Many over-educated people are working as baristas because their dream jobs are being automated. Experienced accounting and bookkeeping professionals need to be alert but not alarmed – yet! Proactive responses, such as upskilling, are available to anyone but threats such as technology disruption need practical and timely activity.
Consider that the buzzword in of the accounting and bookkeeping profession right now is ‘workflow’. No surprises here; after all, if it’s done right, your workflow means you can get more done, consistently and more profitably. Moreover, strident practice owners will be all over this, as good workflow makes it easier to scale a practice or business. But this is by no means an adequate response to threats.
New clients
The best buffer to disruption is a steady flow of new clients. Cynics may argue that workflow is just another way of saying ‘productivity’ which can be a genuine pivot for a practice coming out of manual and paper-based systems and into a cloud-based accounting and bookkeeping firm.
Tech-savvy business owners who are seeking the services of a bookkeeper will run a keen eye over the look and feel of the website of the firm, making a quick assessment of the firm’s capabilities. For sure there will be the tyre-kickers looking for what they believe they need as a ‘cheap fix’; but, increasingly, SMBs are looking for agile accounting and bookkeeping service providers who are also lean, productive and who will provide meaningful and timely reporting.
A cutting edge advantage
Vague and clichéd copy on a website are a turn-off, as are hourly quotes, promises of weekly, onsite visits and the like. More professional, convenient and cutting edge is a service offering that sells packages which are either industry-specific or size-specific or both. The contemporary SMB assumes that you offer virtual services with all the mod cons for gathering receipts, invoices and getting the information needed from clients on a consistent basis so that bookkeeping and reporting is done in a highly productive manner. Don’t get caught up in the workflow buzz, rather, fix the mindset and be the professional that SMB owners need.