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Making the switch to a paperless office will help an accounting firm “make a statement” to its clients that it is proactive and future-focused, say some industry trailblazers.
Going paperless is a ‘proactive business’ stance
17 October 2019
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4 minute read
Speaking on Accountants Daily Live, Receipt Bank strategic partnerships manager Chris McColm said making a shift to a paperless office was more of taking a stand that a firm is moving ahead with the times and ready to react to the changing business landscape, rather than going paperless for the sake of it.
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“Going paperless to me isn’t so much of a physical thing of literally not having paper in your office, because all of the time you are still going to have paper in your office, but it’s making a statement that you’re looking to become future-focused and you’re looking forward,” Mr McColm said.
“It’s announcing to your clients the kind of business that you are: you’re not a reactive business, you’re a proactive business.
“You’re also saying to your clients that you’re no longer going to be the butler who will pick up the pieces and help you and rescue you and save you. It’s more of a proactive approach to, ‘We run our business this way, we’re very efficient, will get exactly what you need done in a timely and efficient manner’.”
Likewise, Illumin8 accountant and head of process Shane Scott said going paperless will help change the relationship between a business and their accountant or bookkeeper in an age where clients are demanding real-time information.
“We’re in a position where we can offer all this information to our clients pretty much straight away. It means that we’re not nagging them for stuff. They’re instead asking us for things, and without essentially having those processes and those systems on our end where we can pull that information up straight away, then we would be stuffed,” Mr Scott said.
“It’s a really good opportunity from our point of view that when clients are requesting this information, because they not necessarily expect it, but that’s what they want from like an accounting firm in a paperless environment.”
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