The three Rs of successful advisory

The struggle businesses are going through in recovering from the pandemic and coping with the recession has meant that practitioners are having to go well beyond their traditional compliance services to support clients. But even in ‘peace time’ firms have struggled to pivot to an advisory services model. Implementing advisory in the real world is no easy feat.

There are usually multiple roadblocks along the way to implementing advisory services, both cultural and technical. The problems normally stem from advisory projects being complex, bespoke and time-consuming. This makes them fundamentally difficult to predict, plan and price – it also takes time and commitment to do them well.

Advisory tasks don’t stack neatly compared to more traditional compliance jobs such as VAT or end-of-year tax. This makes roll-out at scale difficult and disruptive, especially when margins are contracting and workloads are already high.

This is where ‘repeatable advisory’ comes into the equation. Repeatable advisory services are those that stack more neatly and can be replicated across different client types across the firm. As well as being a valuable new revenue stream, repeatable advisory can increase client satisfaction and provide quality assurance for services that can otherwise be very difficult to deliver consistently or track over time.

First, assess the need

As the name suggests, repeatable advisory should be something that combines enough client specificity with a process and service that is repeatable and therefore efficient. It means delivering future-focused advisory on a regular basis, usually as part of a subscription model.

This type of business model depends on an understanding of client needs and of how to harness technology. It is human expertise layered on top of data insights and tech-driven efficiency gains.

Repeatable advisory should always start with assessing client needs, paying most attention to the challenges that require the most expertise and that take up the most time, money and resources for the client. Once a firm has a clear picture of these needs, it should review which cloud applications it can use to streamline these processes and provide the most useful data.

Second, pick the tech

Firms cannot offer effective (and profitable) advisory services at scale without the right technology. Choosing the right tech mix is essential if you’re going to provide the data and insights needed for confident and strategic decision-making, as well as streamlining otherwise time-consuming tasks.

This can feel like a daunting task. There are around 1,000 cloud accounting applications in the marketplace, so it’s simply not practical to try them all. Instead, focus on a handful of apps that will help you cover the key areas where clients struggle. A team that deeply understands just five cloud apps is going to do a far better job than a firm with a passing knowledge of 100. This laser-like focus also means ignoring the edge cases for the time being.

As a starting point, firms should practise what they preach, and offer clients the insights and efficiency gains of applications that the firm already uses within its own business. Not only will clients get services that add real value but the firm’s team will already be expert at delivering that value inhouse.

If costs are a concern to your clients while budgets are tight, consider offering advisory services as a pilot programme. If you can deliver extra value as a proof of concept, clients will pay more in the future.

Third, manage the change

Implementing change is about more than just buying software licences. Staff and clients alike need clarity on how to get the most value from new applications and training in how to use them. Someone also needs to be made responsible for their adoption and use. Otherwise, they can easily be forgotten. Buy-in and habit are created through repetition.

The suitability of the technology also needs to be continually assessed as business needs change and new features are added to cloud software. Be sure to ask your clients regularly how they’re getting on and reassess their needs.

What they really, really want

With a global recession looming and businesses facing an uncertain future, advisory services have never been more important. This is happening as compliance services continue to be commoditised and automated.

At best, firms that don’t embrace advisory are leaving money on the table. At worst, they are risking their future. Clients increasingly want an advisory service and if their ‘traditional’ firm can’t provide that, then they will go elsewhere.