5 Considerations for Expanding Your QuickBooks Advisory Practice

Years of relationship building and hands-on problem-solving have resulted in trusted client relationships and served as the industry cornerstone. But here we are — right in the middle of a digital transformation so profound — it has a name — the 4th industrial revolution.

As a result, QuickBooks advisors find themselves at the crossroads of cloud technology and traditional industry service standards.

Market disruption; digital transformation; and a generational paradigm shift in the way people do business, have created an extraordinary confluence of change for accounting/bookkeeping practices. With increasingly aggressive competition in the cloud solution market leading to client confusion, it is not an “if” they will need assistance navigating this technology but “when.”

While considering the industry impact, practices might also explore the business opportunities that result. While unprecedented in proportion, it opens a new frontier to expand advisory services.

As a QuickBooks Advisor, now is the time to take advantage of this unique market metamorphosis and lean into digital transformation by providing clients with a bridge to new business and revenue creation. Prepare your technology advisory service practices to meet the needs of your clients today as well as to serve the growing cloud service expectations of your entire practice tomorrow.

In this blog we will outline 5 fundamental “next step” considerations as you examine the opportunity to expand your QuickBooks advisory practice to drive revenue and meet your client demands.

1. Grow your practice with cloud technology

Cloud technology is changing the way businesses of all sizes conduct business. As your client’s trusted advisor, be there to meet the demand and future-proof your practice. According to AICPA, financial advisory services are the future of the accounting world; overtaking some of the traditional “paper” services, such as year-end taxes and auditing at a rapid pace.

Cloud technology requires a new skill set to compete, some of the new skills CPAs seek as the industry undergoes digital transformation, include:

Business intelligence
Data analysis and reporting
Data management
Predictive analytics

*SOURCE: https://www.evolutionofcpa.org/

Research shows overall migration to cloud technology in all service industries is growing exponentially. It is overhauling how business is conducted, no matter the organization size, at an equally rapid pace.

Even knowing this, taking the first step to offer cloud technology may be the biggest barrier to moving forward. You have the desire and ability to expand your practice, so that your clients rely on you as their TOTAL CLOUD SOLUTION SOURCE. So where do you start?

You have the unique opportunity to become the technology advisor with the software solution to get them there. Offer your clients a blueprint to adapt their business. Dynamics 365 Business Central is a purpose-built platform; deliverable to even smaller businesses as they grow incrementally.

You may not be familiar with the name, but this solution is NOT new. It’s the latest iteration of a well-proven platform that now offers all the intelligence and flexibility of the cloud. Dynamics 365 is the perfect partner for technology advisory services. It quietly integrates into daily service practices with speed and precision. It’s intelligent and adaptable.

Business Central places previously disparate information onto one platform. It quite literally brings together every facet of an organization with one software solution — answering to back office automation; front office CRM and creating the digital culture for total team collaboration. Who wouldn’t want to offer this to their clients?

Dynamics 365 confronts growth challenges with cloud technology and solves age-old QuickBooks workflow issues, providing a solution path for you to follow as you embrace changing client and business demands.

2. What if there were no more QuickBooks ceilings and workarounds

As a QuickBooks advisor, part of your service performance is rooted in the ability to find new ways to solve old problems. You construct workarounds; solutions to software corruption issues; and, create new ways to raise the ceiling, when your growth clients run into software limitations and functionality issues.

All this makes you a trusted and experienced consultant. But it takes time, and it slows business down each time they come across another glitch in the system architecture. This, in turn, slows efficiencies down for clients who demand more.

What if you could offer your clients a flexible, scalable, all-in-one business management solution that can run end-to-end business processes all from within Microsoft Outlook?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central allows clients to get to vital data faster with one seamless software integration. Your practice can build a new foundation for trust and offer a value-added solution that solves workflow issues.

3.The technology landscape is changing, be prepared to adapt and advise

“Our industry does not respect tradition, it only respects innovation” Satya Nadella CEO, Microsoft.

In a recent SCA conversation with one QuickBooks advisor about why they added Dynamics 365 Business Central to their practice solution portfolio, they said “You had me at hello.” Once introduced to the power of the solution and the growth potential for clients, the decision was easy.

Furthermore, traditional QuickBooks advisors have the opportunity to join a partner-only distribution/sales model that allows them to offer complete services for growing organizations, bridging the way it was with the way it can be using the cloud.

Dynamics 365 leverages familiar solutions like Office 365 with user-friendly platforms and delivers them in dashboard format — whether the end-user is the CFO or the front office welcome staff. Everyone throughout the organization is now connected.

It’s like driving a car. Dynamics 365 dashboard technology delivers easy-to-understand visual direction to navigate through daily operations for everyone on the team. Gone are the days of time-consuming manual maneuvers due to un-related, disparate legacy systems. Dynamics 365 Business Central allows people to do what they do every single day — only better.

4.The familiar functionality of Dynamics 365 makes digital transformation easier

Dynamics 365 Business Central is instantly relate-able for your clients as they consider their choices for cloud solutions. Chances are they already use and rely on the ease of Office 365 in their daily operations.

What they may not know, is that Dynamics 365 takes Office 365 functionality and incorporates an interconnected accounting software solution to create ONE complete and powerful business platform.

With this powerful network, Business Central answers both in-house ERP and client CRM needs for organizations of all sizes. The key difference between Dynamics 365 and any other accounting software solution is in the total connectivity of the platform for business resources.

Accessibility of information and speed of execution are key components of this transformation business management solution.

Dynamics 365 Business Central not only answers the same service principles as QuickBooks, it does it faster and with greater reliability. Business Central connects everything in daily operations. And with cloud technology, Dynamics 365 literally gives users the ability to navigate from “quote to cash,” from anywhere — at any time.

5. Partnering for success

Dynamics 365 is ONLY sold through a channel. There is no additional competition created by Microsoft and in fact they have created a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program for partners to access new cloud services, more markets and new capabilities.

Stratos Cloud Alliance (SCA) is all the leverage you need to become a trusted technology advisor with Dynamics 365 Business Central. Offering expanded cloud solutions to your current and prospective clients is easy with the support of our sales and support team. Backed by over 30 years of Dynamics experience Stratos Cloud Alliance (SCA) provides all the resources that a traditional QuickBooks Advisor needs to build a profitable cloud solutions business with Microsoft Dynamics 365.

The Stratos Cloud Alliance (SCA) program by Velosio empowers partners like you to take expand your advisory services at your pace, and on your terms. We facilitate a seamless transition with a low upfront cost so you can begin capitalizing on this exploding market very quickly.

To learn more about how you can increase margin and high-value cloud solutions and services to meet today’s customer needs, download our eBook – 6 Ways Partners Build Sustainable Profitability with Microsoft Dynamics 365!