Start your cloud journey by defining your strategy
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Start your cloud journey by defining your strategy

Your cloud proposition 1: Strategy

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23rd Nov 2016
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Richard Sergeant embarks on an eight-part series offering practical insights and points for action for UK practitioners wherever they are on their cloud journey.

Survey insights from AccountingWEB and other industry sources show us a wide spectrum of cloud accounting use among UK practices. Some firms already have detailed and meticulously-planned operations in place, while many others are reluctant to start or unsure where to begin.

Software choices are commonly made first, without too much thought about how cloud systems are going to be integrated with services. The result can be a piecemeal approach, often championed by enthusiastic individuals, but without the rest of the firm really buying in or understanding the opportunity.

Regardless of where you are in your cloud journey, ensuring that you have a coherent approach that suits the profile of your firm will pay huge dividends.

Phil Murray, commercial director at Harlands, said: “It took a while for us to decide to take a cloud-based route, and we watched intensely as other firms started to develop their strategy. At the same time we were looking at our own strategy – resources, strengths, weaknesses, core competencies – and then started to map that out against where the accountancy market environment was going.”

Cloud is not about reselling licenses, but about a change in the service based relationship you have with your clients. The specific dynamics of your firm will influence what approach to take.

“Start with the client, not the technology,” says Xero’s Gary Turner. “Cloud is really just the means to a different end. While it might seem natural to approach this from the perspective of introducing new technology to your practice, it’s much better to start by thinking about the customer problem or need you’re trying to address differently and work back from there.”

Taking a step back to think through your objectives will help to shape your approach. It will also help build awareness and understanding of your aims within the firm. Without this consensus it’s going to be hard to move things forward.

“When looking at strategy, encourage anyone who has a desire to be a part of the direction of the firm to be there. Be clear it is a business development conversation rather than a technology or operational one. By doing this it is easier to build consensus and instill momentum,” adds Alex Davis, business development manager at Intuit QuickBooks.

Building your foundations up from a business analysis rather than a software choice will bring clarity to your approach and ambition. And creating a headline strategy document provides a platform for the whole proposition. It can also identify opportunities that until now have been hiding in plain sight.

Cloud proposition action points: Strategy

1. Take time to agree an approach that suits you and your clients

2. Analyse strengths and weaknesses of the firm and its clients

3. Identify any gaps between the two sides and consider how to address them

4. Distil your proposition into something that can be easily communicated.

5. Next steps: Refine your proposition (covered in the next instalment of this series).

For more details about how to clarify your firm’s cloud strategy, download Richard Sergeant’s free guide ‘How to create your firm’s cloud proposition’ at www.cloudproposition.co.uk. The 52-page document presents a practical framework and tools to guide accounting firms through their cloud journey. This vendor-neutral initiative was produced in association with ICAS, and supported by FreeAgent.

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