With Making Tax Digital (MTD) now live many businesses will have made the move onto a digital platform. Although compliance considerations are important, there are many potential benefits that businesses can reap.
These solutions will facilitate the simplification or automation of processes, saving time, reducing mistakes and making accounting and tax reporting more efficient.
For example:
Imagine the simplicity of automatically collecting that utility bill straight from your supplier when it becomes available, coding it up and posting it into your accounting system without any human interaction.
Or before you have left a potential customer premises, being able to provide a quote with a suite of options that they can pick from and have that quote automated through your sales order, sales invoice and payment collection process.
As great as this sounds, efficiency and accuracy are only part of the equation and the real benefits of digitalization come from the insights that can be achieved from the data in the system.
Our experience at Johnston Carmichael is that once businesses have converted onto a digital platform, they immediately appreciate the transparency of the data, which in turn creates a drive to improve the financial metrics and a willingness to further develop the system to drive greater insight beyond the more straightforward financial KPIs.
Whilst software such as Xero or QuickBooks may sit at the centre, it is now possible for businesses to build an effective ERP [enterprise resource planning] system using connected apps, something that was previously only available to larger businesses deploying sophisticated, expensive systems.
There are more ways than ever to analyse and visualise data enabling users to quickly understand the key dynamics within their area of the business.
Salespeople not only have greater access to customer sales data so that they can consider where they can take advantage of pipeline opportunities, but they also have access to real-time production costs so that they can give customers informed sales prices to ensure margins and profitability can be achieved. The finance team too can analyse performance and profitability by-products, geography and customers.
The most successful businesses will embrace the digital revolution and the insights that it can bring but advisors too need to transition their service proposition to be one of assisting clients with their digital journey and using their expertise to provide the interpretation and recommended actions to deliver business improvement.
Get in touch to find out how we can help: T: 01786 459 900,
E: Graeme.Bell@jcca.co.uk
