new data tools mean new opportunities for trusted advisors.
by roman h. kepczyk
the rosenberg map study of cpa firm statistics
outstanding! this is the most profitable year ever with similar sentiments echoed by virtually every firm i partnered with.
more from the map survey: why you need a tech strategy consultant | 2019: tech isn’t the problem. it’s the solution | 2019: using m&a to launch consulting | 2019 trends: client service changes | staff policies improve, but not mentoring
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with my focus being strategic it production and workflow, i’m seeing the cloud, workflow optimization, and security surfacing as the top three trends impacting firms.
the march of firms outsourcing all or part of their it infrastructure to cloud applications and hosting providers accelerated. more than half of the firms participating in the 2018 cpafma it benchmarks survey today have the majority of their applications in the cloud. xcentric and parent company rightnetworks both benefited significantly from this trend with record surges in onboarding firms.
many firms are rethinking their internal production processes and adopting digital workflow tools that consolidate many of the disparate applications and legacy processes that firms had adopted and lived with over the years. workflow tools such as xcm, thomson firmflow, and cch workstream are creating efficiencies – as well as firms adopting “lean” approaches that completely rethink and redesign current processes.
but security is one area in which firms are struggling, particularly as accounting firms are being directly targeted by hacking syndicates. while internal it staffers are doing a reasonable job on the components they personally control in their own server room, the shortfalls are consistently in the areas of staff security training and awareness, and use of secure access technologies to minimize hacks, which is where many firms are exposed.
from a strategic technology perspective, firms are struggling with getting their hands around the “technology disrupters” that are being espoused to the profession. transitioning to more consultative services and “the future of the audit” will require practitioners to understand blockchain, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing, and big data and robotic process automation, which are already happening to varying degrees in corporate america. cpa firms are all over the board in understanding, evaluating and implementing these solutions, spending significant resources to understand what is actually viable and working.
firms are expanding into more “trusted advisor” work by analyzing available client data (small data) and creating useful metrics and dashboards with tools such as tableau and microsoft powerbi. they are also introducing robotic process automation to firms with tools such as automation anywhere and through other customized applications. companies such as mindbridge are integrating ai and cognitive capabilities into the audit process while companies such as auditfile, suralink, and the aicpa’s onpoint pcr are challenging the major vendors’ audit production capabilities.
all these changes and evolutions point to the most exciting period of innovation and opportunity that i have experienced in my career.