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Ep: 42 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:
Dwayne Bragonier | Renowned tech leader, author, recognized for practical, cutting-edge process improvement
Stephen Heathcote | Chief Executive Officer at PrimeGlobal - The Association of Advisory and Accounting Firms
Trevor Greenway | CEO of interVal, streamlining firms, finance and wealth with AI
Val Steed | CPA, MA, CITP, accounting, technologist, thought-leader, over 35 year veteran
Vipul Sheth | AdvanceTrack MD, ethically helping firms help clients with global teams
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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You can also check out other Accounting Influencers Shows on YouTube:
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
https://bit.ly/AI-youtube
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 was listed in the views of our
experts, in what the tech software vendors
could do to better serve accountants.
What should tech companies do to
develop innovative solutions that can
help accountants enhance productivity?
I provide better service to clients
and stay ahead of the curve.
It's an emotive question with
lots of different angles.
See if you can spot some clear
messages and crucial themes coming
out from our accounting influences.
We have with this now, Trevor Greenway,
CEO of interval, where he focuses
on streamlined in firms, finance
and wealth with AI leading the way.
And applying artificial intelligence
to the accounting industry
for transformative results.
Trevor Greenway: Talk to them and
don't be fearful of the answer.
You know, I just, at the end
of the day, people buy products
for, it's pretty simple.
You know, people buy products because it
either makes them more money, it solves a
known pain or it's incredibly convenient
or in a perfect world, it does all three.
So I think that it's really important
that you don't just develop something
that you think, Solves a problem.
You know, solves a problem
because your customers have
told you that it is a problem.
And so those conversations are critical
and then iterate and get feedback
because you have to understand tech
is probably scary to some firms,
you know, they know it's a part of
their future and they know that some
have made great investments in it.
And there are some real leaders in
market, but you have to understand
that that's not everybody.
And so I think your empathy towards
their plate and the situation that
they find themselves in today, that's
a tech vendors job is to help them
navigate We are not here to kill you.
We are actually here to can, you
know, play an active role in the
evolution of the industry that is
gonna be better for everyone long term.
And you can only do that by having
real open and honest conversations,
even if you're afraid of the answer.
I'd say the main problem with
some tech providers and software
vendors, specifically in accounting.
There are other places where
this works well, but I think
specifically in accounting.
One, you have to be credible
and have domain expertise.
You have to, they have to believe that
you understand their domain deeply.
And two, It's not, you're not a commodity.
This is still relatively the tech
evolution inside of accounting is
still relatively young relative to
other industries that we've seen.
It's, you know, there's been a
ton that's been happening, but
it's now like Moore's law is real.
The exponential growth
is actually happening.
And so I think.
Where I think a lot of companies fail
is they assume, well, if I put in a ton
of, you know, business development reps
and account executives, and I give them
their quotas and they cold call, you
know, it's going to be wildly successful
because the accountants will fall in line.
And I think the point is
that that doesn't work well.
And it actually creates a It widens
the gap between the vendors and the
accountants because they're saying, we're
curious about technology and there are
things that we want to implement, but you
haven't shown me any real knowledge of how
my day to day actually works and you've
just treated me like a number and it's a
volume game and they're, you know, they're
typically dealing in billable time.
Right.
And so it's not a great
combination of factors where
you want a bunch of their time.
You don't really care.
You're just throwing numbers and
volume at this, at this sales process.
And they're sitting there saying,
unless I can really quickly understand
the solution and understand that it
actually solves the problem for me.
I'm not ready for this.
So don't commodity sell me, understand
my business deeply and tell me how
you're going to solve for the pain
that I also acknowledge that I have.
And I do truly believe that the
vendors that continue to behave
that way don't really listen to
the customer, don't acknowledge
that they're behaving differently.
I do believe that the extinction is real
and that's, that's actually compounded
by the fact that, you know, a lot of
those sales engines that are built
that way are very expensive to run.
Well, we just came through a little bit
of a tech recession where the market
kind of reset and probably healthily.
And so the companies
that were built that way.
We're head, you know, headcount heavy.
