TORONTO, CA - Robert Gold, MBA, CA, has his eye on growth, practice management and operations, as well as technology, hardware and software. Yet, as tech-savvy as Robert, himself, may seem, he knows the best use of technology will only have a negative effect on his staff of 15 if there is no gain in time and resources. "What you don't know can hurt you, and if you don't know there are ways to improve what you're doing, you don't know how to improve," he says. "When you're working in an environment of multiple documents, you don't know your inefficiencies because you haven't thought through any alternative."
Paperless DM Environment Brings Direct ROI
and Efficient Processes
The justification for any accounting firm to adopt something new, or change its current hardware and software, requires substantial case examples with an almost immediate direct return on investment (ROI). By using Doc.It to streamline a firm's document management, Bennett Gold not only improved its processes, but also realized many tangible benefits - ROI in staffing, firm morale, operations and client communications.
The more efficient a firm is, the more time the staff can spend recruiting and retaining clients. While many firms look for ROI only in terms of monetary savings, there are many more ways to measure how an investment in technology pays off. Bennett Gold enhanced Doc.It's capabilities as a stand-alone program by making a dramatic change when it switched to two, and eventually three monitors, per person. "Because we work in a digital environment, the hardware and software contributes to us being far more productive." Robert says Doc.It gives him a library and controlled structure to maintain the firm's files, including a solid archival and management system, access and change information, knowing what gets deleted, notification of a file about to be deleted and even 10-year notices, something firms need in a controlled environment.
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"With regard to access, I get to what I want when I want to get to it. I can move files around, extract them to my notebook computer, and send files to a client with controls and permissions. The ease of use and portability in the electronic environment makes it work."
Through rough calculations, Robert estimates moving to Doc.It, multiple monitors, and JAZZ-it! has saved the firm as much as $200,000 annually. The figure is attained by adding up three staff salaries (junior, senior and administrative) who were previously storing and finding files, calling up a file immediately when a client calls, and working with financial statements to make them more user-friendly. "Our entire staff is more efficient because they switched their attention from manual, time-intensive processes to having conversations with clients to talk about growing their companies," says Robert. "That's direct ROI you just can't dream up. You can't afford not to have this technology."
Learning Curve and Training
New staff and students take advantage of Doc.It's free, one-hour webinar training sessions. Robert says Doc.It is so logical and easy that once the staff is trained, no one needs retraining. "Instead, they just get better at it. Let's face it: our firm's biggest internal expense is training, an off-the-balance sheet expense that takes up all sorts of time. Easy-to-use programs such as Doc.It take minimal time to learn and they boost staff morale. If you took Doc. It away from our firm, the staff would be miserable."
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