We’re all making the move into cloud accounting, whether that’s an enthusiastic move or not. If you haven’t already picked a cloud accounting software to use or you’re switching from another one, it can be a difficult to know which route to go down.
There are many options out there vying for your attention but which is best? If creating your own software isn’t on the table, then you’ll have to choose one that meets your business needs as much as possible.
Deciding on software
Researching your clients, what they need and what they expect will be key factors in deciding the best software package. If you keep their needs in mind, this will help you to make a decision that benefits the people keeping your business running smoothly.
You may be inclined to go and splash out on the biggest software packages from one of the huge firms. While some firms can undoubtedly benefit from that, the average, humble accountancy firm dealing with smaller businesses and sole traders doesn’t necessarily need all of those features.
Here’s why choosing big and expensive software could cause more harm than good.
It overcomplicates
Software with tons of features for various businesses and scenarios might sound like a positive. However, smaller accountancy firms may find that they don’t require functions for specialist accountancy work. So software with lots of extras could might not be a great fit for smaller firms.
It can also end up overcomplicating what your clients want to be a simple process between you. You’re probably going to come across a fair amount of clients who aren’t as tech-savvy as you might hope and using an overly complicated system is just going to put strain on the business relationship.
More time spent on tech support
If there are a lot of features in the cloud accounting software you’re considering, then there’s also a lot of functions that can go wrong. The more bases the software covers, the more likely it will be to confuse clients and lead to errors in their accounts.
If things do go wrong or clients don’t adapt well then you’re going to have to spend a lot more of your time trying to resolve those issues. While we expect some of the role of the accountant to blend into tech support in the future, you probably don’t want to be spending all of your time doing this.
It’s more expensive
Using one of the big cloud accounting packages with hundreds of features is very likely going to cost you more. If you need all of those features then it’s probably unavoidable but if you know you don’t, then why fork out for unnecessary extras? By saving yourself money, you’ve freed up some cash that you can put to better use elsewhere in your business.
Better value for your clients
If you’re using an expensive cloud accounting solution, you’re going to have to charge clients more to use it. While this could be good news for your profits, it can put off many clients who will simply go elsewhere for better value.
Similarly, if you’ve developed your own complicated software with tons of features, you will have to charge a lot to cover the cost of development. If they’re only going to be using a small part of the software, they’re not going to feel like they’re getting good value for money.
At Pandle, we’ve created a software with simplicity and ease of use in mind. We felt that a lot of major software providers on the market had made the task of bookkeeping daunting and overly complicated for the average small business.
We aim to take the stress out of bookkeeping for users and for accountants who use our white labelling option for their own clients.
