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2017 In Review: Helping Our Clients Achieve More in the Cloud

2017 In Review: Helping Our Clients Achieve More in the Cloud

We’re celebrating a year of growth: offering clients more solutions, more capability and more expertise.

It’s been a fulfilling year for the Business Continuum team. We’ve broadened our service offering and attracted many new clients, whilst continuing to deepen numerous loyal and longstanding existing relationships. We’ve also diversified our offerings by adding several talented experts to our team. It’s important to take time to reflect and celebrate, so here’s a few highlights from 2017.

Merger with Realtime Business, appointment of Greg Harrison

In April, we merged with Realtime Business, and founder Greg Harrison became a Director of Business Continuum, alongside Matthew Peng and Chung Hui. Greg’s arrival signified a combining of forces between our two teams, giving our clients access to his many decades of experience in the IT, business management and project management industries. Greg’s approach is pragmatic, process driven and client focussed, making him a perfect fit for the growing Business Continuum team. The merge empowers us to more efficiently service more clients, and increase the breadth of the services we provide.

Appointment of Tim Dowling

In July, we further strengthened our team with the appointment of Tim Dowling as Client Director. Tim’s focus on understanding the client’s overall business objectives and his extensive, in-house knowledge of Xero Practice Manager and WorkflowMax make him a valuable asset to our team. Since his arrival, he’s delivered many successful projects, particularly those that require expert configuration of Xero Practice Manager to help modernise workflow processes for accounting firms.

A bigger team means more expertise for clients

In 2017 we welcomed several new staff to the Business Continuum team. This has allowed us to offer more services and increased capability to more clients. Our new team includes:

  • Sianne Hussey, Client Manager, bringing inventory management expertise with products such as Unleashed, Cin7 and DEAR
  • Ben Harrison, Client Manager and our resident Scoro guru (more on that below)
  • Connor Reich, Graduate Analyst and our data configuration go-to guy
  • Tejas Chandra, Client Manager and specialist in Scoro and Xero SMB sales expert
  • Shelley Foster, Client Manager, with expertise in Concur and business system implementations

We’re also thrilled to announce that we’ve hired our first Sydney-based team member. Rikki Phillips joins us in January with a strong background in XPM and other cloud-based applications.

Partnerships with leading software providers

During 2017 we continued to build partnerships with leading global providers of cloud-based software platforms Concur, Scoro and Unleashed.

Our Client Manager Ben Harrison recently spent time in Estonia, taking a deep dive into Scoro’s capabilities, and he came back impressed with the team and the technology.

We’ve also been delighted to announce our official partnership with Concur. The commitment Concur is delivering to the Australian market, with significant investments in local servers, events and tech development ensures its offering is competitive, diverse and reliable.

We’re also excited to be working with Unleashed. Expanding our suite of services to focus on inventory management is a logical step for us, and a move that has been welcomed by clients looking to get their cloud-based operational systems working as effectively as possible.

Working closely with these new providers as well as others enables us to develop a deep and intricate understanding of their software and capabilities, and which clients may benefit from it the most. As a cloud integrator, working alongside a variety of different software providers empowers us to be channel agnostic: we prescribe the right solution for our clients, not just the only solution we know.

We’ve also cemented our position with SuiteFiles—the content management solution for XPM environments—having been awarded “Partner of the Year” for the second successive year. We’re delighted to extend our relationship with the team at SuiteFiles and we’ve been impressed with the product enhancements they’ve released in 2017.

Events: APIntel, Xerocon and Xerocon Roadshow

Alongside industry peers, we hosted a pre-Xerocon event that offered insights on how to achieve growth, efficiency and productivity using Xero Practice Manager. Our Client Director Tim Dowling spoke alongside AccountKit’s Paul Murray and SuiteFiles’ Andrew Sims at Accounting Practice Intelligence (APIntel). His presentation encouraged firm Principals to focus on profitability by driving more engagement with current and new clients.

And of course, who can forget Xerocon, the granddaddy of industry events for cloud-based integrators like us. Our Director Matthew Peng presented at Uni Day, a range of in-depth sessions designed for accountants and bookkeepers, showing them how to upskill their Xero knowledge to improve profitability and efficiency.

At Xerocon itself we learned of many new announcements, including the relaunch of expenses, the lifelong learning platform, and Xero Projects. (By the way, if you’re weighing up Xero Projects or WorkflowMax for your business, here’s our take on both.)

Business Growth

Our team has more than doubled in size to a total of 11 staff this year. What all of this growth means is more scale in the business to remove bottlenecks of access to people, more specialisation, and more options we can bring to the table for clients. We’re in a far better position than we have ever been to help clients scope out and execute change at a business process level. Our goal is to be a more capable and comprehensive business partner every year, so there’ll be no slowing down in terms of growth.

We’re also pleased to report that we’ve diversified the size and types of our client base. While continuing to work with smaller businesses, our increasing expertise has attracted larger clients as well.

No matter what part you may have played in our achievements this year, we thank you, and look forward to seeing you in 2018.

