Workflow everywhere...

The word workflow has permeated every type of software being brought to the market place. Document management has workflow, scanning and auto populate software have workflow, depreciation software has workflow…heck, even our accounting software has "workflow." Overnight, a word that was never used by the accounting profession has become ubiquitous…and very confusing. 

Simply put workflow is the flow or process through which we move work. Our process is fundamentally not too different from a manufacturing production process, through which raw steel may be shaped through an assembly process to produce a car body. It’s just that our raw materials are client source documents and the final product may be a tax return or a financial statement. Manufacturers have introduced technology to make the assembly line much more efficient and productive, while many accounting firms still have not automated their business processes.

Like us, other professions are looking at automating their processes and adopting workflow technology. The medical profession is one example.  My wife is an RN with one of the most distinguished hospitals in the country. She works in the PACU unit, taking care of patients as they leave the operating room. Turns out the operating rooms within hospitals look at their business process much like an assembly line, from Pre-op to the Operation itself to the Post-op areas - all of which is sometimes on three separate floors within the hospital.

Some of the primary issues their processes must address are logistical: determining where the patient is at any given time, making sure the surgeon is not held up waiting for clients or waiting for a bed, and determining who is open out of the 20 nurses that are working in Post-op. The more efficient this process is, the more operations the doctor can safely manage in a day. Sounds like workflow to me.

In fact, my wife’s hospital just implemented a workflow software solution that tracks a patient from the minute they sign in, as well as gives staff a view of all open operation time slots and available nurses when the operation has been completed. In essence, we’re all dealing with the same fundamental work problems – resources and capacity. Granted, our ultimate goal is a quality financial output, whereas hospital surgical units save lives. I won’t try to draw any further comparisons, except to simply point out that ours is not the only professional group automating workflow.

Training, Training, Training

This past week, I spoke at the AICPA National Tax Conference in D.C. and the AICPA Sophisticated Tax Conference in Boston. In each session, I had discussed aspects related to helping firms maximize their IT investments – focusing on the move to the paperless office.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people interested in these topics, especially since both conferences were heavily focused on technical tax areas. To me, it signaled that at all levels firm leadership is actively engaged in learning how to make their compliance processes more efficient and productive.

One of the topics I touched upon was training in the profession. I have always maintained that we as accountants do not focus enough internally on professional development as we should. That is a broad stroke comment and I’m sure there are some firms that have invested heavily in this area.

In fact, the Bay Street Group study found that high performing firms are far more likely to invest in their people  through education and training – with 49% of employees reporting that they get thorough and continuous technology training, while no low performers claimed that (read the Seven Habits of HighlySuccessful Firms white paper, based on the study).

However, the vast majority of firms – including the four I’ve worked with in my 35 year career as a practitioner - focus few resources on developing a top-notch training program. Though we know that our talent is our greatest asset, we tend to behave as though staff will simply learn through osmosis. New staff members are hired out of college often with the expectation that they will simply know how to prepare tax returns. This expectation is simply not realistic, and ultimately hurts our business and contributes to talent loss.

We owe it to our employees and to ourselves as owners and partners to allocate time and energy to training our staff. This is particularly true when it comes to ensuring that everyone knows how and when to use the tools at our disposal – training not just on how to use software, for example, but how to use it within the business processes set up throughout the firm. 

Baby Steps Slow Real Progress

This past week, I spoke with a few firms at the CCH User Conference about how they implement technology initiatives within their firms. I also spoke at the National Tax Conference in D.C. on a related topic – 7 Key Steps toMaximizing Your IT Investments. The people I talked to expressed the need to take baby steps on IT implementations. They were concerned about overwhelming their staff with too much change at one time, as opposed to just simply jumping in with two feet and rolling out the initiative at once.

I think though their concerns have merit, their overall approach reveals a conservative attitude toward technology adoption and, as such, it may hinder their long-term competitiveness. A recent study by the Bay Street Group found that high performing firms not only embrace positive change, but create a culture of curiosity in which staff are encouraged to innovate. In fact, they're 11 times more likely than low performing firms to encourage employees to explore new technologies and better ways of doing things (read the Seven Habits of HighlySuccessful Firms white paper, based on the study).

In addition to underestimating the competition, these firms may also be underestimating their staff and its ability to embrace positive change. Communicated properly, a change worth making for the better of the whole will ultimately benefit the individual, so why would anyone favor waiting? Make no mistake; clearly communicating the goals - for the organization and the individual - is an essential element of the project plan.

Sometimes that baby step approach means that the people involved in the project have either not fully thought out how the firm is going to use the new technology or are unsure how the new technology is going to work out in their firm. Either way, it will not lead to as successful an implementation as it could be.

In my 35 years in the accounting profession, I have been involved in some pretty significant IT initiatives within my firm of 60 or so people. In 1999, my firm implemented a full blown document management system, ePace (the forerunner to ProSystem fx Engagement), Microsoft Exchange, and introduced something called the Internet to every desktop in the firm. This project took about six months beginning to end. The scope was broad, but was it technology overload? Of course not. Change came swiftly and, at times was protested loudly, but it became intrinsic to our every day work processes and in the end everyone wondered, “how did we ever work before?”

