Accounting firms are continually looking for ways to minimize the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. The restrictions on in-person contact have brought unprecedented challenges to firms. Due to the global lockdown and the resulting decrease in business, numerous clients have called their accountants to work in a reduced capacity.
For accounting firms, this means lower ROI and an increased focus on sustaining your core business. You might have lost a few clients during the last year, especially the companies that could not survive this crisis. On the other hand, you might have talked to potential clients willing to cut the service cost.
Surviving these harsh tides is crucial for your business. The right way to think about the pandemic is to implement smart decisions to grow your business even in this uncertain time. Innovation and planning now emerge as the right weapons for you to deal with the pandemic and prevent any impact on your business’s foundations. You can make insightful business decisions by looking at the challenges and following cloud computing trends.
Critical Challenges for Accounting Firms During the COVID Pandemic
- Ensuring a remote work environment that allows your team to continue working from home for as long as needed
- Switching to cloud solutions with the help of a cloud hosting provider to prevent the problems of physical access to offices
- Creating balance between the well-being of your employees and the needs of your clientele
Let’s discuss these challenges in detail.
1. Need for a Stable Remote Work Environment
Like you want your team of accountants to work on the go, they also need a source of income to rely on in these times. Prosperity lies in paving the way for mutual benefits, which is only possible by making the remote work environment work for your business.
You should know that remote work does not only mean providing a computer system or laptop to each of your team members to work from home. It is more about formulating and implementing strategies to make this ‘new normal’ work for you. How your team has been working for the last seven-eight months is different from the past work life. To some people, it means higher productivity, while it is quite stressful for others.
As an employer, you must do all that is needed to ensure business continuity in the current and post-pandemic times. Whether it is about hiring new talent or retaining the existing ones for a remote work environment, there are several facets that you need to consider and lead.
2. Cloud Technology Adoption
The current situation calls for establishing a cloud-based workflow for the sustenance and growth of your accounting business. With meetings held on video calls backed by the cloud, you can easily estimate the power of cloud adoption on a massive scale. Many of the business-related complications brought forward by the pandemic can be best handled with the cloud, particularly for accounting firms. For instance, you can delegate work to the team members, monitor workflow, and even communicate seamlessly with your clients with a cloud hosting provider’s help.
Partnering with a reliable cloud hosting provider in these times will be advantageous for your business in the following ways:
1. Remote Software Access
With the accounting software of your choice hosted on the cloud, accessibility will no longer be a problem for you. Whether your workforce is working from home or is on the go, hassle-free access to your data in real-time is possible when you team up with a cloud hosting provider.
Also Read: How to Reshape Your Business for Remote Working?
2. Performance Boost
On top of the pandemic, dealing with isolation is yet another challenge. With cloud hosting services, you can automate many tedious accounting tasks and make things easier for your team. This will not only improve productivity but also help reduce the stress-levels amongst your team members.
3. Managed Backups
Losing data for any reason whatsoever is the last thing you would want to happen these days. This can be best tackled when you hire a cloud hosting provider. Their services are paired with regular backups and data recovery solutions to bring you peace of mind.
4. Taking Care of Your Employees’ Well-being
If there has been no such month when your work has hampered during the pandemic, you must acknowledge that your team has been your most important support. To keep the business growing, you must take the right steps to take care of your team’s well-being.
Start with simplifying the common hurdles that most of your team members face. Setting up an organized workflow can be one such possibility to remove teething problems. It is crucial to address the mental and physical side of things.
Beyond all the protective measures you have invested in, it is essential to communicate with your team often while also encouraging them to communicate with each other. Be ready to provide guidance and support for mental health issues that may arise as an ill-effect of isolation. You should have measures to offer help to your employees if they face health issues while working from home.
By overcoming these explicit challenges, you can plan to boost your accounting business during the Coronavirus pandemic.
