"If you're serious about efficiency, but are relying on old-fashioned systems to store your records and information, you're wasting money, hand over fist. And you could well get a rap over your knuckles when you claim to be "practice compliant" says Martin Pollins.

When Paul Dunn and Rick Payne launched their Boot Camp concept more than 20 years ago, accountants everywhere started to hear about a man called Michael E Gerber, the author of a series of books prefixed "The E-Myth".  Boot Camp Accountants everywhere who converted from traditional "bill by the hour" services to delivering "business improvement" to their clients were quoting the wisdom of Mr Gerber and his 4 Ways to Grow a Business.

It's old hat now, but to remind readers, the first 3 Ways to Grow a Business are (1) to increase the number of customers/clients (of the sort you want), (2) to increase the frequency that customers/clients buy from you, and (3) to increase the services that you sell to those customers/clients. Some accountants have remembered this and have improved the performance of their own practices (and their bottom line).

However, most accountants have forgotten the 4th Way to Grow a Business: to increase the efficiency of the business. 

One important tool that increases efficiency is an Intranet.  An Intranet is a private website where authorised members - you, your staff (and clients, if you wish) - can easily find and share information. With an internet connection and web browser, you can access your Intranet from anywhere in the world at any time of the day or night.  After my company developed DeskSmart, John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB's technology editor looked at it and said: "Bizezia points the way to a new way of sourcing your practice technology"

What's the difference between an Intranet and a website?
An Intranet is just like a website, with two differences:

  • It has a different voice. It speaks only to those people who have been assigned rights to view and use all of it, or only specific sections;
  • It includes internal information. For example, human resources information, office and work policies and procedures, standard forms people use every day and templates that avoid re-inventing the wheel every time something needs to be done.

But, employees want to know the same things about a company that outsiders want to know, too.

  • How is the business performing?
  • Who is who and what is their background; what projects are in the works; and who is working on them? What new clients have come to the firm?
  • What services does the firm provide?
  • What is the strategy for next quarter? Next year? And so on.

DeskSmart can also be used as a client-facing 'extranet', so you can add value to your offering by allowing selected clients to access certain areas via a secure login (you have complete control over who accesses what).

Best Practice
Accountants today are faced with an ever-increasing demand to evidence best practice and comply with regulations. 

An intranet supports this by allowing firms to manage internal documents and information sources more efficiently from one easy to access, secure area.

DeskSmart is an intranet specifically designed to help firms improve their business efficiencies and aid compliance. DeskSmart can be set up in next to no time and is totally secure. It requires no capital outlay and is paid for by a monthly licence fee.

Ask yourself:

  • Do you want an effective information management system?
  • Do you want to improve the internal communications of your business?
  • Do any of your employees ever work from home?
  • Do any of your employees need access to information in meetings held away from the office?
  • Do any of your employees ever travel abroad on business?
  • Are you trying to take steps in becoming a paperless office?

If the answers to any of these are yes, you could benefit from having an intranet
 
What are the benefits?
The main benefits on an Intranet include:

  • Improved communication: communicate with specific or all Intranet users easily and with the minimum of effort;
  • A centralised communications method for all users;
  • Reducing day-to-day informational emails to users - this can mean a significant reduction in the number of internal emails sent within the business;
  • Improved decision-making - employees have access to more time-sensitive information faster, enhancing the decision-making process;
  • Increased productivity - there is faster, easier access to information, with less time spent searching for documents/information, so employees become more productive;
  • Improved information and knowledge management - Intranets enable information to be easily available, and users know where to find what they want. This, in turn, creates a culture of sharing and collaboration where users build and share knowledge, and it facilitates organisational learning
  • Saving money - Intranets facilitate a reduction in paper-based systems leading to a decrease in operating costs, as well as a reduction in telephone costs. There is also a reduction in time wasted searching for information - valuable time which could be spent on more important tasks;
  • Increased employee satisfaction - there are a number of different reasons employees satisfaction increases when Intranets are introduced into a business, such as the decrease in bureaucracy, the feeling of empowerment, and also the fact they spend less time with the frustration of tracking down documents, all of which improve the quality of life at work;
  • Goodbye to Geography - employees can access information from anywhere in the world and at any time... and can work from home and on the move much more effectively than ever before.

By Martin Pollins

Martin Pollins MBA, FCA ATII, F IDM, former ICAEW Council Member, the Founder of The CharterGroup Partnership and Bizezia Limited

For further information about this article, contact Iman Rouane at: Bizezia Limited, +44 (0)870 389 1420, E-mail iman@bizezia.com

For your free 30 day trial of DeskSmart please go to http://www.bizezia.com/products/desksmart