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Good article
Like this John, and I agree that it's the one bit of the market that could see the biggest 'action' for some time. The recent research for Adapting to the Cloud series on AW kept pulling to firms believing the efficiency in data collection driven by cloud, was not being matched by the same internal client management efficiencies. Those systems that can be brave enough to open up to all the other cloud providers could be at a distinct advantage.
On this note, it's worth an outside bet on Cheltenham (fairly) local www.senta.co I fancy their approach especially as the going is currently soft.
Or DIY integration
In the good (not quite) old days, the debate was between an integrated package or best of breed.
With the general use now of so many apps by us and our clients, I'm wondering whether an integrated suite, from any one supplier, will ever be suitable and so, should I be thinking instead of linking my (and my client's) bookkeeping, gmail, google sheets, calendar, tax/accounts prep, project management, CRM and cloud drive with a purpose built hub? eg something like Zapier?
It seems to me that this would be a far more flexible and tailorable solution allowing us to work the way that suits us rather than the way in which any one software company deems suitable.
Not a horse-racing fan
But thanks for the form guide, its very useful.
I have just moved to a practice which has lots of Sage desktop products and we had a pitch from our Sage account manager a couple of days ago for their online offer. We are yet to assess the quality but Sage seem prepared to cannibalise their existing Accounts Production (SAP) product by selling the online AP and CT modules at £120 each, with SA to follow in the next few weeks at the same price.
The words 'land-grab' were used!
Xero
John
Your comment if Xero had paid more consistent attention to the accountancy market is spot-on. I remember Gary Turner at Xerocon 2012 (Chartered Accountants Hall) and 2014 (The Brewery, Chsiwell Street) promising that they were developing accounts production software for the UK (which I believe they have in New Zealand and Australia) but that has yet to appear and I think the horse may now have bolted.
Best of breed works for the cloud
I'm with Paul Scholes on this.One of the great advantages of the cloud is the ease with which different software solutions can work together, unlike on the desktop, where this can be difficult (at best) and usually impossible. As more cloud providers open up their API's and share data, the easier it gets to select the best of breed in each category. It ain't perfect yet, but the opportunities are growing, to the benefit of all of us.
Practice Management in the cloud
Capium - nowhere near there in my opinion. I like what they're trying to achieve but at this point I think they've taken on more than they can chew quite frankly. The PM module really isn't up to scratch at all, it's clunky and seems to have been put together in a rush in order to say 'we've got it all'. Here's an example of a small but key problem: take a regular recurring job, weekly payroll for instance. When you create that job in Capium it creates all of the future recurrences there and then instead of them being triggered off nearer the time. Ideally I would want to create a job like that with no end date but they force you to enter one so let's so we let it run for 2 years. Doing that creates 104 live jobs in the system there and then, possibly with numerous sub-tasks. I found it really pulled on their servers [where creating a job literally deteriorated to a snails pace, the wheel spinning endlessly for minutes and minutes on end] and it also meant that if I wanted to bring that job to an end 6 months down the line or even amend the ongoing job template I would have to do each future job manually - it was bonkers. Like I say, that's only a small issue of course but an important one all the same, it's just not really fit for purpose yet.
CentreCRM - this is what i'm currently using but it's far from perfect. The good thing about this system is the fact you can tailor it to how you want to work, nothing is set in stone which is a big thing for me. The downside is the features available at present are fairly limited and development seems to be a tad slow.
I say this to Paul Scholes time and time again but I think the reason nobody has quite nailed PM yet is two fold: 1) Everybody likes to run their practice differently. I'm happy to be told how bookkeeping, AP, payroll etc should be done but not how to run my practice - that's for me to decide. On that basis, the whole system needs to be very highly configurable. From job templates to access levels to what gets displayed on my dashboard, I need full control. 2) In this day and age client communication is key so the system should be designed with that in mind. My ideal would be a blend between helpdesk ticketing [something that pulls emails straight in] and job/task management - nail that and you're halfway there.
So at the mo I don't think anybody is really on the right path quite honestly. However, if I was going to have a stab at a true outsider it would be Taxfiler. Their tax software is absolutely fantastic and with AP now getting a decent following the natural order of things would be to target small practices with PM that can pull it all together [i.e what i'd say Capium have tried but so far failed to do]. Given their track record in terms of feedback & dev work I think these guys could finally be the ones to smash it...should they so wish.
