really excited now to bring to
the microphone, the influencer of
influences in the accounting world.
The heavyweight accounting guru
that is Randy Johnston fault leader
and genuine Renault-Nissan sprit
for all accounting technology.
Known for his deep knowledge of
accounting tech and his ability
to inspire innovation and change
within the accounting world.
Randy Johnston: Well, here, the
tech industry hasn't served the
accountants very well, and the
accounting software vendors,
frankly, have, drugged their feet.
And so the lack of innovation
in the last three to four years,
in particular, and it has nothing
in my mind to do with pandemic.
It has everything to do with
vision and investment, need to.
Rebuild products that are
simpler and more complete.
And that's a real tall order.
but what happens here is the tools
that we're using in many cases
are 20 and 30 year old designs.
And today there are so much better ways,
so many better ways that this, technology
can be used to automate processes, to
improve workflows, to improve business
exchanges, to, do mundane things
that doesn't have to be done manually.
So it's a pretty tall order,
both the public practice tools.
And the accounting software tools
are doing pretty major overhauls.
People are trying, but they may
not have quite the budgets or
runways to get those accomplished.
The next voice you'll hear is Randy
Woodson CEO at Advising B2B SAS
companies on next stage growth,
where he's expertise, guides,
firms through scaling challenges.
With strategic insights
and operational excellence.
Randy Wooton: This is the question
that I am struggling with as someone
trying to sell to accountants.
the accountants that I've talked
to, the firms that I've talked to
specifically in the B2B SaaS space
are just anxious, anxious about what's
happening in the broader B2B space.
There is a tech recession going
on, meaning every client is
tightening their belts and looking
at ways they can save their money.
So any accountant that's trying to
encourage them to buy new technology is
probably going to be falling on deaf ears.
So as a vendor to an accountancy, the
thing that I think we need to be clear
is how we help that accountant get more
for less, meaning they can hire fewer
people, they can support more clients,
and they're able to get more scale.
And I think as accountancies
are facing hiring challenges as
well, that's a long term play.
There is a challenge in terms of the
upfront cost to learn new technologies,
and I think some accountancies right
now and, controllers and fractional
CFOs are just so overwhelmed with
everything that it's just too hard
for them to consider, anything.
So, what we try to do is we want
to help them win new business.
And so that is thinking about
technology plus services.
So, if we do a webinar with consulting
firm or accounting firm, it's
like, hey, here's what Maxfield can
provide in terms of data and tech.
But to get the value out of this customer,
you're going to need a service provider.
Here's our service providers
that we've worked with that
know how to use our technology.
So I do think it's a little bit
of investment on either side.
but the promise is that we can help
them win more business and they
can serve that more business more
efficiently, which would increase
their profitability over time.
Rob Brown: Coming to him now is
Richard Kopelman CEO at one of north
America's fastest growing accounting.
where his leadership has been
instrumental in driving growth,
innovation and client success.
Richard Kopelman: What we've done in
order to facilitate the growth in our
business, the foothold, the growth, the
foothold of technology in our business
has been to be part of the roadmap.
of the tech companies.
So I think one of the things to
continue to do and do it even better
is to involve the technicians in
the development of the technology
and the roadmap of the technology.
Rob Brown: Coming up now is the
entertaining and educational.
Nixon who coaches, accountants on
creating massive profits and massive
time-savings transforming practices
with these revolutionary approaches to
practice management unprofitability.
Rob Nixon: All right, I'm going
to target America on this one,
not so much the UK and Australia.
Get rid of the desktop or
hosted versions of the software.
Just turn it off, right?
Seriously, UK and Australia, New
Zealand, we're already there.
Nordic countries are already there,
but America and Canada, come on, right?
Vendors, just turn it off and
force everyone to go to the cloud.
so that's the first thing.
And you just got to force,
well, maybe you've got the.
The desktop or the hosted version,
the accountants will use it.
Cause they don't want
to change, turn it off.
Right.
Second, provide content with the data,
you know, so the data of the practice
managed numbers and analytics, how
about provide some content as to
what they can do with that number.
And, and the third one.
is with the, cloud vendors with who
connecting the practice management suite
to the, client, accounting is provide
predictive analytics, you know, back
to the accountant, you know, provide,
you know, ebbs and flows and cash flow
and accounts receivable and accounts
payable and alert the accountant
as to what's going on their client
business, because that may help the
accountant be more proactive, you at
a minimum, the accountant will know
what's going on their client business.
Rob Brown: Let's hear from Rob Pilsen's
accounting firm, coach mentor and
consultant based in Australia known.
The strategic advice that
transforms accounting practices.
Into more efficient, profitable
and enjoyable businesses.
Rob Pillans: So, fundamentally, I've got
three or four things that I would love
to see, you know, the tech, the software
companies doing in relation to accounts.
Firstly, please, don't launch
half baked products that are
solutions looking for a problem.
Right.
You know, please deliver software that is
actually genuinely delivering on, solving
a problem that an account might have.
And of course, because I'm an
accounting firm coach and consultant
and mentor, I'm thinking, of course,
from an accounting firm perspective.
And every now and again, people
say they're just not doing that.
So that's the first one.
secondly, just genuinely listen
to the feedback from your
users and actually act on it.
I still feel like that's
not happening enough.
Third, make your tools super connective
in terms of having a robust, a robust
API, so that you can, you know,
be connecting with other tools.
And then lastly, and I, I think
really importantly, and I get this
feedback from a few of my clients.
Please, as a tech company, a software
provider, stop trying to tell accountants
how to run a better accounting firm,
and actually just tell them what your
software does and how it helps them and
what problems it solves, because I don't
think there's enough of that going on.
Microphone (TONOR TC30 Audio Device)-2:
So they have five grand
answer to the question.
What could the tech and software vendors
do better to serve accountants each
work in depth that week, Monday through
Friday, we give you the insights of five
top influencers in the accounting world.
On this critical area of the
tech providers, software vendors
and how they serve accountants.
That's 25 valuable perspectives,
viewpoints and best thinking every week.
And with each fresh week comes a
fresh question and more thoughts
from the best accounting leaders
and influences we can find.
Thanks for listening to this brand
new accounting answers podcast.
And sharing the show with your friends.
If you want to join the conversation,
you can plug into our community of
implementers@accountinginfluencers.com
and check out our virtual
speed networking events.
These happen every few months
for the north American region
and the UK Europe region.
The great opportunities to raise your
profile, build valuable connections and
share your thoughts with influential
peers until next time, this is your host.
Rob brown, saying stay informed,
stay relevant and stay connected.