Approaching Digital Transformation: What should businesses be doing

The importance of digital transformation, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) is not to be understated, and many are already embracing the transition. According to research 79% of UK SMEs consider digitalisation as an important step for the future viability of their business.

And in a survey of 1,000 UK-based businesses it was found that digital capabilities helped boost revenues by 4.4% and reduce costs by 4.3%. Savings which are not insignificant particularly for a small business.

So, for those who are considering implementing digital tools or software or who know that they need to digitise but are not sure where to start, our digital team can help. We spoke with Cara McGrath, Digital Solutions Manager at Monahans, about her work with clients.

Where to start?
When considering what areas of a business could benefit most from digital transformation, we often ask clients to identify their pain points as a starting point.

This could mean identifying which tasks take up the most time or are the most expensive and then exploring if digitisation could help to make them more efficient.

Often, time-consuming tasks such as managing payments, keeping track of cashflow and end of month reporting can easily be automated. All which can save business owners hours of time and sometimes stress, giving them more time to focus on the running of the business.

Once clients have identified which pain points they need help with most, our team will then build advice and recommendations tailored to that business’ needs. This typically involves helping businesses to choose the right core accounting software first, before considering other tools and software integrations.

A full system approach
As awareness around the benefits of digital transformation increases, or as businesses that have been using a software for a few years, begin to reassess their needs, we are seeing a greater demand for full system reviews. This essentially requires us to sit down with clients to get a sense of the business as a whole and explore how organisation-wide processes could be improved. This goes beyond a specific software, instead it’s about getting to know the nuts and bolts of a business and getting a sense of what a typical day might look like.

This might mean finding out how many customers that business is emailing or how many emails need to be sent for each invoice, and how long all of this takes.

Armed with this information, we can then recommend what we think the best next steps will be. For some that might be a whole system overhaul. We recently completed work for a not for profit where we helped them to change all of their systems, which led to a huge amount of time saved that was previously spent trawling through spreadsheets.

But a full system overhaul won’t be the right solution for every business - there may also be less major changes, such as implementing a digital tool in just one step of the process. Or for others, an initial consultation will be enough to help them to get started on their own.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach so we try to recommend the app stack (software choices) that we think would best meet that business’ needs and help them to build a realistic plan of how to implement them as part of a wider strategy.

Timing is key
If businesses are looking to make a change to their systems, timing is everything. If a client tries to complete major overhaul during one of their busy periods, then the project might not go as well because people will see it as an encumberment to try and squeeze in, rather than a change that will benefit them.

Therefore, as part of our consultation process our team considers the business holistically, not just from a cost-saving perspective but also to ensure that it will fit the needs of all workers within the business, not just the owners. In order for a new system to be embraced, all employees need to understand it’s value and have time to get their heads around it.

What is the most common area that accountancy firms want support with?
This depends on the individual business’ needs and on the size of the business. For smaller firms for example, they may not necessarily need sophisticated management reporting apps that pull in reams of data and figures, instead it is often the improvement of quite simple, basic tasks that can make the biggest difference day to day. That said, there are some common areas that clients are currently needing support with.

Managing Cash flow
Cash flow is key area of focus for many clients. Many are still managing their cash flow on spreadsheets which is time consuming and is taking time away from the running of their business.

Therefore, organisations are looking for ways to automate this process and/or for software that will integrate with the apps they are already using. For example, if they're already investing time inputting data onto up-to-date cloud software, why spend time filling out a spreadsheet first.

Managing payments
Managing bank payments to suppliers and credit management from a customer perspective is another major trend. We’re seeing a marked increase in new banking and payment apps, and developments in open Banking. Many of these products are now incorporating new data capture options into their systems, to make the process seamless from start to finish.

For example, there are now apps which would allow me, as the user, to take a photo of my invoice to upload onto my accounting software. This will automatically be added into my payment system so that I can see I need to pay it. It then allows me to add details such as setting a payment date or adding a secondary approval on the payment so that my partner in the business will also know what’s being paid. And then with a click of a button, it goes through the bank and is recorded. On the customer side this can be linked to apps like Stripe, PayPal, Go Cardless or Square allowing clients to be paid almost instantly. All of which can be a game changer in terms of speed, efficiency and accuracy.

Managing approvals
This ties into payments above and is an area that impacts businesses of all sizes. Once an invoice has been created, we are often seeing a lot of work involved with managing the approval process of the payment. For example, we’ve had clients report that they need to send five emails in order to get approval for one invoice payment.

So, we often consult on how this can be managed better, not only to reduce the number of emails getting pumped into, and often lost within the system, but also to speed up the process whilst ensuring oversight over what is going in and out of the business.

Why Monahans?
The accounting software market is booming, and for those in the initial stages of a digital transformation project or who are just beginning to consider digitisation, there can be an overwhelming range of options to choose from.

Researching these different apps and evaluating if they will be right for your business, is often a long process. But at Monahans will have already done the legwork. Our dedicated team are up to date with all of the latest offerings but have also seen them in action, giving them a good sense of their advantages and drawbacks. As a result, they can help businesses to skip the lengthy research process and provide recommendations based on market trends and on the experience of other clients.

If you’re not sure where to start, or what your next best step could be, get in touch with Monahans’ digital team today, we’d love to hear from you.

Cara McGrath