Are Accountancy firms ready for superfast broadband?

Under new government proposals announced recently, superfast broadband will be available to everyone by 2015 making it easier for people to find professional service providers online.  Users will be able to access the Internet at speeds of up to 50 times faster than at present.

"Accountants were ahead of lawyers in adopting the opportunities that the internet opened up for them, but today, accountants are lagging behind" says Martin Pollins, MD at Bizezia. He is concerned that many accountancy firms are not ready for superfast broadband. Some still don't have a proper website.

"What's the point of having either no website at all or one that is no more than a poorly presented brochure?  If the idea is to attract visitors and keep them coming back time and time again so that eventually they become clients, a paradigm shift is required".  Every firm should make "how can we improve our web presence" the first item on the monthly partners' meeting agenda, he adds.

The world of superfast Internet will fundamentally change the way in which clients want to engage with their accountants.  No longer will an online brochure be enough. Secure document exchange and accounting systems accessible from anywhere via 'the cloud' will soon become the norm.

But even before that happens, in order to keep website visitors returning and, in turn, to convert them from prospects to clients accountants must have fresh, relevant and regularly updated website content. It takes a great deal of time to update a website with new content when you are trying to deal with the clients you already have, so firms needs to consider how they are going to keep on top of this every day of the year with a limited budget.

The truth is fresh content can make or break your business as individuals take to searching the web for information and services. If they can't find what they are looking for on your site they will simply look elsewhere, resulting in you losing a potential client and your competitors gaining one, all because your website didn't offer them what they wanted - free, up to date and useful information.

"Unless your website has content that visitors can look at or download.... information that's useful to them.... they won't visit or stick around when they do. If your website doesn't have stickiness, it is probably a waste of time and money" says Martin Pollins, founder of Bizezia Limited.

Ends

Notes to editors:

  • BBC News reported that every community in the UK will gain access to super-fast broadband by 2015 under plans outlined on 6 December 2010. Full details available here
  • There is help out there for firms who don't have a huge in-house budget or time to create content internally themselves.They can use a website content provider like Bizezia
  • Bizezia provide high quality, unique website marketing apps and practice management tools. Bizezia's products are designed to make business easier, encourage people to to visit your website and to keep them coming back.
  • Bizezia's EziaNews is an ideal example of how to keep your website current and informative. It's a daily round-up of the business news that can be placed on to your website with no effort on your part and gives your clients, prospects and staff instant access to the latest business news.
  • UK-based Bizezia provides value-adding solutions to professional firms, ranging from website marketing apps through to practice management tools. Its core business is in developing, improving and offering ways of making business easier.
  • Bizezia can trace its roots back to 1986, at a time when accountants were beginning to develop innovative marketing strategies for the first time. Then, with the launch of the Internet, Martin Pollins, founder of Bizezia, saw a new business opportunity to provide marketing and administrative products specifically for professionals serving SMEs, which would be available on their own websites with the aim of attracting potential clients and improving the level of service to existing clients.
  • Martin Pollins, chairman and founder of Bizezia, is a Chartered Accountant with wide experience in corporate finance and business management. He ran his own accountancy firm in Sussex and was the first accountancy firm in the UK to advertise on television. Martin went on to create and launch the CharterGroup Partnership (the UK's first accountancy network) and then LawGroup UK, one of the largest networks of lawyers in the country. He also served on the ICAEW Council for several years.
  • Operations director, Iman Rouane, is an honours journalism graduate, who has worked on a number of magazines, including Marie Claire and BBC Eve and was also a freelance newsreader for several radio stations across the south east. She joined Bizezia in 2005. For further information about any of Bizezia's products contact Iman on +44(0)1444 884222.