The Progressive Firm Pod Podcast S2E5: Rolling out tech without rattling clients

Speaker A: Today's episode is sponsored by Intuit Accountants and bookkeepers. Discover the new Intuit Accountant Suite, designed by you, built by us. Manage your firm, clients and team, all on one AI powered platform. Search Intuit Accountant Suite to learn more. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Progressive Firm Podcast, a series from Accounting Web with me, business editor Matthew Ord, looking at the ins and outs of the world of accounting today. We'll be ending series two with a look at how firms can introduce technology in a way that improves client relationships and at the very least, doesn't cause any kind of friction or disruption. With the rapid onset of AI and more software coming to the market than ever before, firms are naturally having to adapt and integrate new technologies in a bid to keep pace with the rest of the profession. Introducing fresh technology is also part of the life cycle of a growing firm, be it replacing something no longer serving its purpose or simply automating a process that is taking up too much time. However, doing so also runs the risk of causing snippets of disruption. So how can such a step be taken without affecting your relationship with a client? How can firms ensure technology improves the client experience rather than complicates it? And how important does the human touch remain? To answer those questions, I'm joined on today's episode by David Gartside, Chief digital Officer at Grant Thornton, and Luke Farren, founder and Chief Executive of the modern firm. Naturally, introducing a new technology comes with risks. For David, one of the biggest is the effect it might have on a relationship if it means removing some of the existing ways of communicating.

Speaker B: If you go from the relationship is with a set of humans to suddenly the relationship is with a portal or a login or, you know, forcing people to come into your world. You've changed the fundamental nature of that client relationship from one with a human to one with a piece of technology. And you know, I've worked in technology company as I used to work at Google. Google know what it means for someone to have a relationship with technology rather than with a person. I think very few professional services firms understand that ah, well enough to want to be moving into that space. You want we, you know, certainly Grant Thornton, we want the client's relationship to be with our people, not with our technology. So that's the biggest one. I think the second one then is just friction, right. If I look at the things I want to use, if it takes me 30 seconds to log in, fine. If I'm starting to have problems logging in, I'm having problems with having to call a Help desk to get it to work, et cetera. That friction is corrosive, right? You, you, you're creating an image that says, you know, we're a fully digitally enabled company, we work at this level, we want to help you in this way. And then if you come across as well, you know, please call this phone number or send us a fax, right? That, that's horrible friction, right? I want to be in that space at all. And I think those are the two biggest ones. I mean, the third one then is just how do you not make your technology overall become the client's problem? Right? Every client has their own ecosystem, every client's got their own set of challenges they're dealing with. The last thing they want is for your technology to be part of their problem, um, and make their world, their ecosystem, even harder to deal with. You almost want it to be completely transparent. They've got their own problems they've got to deal with. They've got their own hands full. Don't answer them.

Speaker A: Luke recognised that change is difficult regardless of whether you're a client or a member of staff. So great consideration needs to be given to timing, to kind of start by answering.

Speaker C: In a slightly more roundabout way, though, from my perspective, I think client expectations are changing quite dramatically when it comes to technology, I think, versus maybe two, three years ago, where, um, perhaps pre AI, pre automation boom that we've seen over that period, um, many clients wouldn't necessarily care too much about what technology was being utilized to deliver their work. Um, I think now we're in a world in which clients are expecting things to be done more efficiently, more autonomously. Uh, and we've seen a lot of example across industry, across bigger firms especially, but down to smaller ones as well, where clients are starting to interrogate things like fees and value for money and stuff off the back of how work's being delivered. And I think AI has played a big part in that, in terms of, um, rightly or wrongly, kind of expectation or perception that, that, that tech can do things quicker, more efficiently and by definition clients should therefore be charging less money. That's a kind of different debate and topic, I think, around whether or not that's, that's right or wrong. But I think my point being client expectations are changing. And so in a roundabout way, I think the appetite to adopt new technology is almost expected now on the client's part. And so I think we're in, we're in a better starting position now versus perhaps where we were a couple of years ago regarding, um, kind of whether or not clients are going to mind too much around that. I think almost it's being expected now versus UM versus UM versus not.

Speaker A: David sang from the same hymn sheet. When it comes to client expectations on

Speaker B: technology, I think certainly over the last couple of years we've gone from an expectation of basic procedural technology, help me make the process work to some kind of expectation around Gen AI. I mean most clients are either using gen AI internally or if they're not, they're using it in their personal life. And they do have an expectation that uh, professional services are looking at how they're using Genai to improve the service. And that expectation I think is very real. The industry as a whole in some places is still in the experimentation and pilot phases but there's definitely an expectation out there from clients that you are looking at Genai and how it can actually provide a better service.

Speaker A: David and Luke are right. For a lot of clients it would almost seem strange if a UM firm wasn't using technology in their day to day processes. But does that shift mean that there's less of a need to reassure clients that a technology change is coming?

