Practices: embrace IT or be left behind

Plenty of interesting ground covered in yesterday’s Accountancy Age live web seminar discussion on how to use technology to cut costs.

The presenter (yours truly), moved slightly off-topic to ask the guests whether SME clients were responsible for pushing practices for better collaboration through technologies such as the cloud or via hardware such as iPhones. They said: “No…not exactly.”

The push comes from both the next generation of business owners, and staff within the practices themselves.

Even as a 35-year old who can be, let’s say, cynical about the latest IT fad, it made me appreciate that the latest technology combined with online capability really puts practices in a fantastic position to work more closely than ever with clients.

The flipside to all this is clear.

You stand still, you go backwards.

For firms resisting moving forward, beware. Your clients, and competitors, might leave you behind.

And if you believe your firm is missing a trick, you have to develop a proper business case for investing in Technology Version 2++. Or, how shall I put it, you’re pretty unlikely to get “buy-in” from the senior partners.