There is no question that change can be painful. Accounting firms have historically been creatures of habit; we did it this way last year, so it should be okay to do it the same way this year  - without questioning whether or not it makes sense.  Having people step out of their comfort zone is a difficult thing. I know - I am an accountant and I still have that problem. But we know through what we say to our clients that the full adoption of technology initiatives to make our businesses more efficient, productive and profitable is the right thing to embrace within our firms. Taking baby steps often only prolongs the pain of change and hinders real progress.

iPad - Tool or Toy?

Okay, I thought I would weigh in on the heavily debated question of where does the iPad fit into the arsenal tools for the CPA? This battle between the believers and non-believers will be waged until full enterprise solutions like the tax and engagement software are available for the Ipad and Iphone.

My perspective is a little different than most CPAs, since I also happen to be a software designer who is constantly looking for ways to improve the user experience of XCM.

Most people weighing in on this question focus on the content-related benefits of the iPad. I believe easy access to the Web and the vast amount of content that this forum brings to the CPA is worth the cost of the iPad itself - the accessibility of resources like AccountingToday.com for example.

Don’t get me wrong - being able to flip open the cover of the iPad and have it online is a huge advantage if you're a PC user and have to wait the intolerable 3 to 5 minutes of machine boot up time just to be able to access the Internet. That seems silly now.

Most people who use iPads would probably agree that the iPad was not made for and does not work very well with data intensive applications such as Excel or other spreadsheet solutions. It’s actually very difficult to manipulate data within a spreadsheet because of the size of the screen. And of course there are currently no tax and engagement packages in the App marketplace at this time.

What I find most interesting are the Apps that help keep things moving, whether it’s in your personal or business life. Being able to pay bills, look at bank information, or enter time in practice management, access the status of work or move a task (currently in development) - all within an App from your iPhone/iPad is an enormous advantage to people on the move, as opposed to waiting to get home and fire up the old PC.  It’s the convenience of the device that is of most benefit to those that use it.

So, do I think the iPad is a paper weight? No, I do not. Do I think people can throw away their laptops and use the iPad solely to get work done? That’s not realistic either. But where I think the iPad fits is just another tool in your bag that can be used to make your life easier and help you stay better informed. It also takes a little bit of stress out of your life with instant access to some, and I say some, of the applications we use to perform our work.

The delay reflex

How often are you in a management, project, or even a client meeting when everyone appears sold on an idea, but still the the result is "Let's wait..."? Sometimes it's more like, "Let's wait until..." some better set of circumstances present themselves. I'll admit, sometimes waiting is beneficial - it allows you to gather more information, explore other alternatives, or even better evaluate your needs. It definitely serves a purpose in the exloratory part of a project or decision. But, once the decision is made and everyone has weighed in, just what are you waiting for?

It could be that the person who suggested delaying is not sold, but feels that s/he doesn't have a strong enough argument against the decision. In that case, waiting is simply a means to avoid confronting the issue, and is not constructive. There may be other valid reasons that a project should be delayed - not the least of which is lack of resources at that time. However, an equally important consideration is the opportunity cost associated with delaying executing on your decision. After all, there's a reason that you embarked on this project in the first place.  

We had commissioned a research project with the Bay Street Group in which we identified common attitudes and behaviors among high performing firms summarized in a white paper, "Seven Habits of Highly Successful Firms." One of the things that high performing firms understood well was that there is an opportunity cost to delaying - in this case, technology adoption. But the same holds true no matter what the decision pertains to.

Consider this familiar scenario. You're sure that a certain investment strategy will help your client earn an eight percent return. They trust your judgment which is why they sought out your counsel. Though they like the idea, they need time to sit with it for a while, and put off moving forward on that advice. When they leave your office, you're scratching your head because they don't seem to grasp that the sooner they move forward the faster their investment starts yielding results.

You can see it when your clients display the "delay reflex." Is it as easy to recognize when it's a colleague or even yourself? We've been conditioned to always factor in the ROI of any project, but we must also calculate the opportunity cost - those are just as real…time, money, retention, competitive advantage, profitability.

Welcome to my blog

Those who know me well can attest to the fact that, though I like to have the latest gadgets and technologies, I tend to take more of a wait-and-see approach before I fully utilize all their advantages. This blog is no exception. I’ve been badgered to start one for some time, and am only now coming to the realization that “it’s time to put up or shut up,” as they say. The challenge was coming up with the focus – who’s my audience and what do they care about (that I could share)?
 

So, I guess I’ve decided that I’m writing for men and women who practice public accounting and, like me, tend to keep abreast of the latest trends in technology and practice management for our profession, but are more cautious about fully embracing new ideas before they’re really battle-tested. I know I’m especially careful if the idea requires a change that impacts others in my organization or my clients.

 

I’ve been practicing for more than 35 years and it seems to me that the pace of change has accelerated over the last decade – particularly in the last few years. It’s hard just to keep up, never mind being able to identify which trends are merely fads and which will fundamentally change the way we work. This blog, “Going with the ‘flow,” will discuss the issues, changes and new ideas impacting how we work (and will work in the future) in hope of helping you assess whether it’s worth getting on board or if you should just let it pass.

Knowing that I don't know everything about anything, my goal is to get you to share - topics, ideas, your experiences, links, and other bits of wisdom you've learned along the way. Periodically, I may be lucky enough to feature a guest blogger with specific expertise on a given topic. So, don't be shy, let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Mark