Have you heard about this amazing new digital solution that …
Ok, let’s stop right there. Solution? It’s a great buzzword, but a solution needs a problem. Otherwise you aren’t really solving anything, you’re just adding another time consuming step in your workflow.
Any time someone tries to sell a solution, it’s worth stopping and asking “what is the actual problem we are experiencing, and does this ‘solution’ actually solve that problem?”
We’ve previously discussed how revenue analytics helps you understand your business better and drive sustainable growth. We’ve even looked under the hood, to reveal how fine grained analytics is essential for fine-tuning your sales strategy.
We’re confident that those are pretty fundamental solutions to the problems of growing and sustaining a sustaining a financial advice practice. That is, the insights you can gain from our revenue analytics technology aren’t just interesting from a theoretical perspective, they offer actionable insights that guide strategy.
The upshot is the bottom line
However, at this point, careful readers may have another question. Sure, our technology may provide an effective solution. But do the benefits outweigh the cost? After all, buying a new Ferrari might get you to work on time, but it certainly wouldn’t be a cost effective solution.
Predictably, we at Commspace think that our revenue management software provides practical insights that offer a real business advantage. That’s why we do what we do. But then we would say that. We don’t want you to just take our word for it, though. Get in touch for a detailed discussion about how Commspace can help you grow your business.
But we also appreciate that a business decision can’t be made in abstract terms alone. What does automation technology actually do for the bottom line?
Automation gives you access to innumerable insights and advantages. But it is also a powerful benefit in itself.
Haste makes … efficiency
Think of all those people hours wasted on admin. Manually typing all the data into a spreadsheet, not always entirely accurately. It’s tedious, it’s time consuming and, ultimately, it’s expensive.
It’s not uncommon for an advisory practice to pay someone to spend up to three weeks on manual data processing each month. That’s a significant expenditure, not to mention a considerable opportunity cost.
And given that time in that case quite literally is money, there’s the inevitable trade off between speed and accuracy. Inevitable, at least, when processed manually. Automation makes admin both faster and more accurate.
Moreover, that accuracy can itself produce savings. For instance, manual data processing can fail to accurately account for VAT. The result: a practice ends up paying over VAT to the taxman which was not received from the providers. In other cases we sometimes uncover missing provider commission that sometimes run into the hundreds of thousands of rands. How many of these discrepancies are there? And how much is it costing your practice?
A solution, not a fix
Any FD reading this will be absolutely persuaded by now, right? Well not quite. After all, their job is, in part, to resist fads and calls for change for change’s sake. Sure automation is more efficient. Yes, the benefits are clear. But we already have a system that works? Why mess with it?
Remember that a true solution is not a quick fix. It should provide long term value. And automating your revenue management does precisely that.
Think about current manual processes. Let’s suppose your admin is managed by a specialist who understands the practice’s administrative system backwards and forwards. They hold an intricate blueprint of all the practice’s filing and data in their head. Now what happens when they retire? Or the practice rapidly expands? Or your administrator is unexpectedly off work for a number of months?
You’re leaving yourself vulnerable to serious costs down the line. Waiting until it’s too late to efficiently migrate to an automated system, or when the errors start to compound, isn’t a steady, conservative position. Having fragile processes is a gamble that could lead to serious financial impact.
Yes, change for its own sake often causes more problems than it solves. But we’re not just talking about change, we’re talking about real solutions to real-world problems.
