Changing accounting firms' practice management system is a major undertaking, fixing the revenue process shouldn't be.
Over the past several years, rapid technological development has given rise to unprecedented innovation in various industries. The accounting world is no stranger to such growth opportunities.
Once a practice performed by hand that involved manual number crunching, accounting firms now have access to an array of advanced data and technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Widespread access to such tools will be a crucial factor for performance in years to come.
With so many options out there to radically transform performance, analytics, and efficiency, how can your firm choose the right technology?
What Is Practice Automation?
Practice Automation is a software platform designed to help accounting firms increase efficiency, improve decision-making, and future-proof their business.
Through emerging innovations like AI and machine learning, practice automation can uncover insights from vast datasets more quickly and accurately than humans can, and its intelligent algorithms can identify patterns that would otherwise be too difficult or time-consuming for a human to detect. This allows accountants to gain valuable insights from current and historical accounting data without having to extract and analyze the information themselves.
And because they integrate with, rather than replace, existing practice management systems, practice automation platforms provide accounting firms with more comprehensive and up-to-date information than ever before, empowering them to better analyze business performance, identify areas for future growth, and stay ahead of the competition.
Practice Automation vs. Practice Management: How They Work Together
Practice automation is a powerful complement to practice management systems, empowering accountants to uncover insights that wouldn’t be accessible with practice management software alone. Whereas practice management software focuses on recording and tracking client-level data, such as client information and billing processes, practice automation goes much further, helping users analyze and understand trends within the data stored in engagement files. This allows accountants to gain better insights into their business performance and identify new opportunities for growth.
Moreover, practice automation automates tasks that would be tedious for an accountant or bookkeeper to do manually, resulting in more streamlined operations and, ultimately, lower costs.
Put simply, practice automation helps accountants harness the power of data by providing them with easy-to-use analytics tools that allow them to make more informed business decisions.
How Can Accounting Firms Benefit From Practice Automation?
Accounting firms are increasingly using practice automation solutions for various activities, including billing analysis, practice management analytics, client segmentation, revenue forecasting, risk assessment, workflow optimization, fraud detection, and compliance monitoring. By allowing users to quickly analyze past trends and predict future outcomes based on various scenarios, these solutions enable accountants to make better decisions in less time. Moreover, they provide actionable recommendations tailored specifically to each firm’s individual needs.
Specific improvements from practice automation include:
- Increased revenue (+40%)
- 20% decrease in manual work
- Rapid acceleration of online payments
With practice automation, your firm will operate more smoothly and efficiently — so you’ll be better positioned to serve the growing needs of your customers.
5 Ways to Inject Practice Automation into Your Practice Management System
Growth-oriented firms who are looking for tomorrow’s technology to solve today’s problems can experience the benefits of practice automation by:
- Utilizing Data Analytics: With data analytics tools, accounting firms can become smarter in their decision-making. Now, you have the capability to view vital KPIs such as revenue and profitability – so you can ensure that every penny counts.
- Automating Repetitive Tasks: Make the most of your time by leveraging practice automation to handle tedious processes like data entry, invoicing, and client communication. This will allow you to spend more strategic moments on higher-value activities.
- Implementing Workflow Management: By utilizing the power of practice automation, companies can boost their performance with streamlined workflows. This process optimization promotes greater efficiency and productivity while ensuring that tasks are completed correctly and on time.
- Integrating Machine Learning: Through the power of machine learning, practice automation augments your existing practice management data to deliver deeper insights and enhanced decision-making with unprecedented precision.
- Creating Client Self-Service Portals: With practice automation, firms can leverage self-service portals to enhance communication between clients and reduce administrative workload. Through these innovative technologies, companies can provide improved access to essential information while freeing up resources for other important tasks.
Pick the Right Tool for the Right Job
Businesses should look to practice automation as a means of achieving greater efficiency and growth opportunities. With the ability to access vast amounts of data from current and historic engagement files, your firm can make better business decisions and analyze performance in greater detail.
The accounting industry will continue to evolve, and it’s essential that firms continue to invest in the right technologies to keep up with the ever-changing landscape. Ultimately, practice automation can be the competitive catalyst for the digital age, helping businesses of all sizes stay competitive and relevant — no matter what the future holds.
Schedule a Demo of Aiwyn’s Practice Automation Platform Today
Aiwyn’s Practice Automation platform unlocks client data from your existing practice management and CRM systems. And with industry-leading AI and ML technology baked-in, your firm can better optimize and automate critical revenue processes — including client engagement letters, onboarding, billing, payments, AR collections, and more.
Ready to see how Aiwyn can transform your accounting firm? Schedule a demo with us today.
