For years I spoke to firms about integration. With appropriate setup you click a button and everything happens automagically! When you did the setup right this is what it looked like to everyone else, magic. In that same vein what amazes me today is the new concept of Internet of Me.
Have you stopped to look at how many devices and function you can have set up to be interconnected and at the ready? I recently bought a new house so have made many trips to the hardware store! One trip I came across an entire display of detectors, timers, etc. that can all be interconnected via the web and I can access via apps on my phone. We are getting to a day where the thermostat will start when my alarm clock goes off eliminating one more thing for me to do in the morning. It all just seems to happen automagically.
I am a “Big Bang Theory” fan and all this automation got me thinking about the episode when Sheldon used the dice to make all the minor decisions for him so he could free himself up to contemplate deeper questions. It seems to me using this automation gives us that same opportunity! This ability to have so many tasks in our daily life automated, i.e. turn my phone on silent as soon as I arrive at the office, without even having to think about them. Without giving our attention to those tasks we really do have a chance to go deeper and get more advanced in our work.
So many surveys and studies are showing the concern over staffing in accounting firms, be it retention or recruitment. When we look at giving accounting firm staff tools to automate and eliminate the basic tasks you can accomplish more with fewer staff, and engage your staff by employing their real talents! Give each of your staff an assistant through technology and see where your services can go.
Do you agree? How do you use the available automation?
