Experiments in mobility
technews
Our latest case studies show what firms can do with mobile apps
BY seth fineBerg
While accountants may be getting more mobile in general, their
use of accounting-specific mobile apps is still in its nascency,
as many firms are only just starting to experiment with what is
available to them.
To be fair, many of the apps an accountant
would use are — for the most part — mobile
extensions of Web-based or on-premises
products that they already have. Even so,
these apps are often free or come at a considerably low cost to the user, leaving them
open to more experimentation. The result, in
many cases, is a firm simply appearing more
savvy to a client or, at the very least, staying
better connected.
Below are several firms that have tried their
hand at mobile applications to keep connected, access necessary information, and even
potentially market themselves better.
High visibility
Firm: SF & Co. / York, Pa.
Size: 90 staff
Product: Vizibility
Commencement date: 2012
On record: Catherine Grove, director of
business development
Challenge/objective: Wanted an easy way
for current and potential clients to retain staff
contact information, with the eventual goal of
adding more information and learning more
for marketing purposes.
Amount spent: $500 for 60 codes (everyone
that would use them).
Process: Grove had been visiting the Association for Accounting Marketing Web site
and saw an ad for Vizibility, which — among
other things — creates QR codes for informational and digital marketing purposes.
She liked the idea of QR codes for marketing
and reached out to the company for more
information. She then turned to her managing shareholder about the idea of using
QR codes, and Vizibility in particular, and
he agreed. Once all the shareholders met
and discussed the idea of their use, they too
agreed and Grove began a rollout plan at the
end of the most recent tax season.
Grove said that it took approximately a
month to get all the information needed for
the Vizibility system into an Excel sheet for
upload. Essentially how the system works is
Vizibility will take the uploaded information
and develop a QR code for each person or
entity. The user can then review all of the information for approval. Once approved, users
can download the QR codes to their smartphones, as well as have them printed on their
business cards and in e-mail signatures.
“The majority of our people have iPhones
now, and they had been going out in the field
and to conferences more, sometimes forgetting business cards,” said Grove. “After taking
a look at [Vizibility], we liked that we could
go in and make updates on the fly. The QR
code didn’t change, but on the back end we
could have new information, say for promotions, plus title changes and anything else we
wanted to add.”
Results: While results from the use of the
QR codes were still pending at press time,
Grove said that there were already plans in
place to create a code for the firm itself. The
firm also redesigned a Web site landing page,
as well as a video overview of the firm that
can be compressed to be viewed on a smartphone. She said a QR code was being developed to access the video as well.
“I just think in general we’ve become much
more responsive to clients; we turn around a
response in 24 hours or less and want different ways to support what our client service
standards are,” said Grove.
QUICKBOOKS POINT OF SALE
GOES MOBILE WITH GOPAYMENT
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. — Intuit has integrated its mobile payment processing
application GoPayment with the latest
version of QuickBooks Point of Sale,
designed for small retailers.
Using QB Point of Sale 2013, users
have access to a free GoPayment app
that comes with a card reader that plugs
into the audio jack of an iPhone, iPad or
iPod Touch, as well as popular Android
devices. Users can then swipe a card to
process a payment, send an e-mail or text
receipt with a map of where the transaction took place, and automatically charge
the correct sales tax using geolocation.
Sales and inventory data from GoPayment integrates with QB POS, storing all
current sales and inventory data in one
location. Users can also automatically
populate inventory items within QB POS
into the GoPayment app, eliminating the
need to do it manually.
Making partners mobile
Firm: Chapman & Burris CPAs / Gallipolis,
Ohio
Size: 6 staff (includes 3 partners)
Product: Mobile CS for iPhone (The Tax &
Accounting business of Thomson Reuters)
Commencement date: Early 2010
On record: Shayna Chapman, partner
Challenge/objective: Wanted the ability to
see the firm’s practice management data, particularly necessary client information, from
any location.
Amount spent: $4 a month per person (not
per device).
Process: Chapman already wanted all
partners to be more mobile, so the firm invested in them all having iPhones. Not long
after, Thomson Reuters released the Mobile
CS app as an extension of its Practice CS product, and Chapman said that she “jumped on
it.” Specifically, she was at a user conference
in 2009 and took a first look at the app and
wanted to try it. Approximately three to four
months later she began using it, and by early
2010 all partners were using it.
Chapman claims that the learning process
was fairly simple and she ran much of the
tutorial on the app with the partners. She said
that they all sat in a meeting room one day
and everyone went through what the icons
were, how to use them, what use they would
have for them and everything else the app
could do. Chapman also claims that the icons
were fairly intuitive, especially since the firm
had already been using Practice CS.
“The great thing is if I’m with a client and
want to know [Work in Process], AR, history,
interactions, or time billed, you can scroll
through the app just like you do with a contact
list on an iPhone,” said Chapman. “The app
shows a bar graph of dates, if you are over- or
under-budget; whatever you need. It also has
a clock-in/clock-out function under the Staff
tab, so you always know what they are up to.
We don’t even have high speed where I am, so
this [app] works for me that much better.”
Results: “I remember one time [before using the app], sitting with a client at their office
and having them ask if they paid a bill and I
had to call a receptionist to get that information. Now I get on my iPhone and get it right
away to know what they are talking about,”
she said. “I have information I need every
time and it makes us look that much better
as accountants.”
Next steps: Chapman said that she would
See mObility on 33
CABINET NG LAUNCHES NEW
FILE SHARING PORTAL
HUNTSVILLE, ALA. — Electronic document
and workflow management software provider Cabinet NG has added CNG-Share,
a cloud-based file sharing and workflow
component, to the company’s latest
version of its flagship document management software, CNG-SAFE.
The new cloud-based subscription
service allows authorized CNG-SAFE
users to post documents to a contact’s
password-protected CNG-Share account. Contacts can access and manage
shared documents via a standard browser
interface and also share documents with
specified CNG-SAFE users by uploading
documents to their CNG-Share account.
When the CNG-SAFE user shares
the desired documents, the recipient
automatically receives an e-mail notification with a link to connect to their Share
folder. The contact can then download or
upload documents and create their own
folders using a standard Web browser. In
addition, CNG-Share administrators can
brand the customer-facing portal component and messaging with their company
logo and custom title bar, as well as add
branded system e-mail text.