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APIntel Wrap Up: Gaining Insights from Xero Practice Manager Data

APIntel Wrap Up: Gaining Insights from Xero Practice Manager Data

Last month the Business Continuum team participated in APIntel (Accounting Practice Intelligence), a pre-Xerocon event held to demonstrate how accounting practices could achieve better profitability with Xero Practice Manager. Three industry leaders shared insights to help practice owners make the most of data insights to improve workflow, find efficiencies and achieve business growth, including our very own Tim Dowling.

In case you missed it, here’s a summary of the advice from the three speakers at APIntel.

Kit out your practice | Paul Murray, AccountKit

Paul talked about adopting a policy of always seeking better ways of doing things, and using tools that enhance staff visibility of client and practice decisions leads to better productivity, engagement and retention. He also reminded us to ensure integration with cloud-based software solutions to avoid unnecessary double handling of data. He also demonstrated how to use AccountKit to create stunning and precise client entity maps that illustrate complex entities in one impressive image that takes just a few clicks to create.

Print…File…Find | Andrew Sims, SuiteFiles

Andrew discussed the benefits of storing and managing practice files in the cloud, and how this can integrate with Xero Practice Manager to create efficiencies. Andrew emphasised the necessity of simplifying setup and filing of ongoing communications with your client. SuiteFiles is a file management solution that offers email and document templates that can be pre-populated with Xero Practice Manager data. This means your communications are consistent, up-to-date and use the right client information, straight from the source.

Professional client communications can be the difference between an impressed or an unhappy client, so it’s an important process to get right. With the use of multiple cloud-based solutions, Andrew stressed the importance of filing emails and attachments to maintain ‘one source of truth’ from any device. This ensures staff have access to the latest correspondence and files, reducing the risk of errors or miscommunication. Andrew also suggested eliminating outdated versions of documents and email templates (It’s very 2005).

Transform Practice Data Into Relationship Insights | Tim Dowling, Business Continuum

Tim challenged the audience to think about growing profitability even if not actively looking to grow the client base. Growth should not be for growth’s sake, but better profitability is always worth striving towards. With almost endless amounts of data now available to us, it can be difficult to know what to concentrate on. Tim suggested these three areas:

  1. client wealth information
  2. firm service utilisation
  3. client referral and churn

With this data on hand, it can form the basis of open discussions with clients, with the aim of improving your range of services as well as the underlying quality.

Lastly, Tim emphasised that selling is not a dirty word. All successful and evolving practices concentrate on achieving stickier, more engaged and more profitable clients. Focusing on client satisfaction has always been, and will always be, essential for success—we simply have better ways of measuring it with the many cloud-based software solutions on the market.

As the event finished up, it was a great chance for the Business Continuum team to catch everyone for a drink and a chat before Xerocon.

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6 Industry Movers & Shakers Tell Us What They’re Looking Forward to at Xerocon

6 Industry Movers & Shakers Tell Us What They’re Looking Forward to at Xerocon

Going to Xerocon? It’s the major annual event for the cloud accounting industry’s biggest player, so it’s likely that plenty of your LinkedIn connections will be there. To help you get the best out of your visit, we asked six industry veterans to tell us what they’ll be doing, who they’ll be seeing and how they make the most of their time at Xerocon.

Paul Meissner, Cloud Accountant, Founder of 5Ways Group and Freedom Accounting System

“I’ve been to nine Xerocons, and they always announce something big. It’s important to know Xero’s priorities for the future and the keynotes let me hear it from the top. I will spend most of my time around the exhibitor area. No other event gives me access to all the add-on providers in one place. I like to cut straight to brass tacks with exhibitors and ask them: “What problem do you solve?” Getting a little bit of information from all exhibitors leaves me time to go back later to the ones I’m interested in. I suggest new visitors come armed with a need (better payments, gateways or reporting, for example) and look for products and seminars that meet that need. Because there are so many exhibitors, it’s easy to be overwhelmed, so just get to as many as you can.

“Networking is a huge part of Xerocon, but it’s not about getting clients. I like to meet industry connections that I usually only communicate with via social media—nothing beats that face-to-face contact. Everyone is willing to meet, and as a solo entrepreneur, I don’t have partners to bounce off. So, I’ll be asking my contemporaries what their favourite tools and products are, to see if there’s anything I should be using for my practice and clients. I would encourage anyone who wants to meet a big industry influencer to be bold and come and say hello—people are very friendly and open.”

Paul is participating in a panel session on Day Two: The Power of Small and Agile Firms at 12:20pm.

Carolyn Stebbing, Director of digital marketing and creative agency, Little Village Creative

“This is my third Xerocon. I was lucky enough to wing my way in as a speaker in 2015. We (Little Village Creative) have a few clients actively involved in Xerocon this year, so it’ll be a busy two days on the ground for me. I’ll spend most of my time checking in with clients, running social media, briefing writers to draft quick-turnaround content and generally making sure things are happening as they should be on the marketing front.

“During the rare moments of downtime, I’m looking forward to catching up with industry connections and meeting new people. I’d like to catch Dan Gregory and Kieran Flanagan’s talk on amplifying your influence and developing commercial clarity around your competitive advantage. And I’ll most definitely be at the block party for a Melbourne-style Xerocon send-off. My biggest tips for Xercon newbies are to drink buckets of water (it’s so easy to forget) and leave the high heels at home.”

