Microsoft 365 services are designed to help you run your business more efficiently with streamlined workflows, and easier communication and collaboration.
With a little planning and forethought, you can take advantage of many of these programs to increase productivity, cut costs, and attract new clients.
Challenges accounting firms face
Many accounting firms are struggling to find qualified staff, particularly when it comes to specialists like financial analysts. More than three quarters of Australia’s accounting firms reported they were having trouble retaining staff, with qualified auditors in particularly short supply.
With accountants and finance specialists in high demand, existing firms and employees are facing a challenge to increase their productivity and work output.
The need to work remotely is making it difficult for accountants and other staff to get the one-on-one interaction with their clients that is critical when it comes to providing quality service.
In addition, the accounting industry is facing challenges with the way it’s changing. As more businesses adopt digital methods, the way daily tasks are conducted is also changing. This might mean you need to adjust your approach to keep up.
SaaS for greater flexibility
Many accounting firms are moving their operations to the cloud, either by adopting a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution or migrating to a hybrid environment that incorporates both on-premise and cloud-based solutions. This is due to the benefits of cloud computing, such as reduced costs and increased flexibility.
Recruiting and retaining staff during a skills shortage means making changes to the way you conduct your business in response to growing demands for flexibility and more modern workplaces. The Microsoft 365 productivity suite responds to this in several ways: its cloud-based, collaborative capabilities mean your employees are able to work efficiently from any location, while maintaining close professional connections with your clients, collaborating together with co-workers on co-authored documents, and keeping your customer’s data safe with modern security features.
The suite also enables firms to automate processes, freeing up staff time to focus on more strategic areas. By automating routine processes, your firm can eliminate the need for manual data entry, which speeds up daily business processes and reduces costs.
The Microsoft productivity suite offers numerous opportunities to create a modern workplace with automation and artificial intelligence (AI). It incorporates AI features that can help automate many tasks, including data entry and email prioritisation. And with AI, accounting firms can use machine learning to improve customer service and capture additional data, allowing the firm to deliver its services more efficiently.
By offering remote working capabilities, Microsoft Workplace 365 has the flexibility to allow your employees to work from any location.
Improved workflows with SharePoint
As an accounting firm, you want to keep track of all of your important data so you can meet your customers’ needs as effectively as possible. SharePoint is a great way to accomplish this goal by providing you with a central location for all of your materials and records.
With SharePoint, businesses can access time-saving tools such as document libraries and calendars, which can be used to manage bills and track expenses.
The platform also provides organisations with a centralised platform to manage business data. This can be very useful in accounting firms, as it allows them to automate many processes. In addition, it can help reduce errors and increase accuracy by ensuring that all relevant information is stored in one place.
Collaborative powers of Microsoft Teams
A key component of Microsoft 365 is Microsoft Teams, an online workspace that allows employees to collaborate easily across teams, departments, or locations. Team members can communicate directly with each other, share files, and make presentations.
This tool makes it easy for accountants and finance professionals to collaborate on projects together, regardless of physical location. For example, accountants can draft invoices, review contracts, and organize financial documents.
Finance professionals can keep track of their finances, including expenses, revenue, bank accounts, and balances. As a result, accountants and finance professionals can be more productive and make better decisions.
Team members can also use Microsoft Teams to safely share files quickly by sending them to other users or groups in the organisation; they can also remove access to those files, or prevent access to unintended recipients.
Data protection with InTune
With Microsoft 365, you can protect your data through cloud-based security and save time with integrations to other apps, while Microsoft InTune, allows you to manage your devices and applications, which helps keep your business running smoothly.
By using Intune, organisations can simplify their IT environments and reduce the risk of data breaches. IT administrators can also use Intune to ensure that all devices have the correct configuration and security measures in place before providing access to corporate data.
Get help from the experts
With all of these benefits in mind, it’s clear that Microsoft 365 can be an invaluable tool for accounting firms. Through remote working capabilities and automation, accountants can be more productive while also ensuring that they’re meeting their customer needs.
The Microsoft specialists at Rodin can help you implement the Microsoft 365 productivity suite into your accounting firm and guide you on its best practises to enhance your business’ operations.
