What is app advisory and how can it help you and your clients?

You may have heard the new buzz saying “app advisory” and wondering what in the world this actually means for you as an accountant or bookkeeper?

App advisory in our opinion is advice, guidance, implementation, training and change management, of the correct line of business applications to help run an SME. It involves understanding what your client is actually trying to achieve (their pain point), which you should know already as their trusted advisor… and what line of business application/s will achieve that result for your client. If you take it to the implementation stage, it also involves change management, changes in processes and procedures, nurturing the team and business through change and most importantly, training on how the systems work, but also integrate into the daily workflow or operation of the business.

As an accountant or bookkeeper you didn’t study to learn everything about a particular piece of software, you studied to be able to solve a problem for your clients. You are not expected to know everything about software, however you are expected to know how to guide your client to the appropriate person/s, such as Clarity Street, who can help assess the needs of the client and implement appropriate software to help them achieve their business goals.

App advisory can be broken down broadly into the following categories (this list is not exhaustive)

Scenario 1
The client has come to you with a pain point and you point them in the direction of their accounting softwares’ application marketplace, such as the Xero app marketplace

This process involves no app advisory apart from pointing the client to the relevant application marketplace.

Pro’s

• ~ You are not responsible for the application choice of the client and therefore cannot be blamed if it is implemented poorly or the app does not solve their pain point
• ~ You do not have to dedicate any time or resources into identifying the relevant app’s

Con’s

• ~ Your client may make the wrong decision or no decision in terms of the suitability of an application
• ~ You have left money on the table by not advising your client when they have come to you for the advise as a trusted advisor
• ~ You may leave yourself open to competitors who offer app advisory as a service to their clients, either in house or outsourced to a cloud integrator such as Clarity Street
• ~ You do not build up any internal knowledge of app’s that may benefit current or future clients

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Scenario 2
Analyse the client's current and future pain points, investigate suitable applications and then recommend applications for the client to self implement.

This process involves identifying a client's current and future business process pain points and then being able to investigate suitable solutions and have the client make their own decision and self implement. Basically you have done the narrowing down of the applications most appropriate and then the client is left to make the hard decision and to implement.

Pro’s

• ~ You have added value to your relationship with the client as you have researched on their behalf, saving them time and resources.
• ~ You are able to put the knowledge you have gained on the particular applications into a standardised process and app library for other clients who may have the same needs.

Con’s

• ~ You have left money on the table by not implementing the app for the client.
• ~ The client may not follow through with the implementation as they are time poor. This then defeats the purpose.
• ~ The client may have a direct bad experience with the app vendor therefore ruling out any future changes to their business app stack.

Scenario 3
Analyse the client's current and future pain points, investigate suitable applications and then implement the appropriate app’s to suit your clients needs (not your own!)

This process involves identifying a client's current and future business process pain points and then being able to investigate suitable solutions and implement on your clients behalf. You are the one managing the process for your client and are dealing with the app on their behalf.

Pro’s

• ~ You have added value to your relationship with the client as you’ve researched and then implemented a solution on their behalf, saving them time and resources.
• ~ You are able to put the knowledge you have gained on the particular applications into a standardised process and app library for other clients who may have the same needs
• ~ You have not left any money on the table and are able to charge a premium for the service

Con’s

• ~ Your resources are tied up in analyzing and implementing app’s
• ~ You are responsible for the timely and correct implementation of the app including training for the key stakeholders in the business, adjusting and processes and procedures and ensuring your clients business is not impacted by the changes.
• ~ If the client has a bad experience or an incomplete implementation it may damage your relationship

Scenario 4
Recognising that there is a pain point for the client and then engaging a cloud integrator, such as Clarity Street, to correctly analyse the applications available to the client and to solve their pain points and then implement on your behalf.

This process involves recognising that the client has a current pain point or may have one in the future through growth or desire and engaging a cloud integrator to manage the process on your behalf.

Pro’s

• ~ You have added app advisory to your services without having to actually advise your client
• ~ You have increased your trusted advisor status with your client
• ~ Your resources are not tied up in app advisory and are able to focus on other services

Con’s

• ~ If the client has a bad experience or an incomplete implementation it may damage your relationship, however the onus is on the cloud integrator and not you.
• ~ You do not have control over the process, however a good cloud integrator will keep you well informed during the implementation, keep you up to date of proceedings.

As cloud integrators specialising in the Xero App Marketplace, Clarity Street is able to fully assess a client’s current and future pain points and recommend and implement app’s to solve these.

We assess clients needs based on processes first and application second as this is the only way in our belief, that a client's application needs can be fully understood and solved. Our mantra is that it is 10% technology and 90% people, processes and procedures.

When we assess an application we base it on:

• ~ Functionality/features for business processes being solved
• ~ Integration capabilities into other applications to prevent silo’s of information
• ~ Security of the application
• ~ Ease of use and the user interface
• ~ Pricing
• ~ Vendor training & ongoing support

If you have clients that are asking you for app advisory services, but you fit into any of the scenarios 1, 2 or 4, please get in touch with us to help you through the process.