Sholto Macpherson, Editor and Publisher of DigitalFirst.com

“I’ve been to six Xerocons and I have three main reasons for attending. Firstly, I enjoy the community. Because this is the group of the most tech savvy accountants in Australia, everyone is enthusiastic about exploring new ideas. Secondly, I love that Xero shares its roadmap and constantly pushes the definition of what cloud accounting software can do. So I am looking forward to hearing its new announcements. It’s great to hear their fresh ideas about what is possible, and I appreciate their transparency. And thirdly, as a journalist, I look forward to interviewing industry leaders.

“It’s easy to be overwhelmed by Xerocon, so I suggest new attendees prepare three top priorities for their business or clients and concentrate on those. Take time after the event to digest everything you’ve learned and make plans, because without action the inspiring ideas will soon be forgotten.”

Tim Dowling is a Client Director at Business Continuum

“This is my eighth Xerocon. I am looking forward to seeing what Xero is planning around AI, machine learning, and what they’re doing with big data servers. I always get plenty of value out of the product sessions. I plan to check out the new products on the market and spend time networking. It’s incredibly valuable to hear from people on the ground using the products.

“I encourage new visitors not to be afraid to chat—everyone at the stands will love to connect and industry leaders are welcome to being approached. Make sure to explore on behalf of your clients—what problems are they facing that can be solved? And bring a big bag for all the free stuff—enjoy the many giveaways like chargers, beach balls, balloons, and frisbees. If it can get a logo printed on it, you can find it at Xerocon.”

Andrew Van De Beek, Founder and Director of accounting practice Illumin8

“I was so inspired by my first Xerocon. I learned plenty of technical skills, and I also felt energised to grow my practice and better service my clients. Now, attending my fourth Xerocon, I still get the same combination of technical learning and creative inspiration. I like to check in with other accountants to see how they are doing, what makes them tick and how they solve problems they’re currently facing. I want to help those starting out in the industry too, so I’m attending the Uni Day to help students better understand branding and marketing. I encourage anyone with questions to come and see me.”

Illumin8 is the winner of Xero’s Victorian Partner of the Year award. Andrew is hoping to take home the gong for AU Accounting Partner of the Year, to be announced at Xerocon on Day Two.

Troy Townley is a partner in HTA Advisory, an accounting and small business advisory practice based in Melbourne

“I always like to see the roadmap of Xero and where its ecosystem is going. It’s great to see the add on partners and other businesses—sharing and collaborating on ideas is what Xerocon is all about. This will be my sixth Xerocon and nearly every year I have found one or two products that I rollout to my business and to our clients. I’ll be on the lookout for anything that solves problems that we see in client businesses and makes us more efficient and saves us time. In particular, I am looking forward to seeing Anna Curzon’s keynote and Rachael Powell’s presentation on building positive workplaces.

“I recommend first time visitors make time to see as many vendors and sponsors as they can. It’s a huge ecosystem and there are so many different products. You can never learn them all but Xerocon gives you a great introduction. Have an open mind about the change that is coming to the industry—don’t dismiss products without giving them due consideration.”

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Business Continuum Appoints Tim Dowling as Client Director

Business Continuum Appoints Tim Dowling as Client Director

Tim Dowling, a leading technology industry veteran with more than ten years of experience has joined Business Continuum as Client Director.

Extensive knowledge of WorkflowMax for our customers

Tim brings considerable experience to his new role, including four years in-house at Xero—firstly as Direct & Channel Sales Manager, and then as General Manager for WorkflowMax.

“I’m delighted to join the Business Continuum team and I’m impressed with its success and continual growth,” said Tim. “Business Continuum is a business that really cares about its customers, and is at the forefront of cloud innovations for service industries, which is a great fit for me. I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Strong addition to Business Continuum team following significant growth

Matthew Peng, Business Continuum’s Director, said that Tim’s experience, connections and enthusiasm make him a welcome addition to the team.

“We are experiencing a strong growth phase, so it’s essential that we manage it effectively. Tim helps us solidify our service offering and create sustainable growth whilst continuing to provide cloud solutions for our growing customer base. His in-house experience with Xero and his extensive operational knowledge of WorkflowMax will be a welcome resource for our customers.”

Tim says the opportunity to join the Business Continuum team is the perfect fit for him. “Their methodology, success and services are a winning combination,” he said. “I am looking forward to using my extensive consulting experience to help Business Continuum continue to attract and retain customers as more and more service based businesses identify the benefits of migrating to the cloud.”

Tim’s experience

In addition to his several years with Xero in various roles, Tim was previously General Manager of Commercial Operations for Vault Intelligence, leading creators of risk and safety management software.

Tim is also a well regarded technology industry commentator with a strong following on LinkedIn, where he shares business insights, advice and opinions from thought leaders across the world.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Accounting and Commercial Law from Deakin University and in his spare time he enjoys reading IT and business books, making apps, camping and keeping fit with Crossfit, running, walking and swimming.

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