Gbooks - Further Information
Just to add further information to John's comments above, Gbooks provides a Final Accounts Production module where accounts can be created from a TB. The TB can be imported from other bookkeeping systems, and we'll be continuing to improve the ease with which this can be done over the coming months.
We'll also be upgrading our own bookkeeping module for the filing of VAT Returns etc and for creating a TB from the dreaded carrier bag of receipts and bank statements. This should be launched later this year.
Matt Bailey
Gbooks
Feedback
@ KJD
Many thanks for the feedback. Based on the comments, it sounds like you may have trialled the system at some point last year? Since then, the PM module has had a vast amount of improvements, based on feedback we gained from our customer base.
We've spent the autumn and winter months revamping the PM module completely and have recently released our latest version. This includes many of the points you mention above (such as bulk editing and the reduction in time lag); now along with many collaborative services between a practice and their clients. I think you may be pleasantly surprised now on the progress made, given you saw "version 1"
I think we are all in agreement, that this area has a long way to go, but we are making immense strides towards that goal.
Feel free to PM me if you wish to see the new updates.
Many thanks
Tush Patel
Capium
Trendy?
I feel honoured, John. The fiver's in the post!
Is it time for an in-depth, comparative review of PM solutions? It could list the major players and the facilities that are offered by each. There is a great list of PM software here, which can provide a starting list of products for review.
@Charlie
Given your level of tech prowess i'd be really interested to hear your thoughts re the 'ideal' PM solution?
@KJD re ideal PM
That is a very good question! I am looking around for a solution at the moment. I'm not looking for an all-in-one integrated solution (like Iris, Digita, CCH, etc.), but just PM software to handle the running of the practice (rather than bookkeeping, accounts production and tax which are well handled already). The PM needs to manage the client database, deadlines, workflow, engagement letters, onboarding new clients (including tracking prospects), etc.
Howard Marks' "ultimate list" from last year is a good starting point, but there are one or two others to look at as well. If and when I get time, I will take a detailed look at some of the better prospects.
Thanks Charlie
I'd definitely be interested to hear how you get on. I think there's a huge gap in the market here, it's the one topic that crops up time and time. Yet for some reason the software houses simply don't seem to focus on it enough.
Like you, i'm not particularly looking for integration but if somebody like Taxfiler came along with a solid offering I can't imagine there being too much downside from their point of view. CentreCRM works ok but it's got a long way to go before it's anywhere near mass market ready.
Ideal is in the eye of the user
And, as this and other threads indicate, this is why there are so many ideas of ideal.
When Iris were designing PM 15-16 years ago, the same considerations applied however, the preoccupation in those days was in compliance handling & project management, so, as Charlie says, workflow and date monitoring.
CRM was a bit of a side issue however data mining and automail helped us to cover the basics of general client admin and contacting. Over the next decade, when they asked about possible enhancements I said that my ideal was to have what they had for their support team. The boring, job management and compliance side had become pretty much automated (both in & out of Iris) but what was missing was the ability to handle the growing number of other issues raised by and for clients and prospects.
In other words, what KJD says above.
In later years, the ability to feed these issues from and to other systems that we used, like email, SMS, website and social media, became part of the ideal and this is where I think Cloud systems will be able to help....one day.
Streamlining processes
Vendor declaration: I'll say up front that I work for Senta and that we produce a cloud practice management platform.
Some interesting thoughts in these comments, especially about the need for customisation / tailoring. Perhaps one of the reasons that this area (process streamlining) is not well served is because it's difficult to build. One of the things that we've found to be most challenging in developing our own product is balancing configurability vs ease of use. Everyone of course wants a system that's broadly ready to go... but at the same time they need to be able to change everything easily. That presents significant challenges.
If you get it right, it means that practices can use regular compliance workflows straight away -- but then also set up repeatable workflows that reflect their individual personality and client service levels. A practice management tool should be able to do a lot more than just show deadlines, taking some of the workload in the practice.
There is a common idea in software development that if you "do one thing well", people will start to use the product. That is true when the product only needs to do one thing. Practice management on the other hand is not a "one thing" discipline, but needs to encompass workflow automation, CRM, documents, email, SMS, API integrations, etc.
We're doing a lot of this already but there's a whole load of future stuff that we, other vendors and practices probably haven't thought about yet. But that's why it's such an interesting nut to crack!