Speaker C: I would say there is less reassurance than perhaps again a few years ago. I think we're on a curve now where things are being again. If you're not a technology first accountancy practice, if you're not a firm that's using technology to um, uh, efficiently both for your clients and for your staff, I think you're ultimately going to be left behind or continue to be left behind. And so I think there's there's less, less of an emphasis around it. I still think there's an important um, lens that you need to apply on top of that in terms of making sure that things have been communicated properly and again that you've got a proper process in place when it comes to managing that change. I think, I think communication is super important. And so um, yeah, although I don't think that the kind of messaging that you need to land is perhaps as, or isn't the same as perhaps what it was. If you um, years ago, I. E Then need to be convincing people that using technology. I think clients are expecting that as I keep laboring. But for me I think ensuring that you are communicating the reasons behind why you're doing it, you know, the kind of new processes that clients will have to follow. I do think communication is important I guess. But yeah, perhaps less so in terms of the messaging than what it was previously.

Speaker A: There is an argument that in an ideal world the client never actually comes face to face with a lot of the technology being introduced. That's certainly the case at Grant Thornton.

Speaker B: Well, I think the first conversation is, you know, in a way, does the client even need to know that you're making some of the changes? And if we look specifically at what we're doing right now with launching um, Augmenta Grant Thornton, our goal is that the clients almost don't know about it. What they should see is that our services to them are uh, faster, better, uh, more focus on judgment, less focus on the mechanics. In a way, the ideal technology change as a professional services one is one that the client never even sees, right? They might know you're doing it, they might ask you some questions about it, but ideally to them it's completely transparent. And I think that's what fantastic looks like is the client barely even knows. If, if it is something though, that uh, you know, for example, you want them to send you data in a, in a secure fashion rather than via email, then what you need to do is to work on reducing that friction, making it simple, having a way where you can federate the identity management. So you can basically just say, look, here's how you log in, it's nice and easy, it's self service in terms of any issues that uh, come up. But you've got to focus on reducing that friction and not making it super complicated. The biggest thing I see there is people look at all of the guidance that they write as the producers of the process, not the consumers. And so that third point is, how do I help the client as a consumer look at this not as the producer of that particular product or service. And that's a big mental shift for teams because they're so wrapped up in how does it work that they can't look from the point of view of the person who might use it twice a year at uh, how do I actually get in and use it? So that those are key things for me.

Speaker A: David has already spoken about the very real expectation that clients have around firms looking at how they're using gen AI to improve their service. Luke believes that technology by definition is, is improving the client experience.

Speaker C: I mean we obviously run a digital transformation business that specialises in working with accountancy firms on technology adoption. And when I speak to firms routinely, the kind of main driver behind wanting to uh, implement new technology, both at a client level and at a practice level, is to make the life of their teams and their clients more efficient and more straightforward. So regardless of whether or not we're Talking about document management portals, whether we're talking about, and email, um, tools to be able to request data, um, back and forth to be able to complete things like year end accounts or tax returns, be it around your onboarding software in terms of being able to roll out new technology to make that client take on process more seamless and more straightforward. I think the reason why many accountancy firms are leaning towards tech is to make the life of their clients and their teams more more efficient and more straightforward. And so I don't really think there's much um, there's much really that need. Yeah, that you need to kind of convince people on, on that basis. I think it's, it's technology is there to make the life of practices more straightforward and more efficient. Quite frankly.

Speaker A: For Grant Thornton, their use of technology is, in David's words, taking away the client pain.

Speaker B: So you know, we're, we're a, you know, we're accountancy firm, we deal with our clients data. That data is normally messy, right? It's just a fact of life. It's very, very hard for anybody to be in a point where they've got all their data looking fantastic. So one of the areas we focus on is how do we reduce that pain rather than saying to the client, go do all this hard work before we can do our work, how do we focus what we're doing with technology on okay, fine, your data is messy, great, we can cope with that. We'll take your messy data, we'll turn it into what we need to be able to actually do an audit and then we'll happily tell you what we did to try and clean up that data. But the focus is actually on not you know, beating you over the head because your data is messy. But actually fine, we'll cope with it, we'll deal with it and we'll try and give you some help. It's that kind of focus rather than being in that position of please make your world perfect. So we, so our. Actually that's probably the thing you don't do. You don't want to say to a client, please fix your world so it can, so our systems can cope with it. You want to say to them, look, we understand, we know that getting this stuff right is uh, is hard. It takes time, it takes effort. We don't want to make your world worse. We will cope with whatever you have.

Speaker A: The reality is that no matter what approach a firm takes with tech, there will always be clients who aren't receptive to it.

