IN-FIRM Planning To Optimize Today’s Technology

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• September 2008 Issue
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From the Sept. 2008 Issue

Each summer, tax and accounting professionals have the opportunity to attend a slew of conferences to learn about new and improved production processes, which can leave them invigorated to make positive changes when they get back home to their firms. More often than not, this initial burst of energy is transitioned from the excitement of new processes to the reality of serving the immediate needs of clients, leaving many initiatives “on the back burner” for another year.

Whether it’s having too many priorities or not having adequate resources and accountability, the firm needs to make a conscientious effort to follow through on the top priorities, and it helps immensely to have a process to make sure that those items are implemented. This article looks at the process of prioritizing a firm’s technology issues and developing a plan to effectively implement the things that will help those issues.

We will discuss the key considerations in effective firm technology management. Firms must have someone at the owner/executive level to support technology implementation to ensure that initiatives are viewed as firm process improvements to increase profitability instead of IT expenses. This person does not have to be extremely technical, but they must understand where the return on the investment will come from and convey this to the rest of the firm so that any IT initiative can get adequate funding and garner approval. As technology impacts every aspect of firm production, the implementation and standardization of processes is integral to the firm’s long-term strategic success. This is particularly important today with so many firms going through merger discussions.

One of the key differentiators between practices is how productive the firm’s personnel are, which is in direct correlation to how well those personnel use available technology. Firms need to be aware of the applications, issues and actual tools utilized, and they need to have an understanding of the resources that are available. A good way to learn more about these components and how to manage them is by attending association meetings and conferences.

Understand Infrastructure and Applications Already in Use
A firm’s strategic technology management process begins by thoroughly understanding what infrastructure and applications the firm already has in place and establishing a baseline budget for spending. Tools such as Belarc Advisor and SpiceWorks can help “map” the network and create a list of all applications and workstations as a starting point.

Firms can then “age” their hardware to determine the expected replacement schedule for all equipment. While servers and desktop workstations will work effectively for four years if bought properly, laptops are still on a three-year cycle. The firm should also drop all of their expenses for the previous year into a budget template and project them through the current and next years, to effectively establish a “baseline” for what it takes to keep running the firm as is. The added benefit of having the baseline is that it is easier to identify and track specific IT projects that may be added to the list each year.

To help identify priority items, it is also beneficial for the firm to review the overall Help desk logs if they are being kept, any minutes of firm or committee meetings, as well as the firm’s strategic plan if it is in a document format. If a firm utilizes external IT support, getting their maintenance reports will help the firm identify items that are recurring and that should be moved up the priority list.

Assign Team Members and Staff
The next step in the firm’s strategic technology management process is to identify the individual and/or pull together the team that will be responsible for leading the implementation of new technologies and monitoring progress. In addition to the firm’s internal IT person (or team), any outsourced IT groups should also be included in this team as they understand the technical aspects of the network. It is also critical in mid-size to larger firms to include members from each of the core production departments of the firm. In most cases, these people are the “go to” people identified for supporting applications and are actively involved in production. And if the firm is large enough to have a team, it will also need someone to manage the plan and monitor progress (usually the firm’s administrator).

Set Project Priorities
To effectively set priorities, it is important that the IT person or members of the IT team have a good understanding of today’s leading technologies and how they should be integrated, which they can pull together by talking to peer firms, attending conferences as discussed previously, and reading publications such as The CPA Technology Advisor, which also has regular webcasts on leading IT tools and trends. By identifying bottlenecks in the firm’s production processes and evaluating the tools that can resolve these issues, firms will begin to see a prioritized list of issues emerge, which will be the basis for their own strategic technology plan. As this list is developed, it should initially be broken down by those items that can be completed by one person in less than four hours, as this will provide immediate progress on the plan.