We're looking to meet quotas and we're
trying to drive, you know, that kind
of a sales process that's incredibly
expensive, so they'll have to stop.
Uh, and it, I don't believe
it to be very successful.
It's an honor to bring to
the microphone to Val Steed.
A true accounting, legends
CPA, M a C I T P and accounting
technology thought leader.
Another 35 year veteran, who's been at
the forefront of technology adoption
and education in the accounting field.
Val Steed: accountants Inventory is
their time and so anything we can
do to actually help them Be more
efficient or understand our solutions.
We we are guilty of this at zoho.
We are very guilty of this of not having
Really good training Certification, demo
data sets, examples, case studies, all
of these things, if you want to talk
about product related solutions, the
help accountants that are considering
a solution, grasp it quicker, learn
it quicker, get certified quicker, you
know, all that's very, very important.
Also, different, whole different I
really think accounting tech has got to
start doing what they did years ago and
reach back into the profession to help
the profession at large with programs
such as programs helping encouraging
young people to consider accounting as
a profession to encourage and support
the local chapters, CPA organizations,
accounts organizations, whatever, and
support those organizations through the
profession, as well as just sell product.
Hey, well, this now he's fitful chef
managing director at advanced track
outsourcing, helping accounting
firms build global teams offering
outsource services that enhance
capacity and client service without
compromising on quality or ethics.
Vipul Sheth: I think a lesson for
all of us, and it doesn't matter
whether you're dealing with family
or you're dealing with customers.
If you talk to the people, and I refer
to that very generally, so customers.
In this instance, that is
what we're talking about.
If you talk to your customers And
identify what's their greatest pain.
or what is it that their product
aims to solve, but actually doesn't.
And if you do that, what you do
is you get a much better product.
One that's actually the customers
have invested their time in.
And if they've invested time and
they see the results of their
time in a better product, I think
you've got a stickier customer.
You have ambassador for that product.
They'll be happy to tell other
professionals that actually this
product or this service is great.
You should go and use it.
And I think the more that we all do that,
will lead to greater success for everyone.
And one feeds the other.
Yeah.
If we have successful clients.
Yeah, we inevitably grow and
we're, we're very proud of the fact
that, our growth is predominantly
driven by our existing customers.
And it is driven by that
customer service ethos.
And that's the one thing that every
software or accounting, service
provider should, should aim to do.
Microphone (TONOR TC30 Audio Device)-147:
The next voice you hear will be
Stephen , chief executive officer
of prime global, the association
of advisory and accounting firms.
Stephen Heathcote: This is a great
question, because, you know, I could
say all the things about things like
integration and security, but I would
say the absolute best thing they
could possibly do to serve us is to
listen to us and, you know, not just
talk about their kit, but actually
talk to the people wearing the kit.
So that, that means really understanding
what, what makes professional practices
tick, what, when, when firms talk
about utilization, realization,
their margins, their people, for
their packages and their software.
How will it make a difference?
How will it improve profitability?
How will it make their firm future proof.
And that really means understanding
the pains and the gains of each
firm and having conversations.
So I, I find often it's, um, sometimes
it's startup vendors and entrepreneurs,
but because they listen and they
won't say, Oh, okay, we'll respond.
And it may be in the sixth or
seventh release down the line.
We have developers there now
that will help and support you.
The next voice is Dwayne .A renowned
tech leader, author, and recognized
for his practical cutting edge process
improvement in the accounting field.
Leading firms towards innovation.
Dwayne Bragonier: make cloud products
work and allow for easy integration
of other data sets with it.
So, to speak first, make products work.
Legacy versions had a framework
that worked for the end user.
It met their needs.
When they re write into their cloud
based products, quite often they
abandon the fundamental framework and
create a new user interface, which
isn't always necessarily better.
And in fact, many of them now are starting
to dummy down their application feature
sets because they're trying to make it
easy for the average person to use and
sure templating for us so that we can
see things really quickly is wonderful.
But please continue to allow
customization so that the experienced
user can do enhanced reporting.
And with regards to the integration,
please provide user friendly AIPs
so that you don't have to be a
programming expert in order to allow
for Dataflow to go into our ERP systems.
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.