Speaker C: There is definitely, I guess an adoption curve across any practice. You're always going to have uh, clients and team members for that matter in turn who are more receptive to change than others. Again dependent on the profile of firm that you are in. The particular client base that you're working with will probably um, start to answer where on that adoption curve that you sit. But for example we've been working quite recently with a, um, with a Gloucestershire based accountancy practice that's got quite a heavy concentration of farming and agricultural clients. Um, without trying to tarnish that entire sector or industry with the same brush. By definition we concluded that that profile of clients are going to be less receptive to kind of new platforms and new technologies that are perhaps um, I don't know, based kind of like you know, tech startup and stuff that perhaps lives and breathes stuff daily basis. And so yeah completely right. That the different profiles of clients I think are going to be different um, in terms of their receptiveness to change. It's not to say that they can't all realize some benefit that comes from it. And again back to that point around communication and making sure that um, we kind of educate clients on the, the benefits that underpin it. Be that around um, efficiencies in delivery, um, perhaps around um, sort of you know, fees not needing to increase exponentially off the back of technology being used to make things more straightforward or efficient or you know, variation of any of those two examples I think um, is important but, but yeah there's definitely going to be kind of different people in different camps when it comes to change. And again I say this quite routinely to firms that we work with. Just because the art of possible is this over here, it doesn't mean that you should instantly gravitate towards that in terms of um, a tech stack or a solution that sits within a technology stack. It's about quantifying and validating where you as a firm are and where your clients are on that spectrum. Before you actually start answering some of

Speaker A: those questions, David looks at the same issue on a couple of dimensions.

Speaker B: One is there is a sort of maturity around technology that uh, I think is very relevant and we are seeing some of our clients are actually always pushing us. They are themselves technically very advanced and they're actually pushing us and say well why do you need to do that and couldn't you do this right? Other of our clients maybe haven't gone down, down the same path themselves yet. And you know, uh, I'll just give you a simple example. We're shifting to doing all Our proposals as websites, we can create beautiful HTML, we can do a beautiful website. It actually we think provides a richer way of explaining what it is that we're going to do for a client. Not all clients want that. Some of it want, some of them want it printed out and that's completely fine. It's our job to be adaptive to where they are. I think the second thing though is clients are in different industries and different situations and have different regulations themselves and you've got to be able to adapt to their environment because they may be dealing with things that uh, have particular restrictions because they're in banking and they've got a regulator or they're in government and there are different expectations. And so yeah, it's up to us as the professional services firm to be able to cope with and meet them where they are and understand the constraints they're dealing with and then be able to work with that.

Speaker A: While opinions will likely forever differ on the various aspects of technology, there is one message that continues to come to the fore, that the human touch remains paramount. Luke strongly believes that technology is there as an enabler to people to be able to do better jobs.

Speaker C: For me, good people will fundamentally have a really important role in the future of accountancy, um, for years and decades to come. I think, yes, we're starting to see many elements of accountancy become more automated, more technology enabled. And I think we get to a world within the next probably couple of years or so whereby the world of compliance, for example, as a function is going to be more routinely delivered end to end without having so much of a manual, uh, kind of like human touch point that sits in the middle of it in terms of for example producing year end accounts or tax comps. Whether or not that's mainstream adoption over a couple of years or not, I don't know. But I'd say within the next five years certainly that's the world in which we end up gravitating towards. And at that point the question starts to pose, well, what is the role of the accountant moving forward? And for me that kind of human touch kind of relationship led advisory style kind of role is going to be critical ultimately. Um, and I think that tech ultimately will enable uh, accountants to be able to do more of what they're uh, good at and what they enjoy, which is spending time with clients, building relationships, teasing out more opportunity, making them feel supported. Now needing to spend so much time bogged down in the detail of churning out, um, repetitive, mundane, you know, frankly, boring compliance activity that, that technology can do on their behalf. But having a human kind of touch within all of that is going to be. Is going to be critical in terms of the value that the accountant can deliver moving forward.

Speaker A: At Grant Thornton M, the human touch remains especially critical with the firm's approach to technology being, in David's words, to augment fantastic humans.

Speaker B: What people really want is the expertise they want, the judgment, the fact that we might use tools to make the mechanics better, faster and better. That's not what they. What they wanted in the first place. What they really wanted was the fantastic human who can understand their business, work out what actually helps them most, and then do that, uh, in a way, when, when I look at some of the things that are out there and everyone's going, oh, you know, we could go build all these agents or we could go build all this automation, it's almost the wrong angle, right? It's, how can our fantastic people do an even better job when we get technology to do the heavy lifting for them and therefore they can actually have more capacity to think about the client's business and help the client? And I almost look at what I'm seeing, where I'm seeing some companies trying to become digital companies, and I'm going, I don't know that you want to do that. I mean, that's their choice, right? That's their strategy. We think our strategy is, no, we want. We are an accounting company, we're an audit company, we're a tax company, we're an advisory company. We have incredible people. We just want to augment those incredible people so they can do an even better job.

Speaker A: Ensuring client relationships remain strong when introducing new technology requires communication, trust, and a touch of patience, too, on both sides of the fence. But when done right, it can not only improve existing processes, but. But also has the potential to create the time needed to provide more valuable and proactive advice. The overarching theme of the series in which we've covered self assessment, introducing service lines, managing difficult clients, and new technology, of course, has been communication. Client relationships are much more likely to falter without it. So while it might not always be easy to keep those relationships strong, it's certainly easier when you talk. Keep clients in the loop and avoid surprising them. And with that, we come to the end of series two of the Progressive Firm, um, podcast. A big thank you to everyone who's listened and come on as a guest. As ever, it's been a joy to talk to so many innovative and interesting people. And there'll be much more where that came from when we return. If you'd like to get involved in future episodes, you can contact me at matthew.orgaccountingweb.co.uk. until then, take care.

Speaker B: Mhm of.