The Tech Stack.
According to the ICAEW it is, “a term increasingly heard and refers to all the software products and tools in the modern practice and introduced to businesses.” This seems perfectly logical. However, how do you know you are selecting the right technology? All you need to do is take one look at the Xero app marketplace, with a whopping 700+ apps to recognise that selecting the right technology is not for the faint-hearted.
When selecting tech for your business, it might feel logical to start with the tech that takes away the mundane compliance tasks: submitting accounts or calculating tax owed and submitting tax returns on time – increasing efficiencies and freeing up your time.
But what if there is a different way….
Introducing the Client Deck
The Client Deck is the brainchild of some of the finest accountancy business owners the UK has seen this year. It is the concept of selecting and embedding technology into your business, based upon your client’s needs, always putting the client first. Because without your clients, what have you got really? A super slick, all singing, all dancing smooth automated operator 🕺 offering a fraction of the value you could be to your client.
My experience of receiving accountancy services is that, accountancy firms often say, “we are client focused, or client-centric”, without getting to the heart of what it really means. So here goes, it means listening, probing, challenging and listening again. To understand your clients on a much deeper level and becoming totally obsessed, taking that insight and creating the best possible experience that you can for your clients.
Before mixing your Client Deck, you need to have deep dived properly with the client. The Tech Stack focuses on one of two approaches;
(1) selecting the most popular app, or
(2) asking clients what they need but without doing a deep dive exercise to properly understand their emotional drivers, as well as the logical and practical drivers.
To really identify the tech you need, you want to get under the skin of your clients and evaluate everything you currently do, to arrive at the “big client picture.”
By ticking off these three tasks, you’ll be able to see any gaping holes in your service to your clients.
Start by listing out your current services lines; question whether you have visibility over them; and whether they are delivered in a consistent, repeatable, optimised and scalable way.
Thinking of your perfect customer type with your team, list out the commonalities of that client’s aspirations, challenges, dreams, fears, goals, problems. Then, ask your clients to validate what you’ve produced.
…what’s not being delivered to clients that should be?
Do you have a Tech Stack or a Client Deck?
Looking at your business, how do you approach technology; do you have a Tech Stack, or a Client Deck? Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at your tech through client tinted glasses.
If you want to sort your tech stack, download out latest eBook, ‘Never mind the Tech Stack, here’s the Client Deck’, for a 6-step guide on how to select the tech your clients really want from you.