Accounting firms told to shop around for technology upgrades

Omniwealth managing director Matthew Kidd said when accounting firms are looking to upgrade their software, many of them will speak to someone else who’s created their own customer relationship management system (CRM) and assume that’s what they should do as well.

“Whereas you’ve got to look at all options first, cost is very, very important especially with small business and if you can get something off the shelf, then you definitely do that,” said Mr Kidd.

“If you are a small business you probably don’t need to go and build your own CRM, there are off the shelf products that you could use that will easily suffice.”

For smaller accounting firms, Mr Kidd said certain Microsoft products as well as Outlook can double up as a good CRM.

“It comes down to the needs of the business, if you’re a small business operator - a one or two man band - and you’ve got 500,000 to 600,000 in fees, you’re not going to need this big CRM,” said Mr Kidd.

“However where you’ve got a growing team like ours with around 55 staff and growing, off the shelf products won’t cut it because you’ve got multiple disciplines and multiple service lines like legal, property, accounting and advisory.”