{"id":72431,"date":"2020-03-13t11:28:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-13t15:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=72431"},"modified":"2020-05-10t22:20:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11t02:20:55","slug":"tech-tools-for-working-through-the-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2020\/03\/13\/tech-tools-for-working-through-the-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"16 tech tools for working through the coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/strong>the apps and platforms we use, and why.<\/strong><\/p>\n by sandi leyva<\/em><\/p>\n maybe you were thinking about taking your practice virtual sometime in the future. but with the novel coronavirus, the future is now. we\u2019re lucky we\u2019re in a profession where we can deliver our services virtually.<\/p>\n more tech for the coronavirus crisis:\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>three tech solutions for protecting client data<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0top tech choices for the virtual firm<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a05 questions to evaluate new tech tools<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0innovate for the right reasons<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0how to leverage app technology for streamlined services<\/a> \u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0cyber security at a virtual cpa firm<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0how core values affect remote work culture<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0the hidden costs of running a virtual cpa firm<\/a><\/p>\n exclusively for pro members.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a02022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n our office became fully virtual in july 2019. meanwhile, here are the main 16 tools we use, sorted into 11 categories:<\/p>\n note, some vendors are offering free services for the pandemic.\u00a0now i’ll tell you exactly what we’re using and why…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n client interactions<\/strong><\/p>\n appointment-setting software \u2013 scheduleonce <\/em><\/p>\n we\u2019ve always served clients remotely since we are an international firm.<\/p>\n new clients are able to contact us in three ways:<\/p>\n 1) via email,<\/p>\n 2) by phone, and<\/p>\n 3) by using our appointment-setting feature on our website.<\/p>\n i implemented the appointment-setting feature about three years ago, installing and customizing scheduleonce. you get a custom url; mine is https:\/\/go.oncehub.com\/sandileyva<\/a>, and we simply made a graphic button labeled \u201cschedule your complimentary consult\u201d and stuck it up on the websites.<\/p>\n videoconferencing \u2013 gotomeeting and zoom <\/em><\/p>\n today, most people set the appointment on their own, although sometimes they send an email first. at the appointment time, i call them via phone. if there are multiple decision-makers, i offer them a zoom or gotomeeting link.<\/p>\n gotomeeting is currently offering its existing customers expanded accounts to help more workers work at home during the pandemic.<\/p>\n you don\u2019t need to use the video part if you don\u2019t want to.\u00a0 i hardly ever do, but i do use the screen-sharing feature when i need to explain something on the screen.\u00a0 we had so many clients ask us about scheduleonce that we became partners and offered the setup as a new minor service. the app saves me about $20,000 a year in my tiny business because all client scheduling is literally outsourced to the client, saving a ton of receptionist time.<\/p>\n data collection \u2013 google forms, sharefile, efilecabinet<\/em><\/p>\n almost all of our services require the client to complete a questionnaire.\u00a0 we use google forms (for non-sensitive data) and adobe fillable pdfs.<\/p>\n our document portal is sharefile which is hipaa compliant. clients can easily upload and download their documents from their private portal.<\/p>\n since sharefile discontinued its basic package, we now recommend efilecabinet to new clients.<\/p>\n client portal \u2013 wordpress<\/em><\/p>\n shopping cart \u2013 infusionsoft<\/em><\/p>\n we have a client portal at https:\/\/acceleratortoolbox.com\/<\/a> where we deliver our services. clients can also update their credit card and change their password as well as access the items they purchased. for this, we use a very sophisticated wordpress plug-in and infusionsoft shopping cart. i am also an infusionsoft partner.<\/p>\n client emails \u2013 aweber and infusionsoft<\/em><\/p>\n client communications are sent by email using aweber and infusionsoft. \u00a0we rarely have clients message us, but when they do, we use cell phones, messenger, and whatsapp.<\/p>\n customer support \u2013 website, vimeo, gotowebinar<\/em><\/p>\n building our customer support portal is one of those projects you never check off of the to-do list. we record the videos using gotowebinar, load them on vimeo, a video storage platform, and post them on our website. these videos help clients find answers on their own. i frequently include links to them in client emails asking about the topic.<\/p>\n techsmith is offering free screen capture tools during the pandemic.<\/p>\n our clients haven\u2019t visited the office since 2014, and only then because i was conducting live training. we have clients in all 50 states and 7 countries, so the client part was easy.<\/p>\n employee interactions\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n this part was tougher for me. i had never hired anyone remotely until about 2017. initially, all employees went to the san jose, calif., office every day. then a couple of things happened that forced me to change. my husband got relocated to texas, so we moved there. during that time, the employees kept working at their location, and i traveled back once a month for a couple of days per visit.<\/p>\n we were doing fine on the remote management part, so the employees started working from home two to three days a week. then, my employees started moving out of the expensive san jose area. i wanted to keep them, so they started working full time from their new homes. after i sold our office in june 2019, the last san jose employees started working full time from their homes.<\/p>\n task management \u2013 flow<\/em><\/p>\n the most important and constant communication tool we use is flow, which is a task management system. when work comes in, i send it to flow, which creates a task.\u00a0 the employees self-assign, although i can assign a specific employee to a task if i want to.<\/p>\n i get a notification when an employee completes a task or comments on it, which is frequently \u2013 several times an hour. i know exactly who is working on what at any time simply by looking in flow.\u00a0 we also keep our procedures, templates, and forms in flow so that they are handy and right next to the tasks to be done. in the past, we used wrike and later wunderlist, now owned by microsoft.<\/p>\n one of the main reasons why virtual work is so easy for us is that our processes are heavily documented and \u201cproceduralized,\u201d if i can make up a word. this is not only key to a successful virtual office, but also to significantly improving profitability.<\/p>\n employee messaging \u2013 slack<\/em><\/p>\n calls \u2013 slack and zoom<\/em><\/p>\n for employee interactions, we use slack for messaging when things are time-sensitive and zoom or slack for when we need to have a conversation.\u00a0 we rarely have \u201cmeetings.\u201d<\/p>\n cloud storage \u2013 amazon s3 and inmotion hosting servers<\/em><\/p>\n everyone\u2019s main computer is already a laptop, and when i have a new employee, i just ship one to them.\u00a0 for storage, we use amazon web services s3, and we rent dedicated servers from inmotion hosting. everything is in the cloud.<\/p>\n we don\u2019t have fax; we haven\u2019t had a client fax us since 2012. most employees don\u2019t have printers or use paper; it\u2019s all onscreen.\u00a0 most employees don\u2019t take incoming calls, so they don\u2019t need a work phone (since we use slack and zoom). we used ringcentral for a while but i disliked it.<\/p>\n i\u2019ve gotten accustomed to hiring virtually. the only thing i still do face-to-face is to deliver performance reviews. hopefully, i\u2019ll be able to keep doing that until it doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n in summary, here’s the list:<\/p>\n if you have some new ideas to make your business more virtual, let us know in comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/a> more tech for the coronavirus crisis:<\/span> <\/strong>three tech solutions for protecting client data<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0top tech choices for the virtual firm<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a05 questions to evaluate new tech tools<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0cyber security at a virtual cpa firm<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0innovate for the right reasons<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0how to leverage app technology for streamlined services<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0how core values affect remote work culture<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0the hidden costs of running a virtual cpa firm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2741,1908,3120,3002,2306],"tags":[3084,3085],"class_list":["post-72431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-checklist","category-management","category-pro-member-exclusive","category-special","category-tech-and-fintech","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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\nthe apps and platforms we use, and why.<\/strong>
\nby sandi leyva<\/em><\/p>\n