Operational Efficiency
After tax season is a great time to look at ways to increase operational efficiency for your business. This article will be different from your typical post tax season review process. We will discuss ways you can transform your business by implementing strategies that can vastly improve the operational efficiency of your business.
Make your clients look the similar
There is a benefit to working towards the niche route of working with a specific industry, but you don’t have to be in a niche to gain some of the efficiency. You can gain some efficiency by selecting similar subgroups such as clients of a certain size, within a certain state, or clients with or without a long list of subcontractors.
Enforce Workflow and Technology Stack
A dramatic way to make material gains in efficiency is to enforce your technology stack across your customer base. You may have some clients now that still want to drop off documents, send documentation in pieces through email, or another offline method that is not your recommended process but why take on more. As you meet with new clients your workflow and technology process should be described and enforced from day one. It should be communicated that ways other than your described instructions will not be met with the desired result. If a client emails something that should be uploaded into a portal, reply with those instructions. Once you allow your client to bypass the system once based on time savings on their side, it will forever be their new process.
Following your processes also includes communication. If you want client communications to funnel through a specific email or team member that should be enforced. If you receive an email, remind the client where that communication should go and forward it along for them. If you are using a system that communicates deadlines, document requirements, and client status updates make sure your clients are aware of the process and let them know that this is how updates will be provided.
Streamline and Document Processes
Your internal processes for returns, bookkeeping, and any other tasks you complete should follow a documented process. This documentation can include guides or even videos. The key is that you could hand the process to a brand-new bookkeeper or accountant and have them follow the process with little to no additional assistance. Most tasks in accounting are repeatable with subtle differences so documentation can go a long way to improving efficiency. Automation and AI can also help with this (discussed this in many other articles) but there still needs to be a process for it to be completed. Documentation is also necessary to start your automation journey.
Employee Buy-In
We talked about making sure you are getting commitment and buy-in from your clients for your processes and technology stack and this is even more important for your staff. Everyone of your team members should be following the processes, procedures, and workflow you have put into place. A team member should not be allowed to “do it their way” or use a different system because they prefer it. Assimilation is the key to efficiency and having it done the same way every time makes everything more efficient.
Constant Improvement
Efficiency is a forever changing goal post, you never achieve it. Every year, quarter, or month you should look at your existing processes, procedures, and technology and determine what is working, needs improvement, or needs a complete overhaul/replacement. New technology tools and software come to the market every day that can help improve productivity and efficiency. It is also important to make sure that you are successfully implementing what you purchase. Opting to not complete vendor provided training or using an outside expert to assist with implementation can often lead to diminished gains and staff frustration especially if the perception is that a previous solution was better.
Now is a great time to take a wholistic view of how your practice can improve the efficiency and productivity of your firm. If you would like to work with experts in business process review and workflow automation, please contact us.
