Jessica Barnas (nee Hall), Partner, outlines how Klein Hall, a Chicago-based accounting services provider and family business, prioritized its people to become more productive and efficient in the lead up to its successful acquisition by Wipfli, one of the top 20 accounting firms in the United States.
Excerpt: This article was originally published in CPA Advisor – read the full article. (Link)
Technology as an enabler
Leading up to the merger, we moved clients from local server-based software to all cloud-based software so that our overseas team and clients could quickly and easily access files. We also moved client files from our cloud server to individual cloud-based portals for each client for the same reason. We found that it also helped from a cyber security perspective, with increased levels coming as part of the package.
Our team in the Philippines has expanded its software knowledge from just QBO, to NetSuite, Inacct, Microsoft Business Central, Great Plains and Sage software to name just a few. They have a much broader base of software proficiency than we did pre-merger and are able to easily adapt to industry-specific software more smoothly. As a result, we’re now looking to grow further by expanding our developer team, also with Cloudstaff, as we broaden our capabilities as a technology-driven services provider to our clients.