Running a modern tax practice requires a significant amount of technology. While your firm doesn’t need to implement every available tool, omitting key technologies like CRM systems, e-signatures, and client portals can lead to a client experience that feels outdated and fragmented. Keeping up with technological advancements is crucial for staying competitive and providing first-class client service.
However, managing a range of tech tools is time-consuming. In this article, we explore the “one-off” problem that tax leaders face when managing technology. Then we look into two solutions to the problem.
Key Takeaways:
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Table of Contents:
- The “One-Off” Tech Problem For Tax Firm Leaders
- Two Approaches to Streamlining Tax Practice Management Tech
- Harness’s Approach to Managing Tax Firm Technology
The “One-Off” Problem for Tax Firm Leaders
Here’s the challenge with integrating numerous technologies: each one becomes a separate relationship that you must manage throughout the year. This situation consumes time and staff resources.
Selecting tech vendors individually can feel like a full-time job, involving research, due diligence, contract negotiations, and more just to secure the necessary tools to run your tax practice.
This “one-off” problem can be a major headache for tax practice leaders. However, if you can relieve this burden and streamline your tech stack, the benefits for your firm can be substantial. As CPA.com notes in a white paper, “…a tech stack can transform a tax compliance practice—generally focused on annual return preparation—into a tax advisory practice that consults year-round with clients on current and future planning.”
Two Approaches to Streamlining Tax Practice Management Tech
There are different methods of managing a tech stack, from having an in-house IT team to outsourcing management, but when it comes to selecting and implementing the technologies, we can look at two approaches to streamlining technologies at your tax firm.
Approach 1: The “All-in-One” Tax Technology Platform
An all-in-one platform integrates various functions into a single system for managing clients, documents, e-signatures, tasks, invoices, and more. These tech vendors generally refer to themselves as tax practice management software and build each feature in-house rather than leveraging best-of-breed technologies.
Potential pros and cons of an all-in-one platform:
- Pro: Simplifies integration by offering a single relationship for tax practice management software.
- Con: If you are limited to using the platform’s tech, you may not fully meet your tax practice’s evolving technology needs.
- Con: Using proprietary technology might mean sacrificing quality compared to best-of-breed solutions.
Approach 2: The “Managed Services” Tax Technology Platform
A managed services tax technology platform provides necessary technologies while managing best-of-breed vendor relationships on your behalf. This allows your tax firm to leverage high-quality technology while not having to worry about managing individual vendor relationships.
Potential pros and cons of a managed services tax technology platform:
- Pro: The platform handles managing licenses, configurations, and add-ons, freeing your team to focus on client services.
- Pro: Offers your tax firm access to best-of-breed technologies, ensuring high-quality solutions for CRM, invoicing, document storage, and more.
- Con: Integrating different best-of-breed technologies may require more work compared to all-in-one platforms, which are integrated by nature.
Harness’s Approach to Managing Tax Firm Technology
Harness adopts the managed services approach to tax technology, streamlining access to top-tier software for tax practices.
Harness’s Curated Technology Package
At Harness, we select and curate essential tax tech tools, including:
- Harness Client Portal: Our proprietary software for client communication. From onboarding to tax planning to annual return filing, always stay connected with individual clients while managing hundreds of tax engagements in a single dashboard.
- CCH Axcess, Autoflow, and Xpitax: A scalable tax preparation, compliance, and workflow solution hosted in the cloud.
- BNA IT Planner: Industry-trusted software for income tax planning.
- HubSpot: A customer relationship management tool to help your firm build client relationships.
- Becker: Access to CPE training and credits for your tax team.
- Harvest: Harness helps streamline your operations by integrating with Harvest for time-tracking, billing, and invoicing.
- PandaDoc: Our selected eSignature software for engagement letters and tax returns.
- Google Drive: Easy-to-use cloud file storage.
- Checkpoint and MFPCO: Additional tax research platforms.
- Tallyfor: A software tool to prepare books for entities.
- Track1099: A tool to help your firm prepare 1099s.
3 Benefits of Harness’s Tech Platform
Harness’s approach to offering tax firms a well-rounded tech stack aims to deliver three benefits:
- Vendor Management: Harness manages vendor relationships, eliminating the need for your firm to search and negotiate with tech vendors. Your firm can leverage these technologies to create client value.
- Training for your tax firm: We combine helpful documentation with live training to help your tax firm leverage technology.
- Advisor Knowledge Base: An in-depth resource with articles on managing your practice using the Harness platform.
- Live Training Sessions: We provide training sessions on using CCH Axcess Tax, HubSpot, Harvest, and more. We also assist in migrating clients to the platform for a smooth transition.
- Admin Support: The Harness Concierge team uses the Client Portal, Harvest and PandaDoc to serve clients on your behalf, saving you time. For example, advisors don’t need to directly use PandaDoc for eSignature because our Concierge team sends engagement letters and efile authorizations directly to clients on behalf of advisors. Additionally, the Concierge team answers frequently asked questions submitted through the Client Portal that don’t require your tax expertise—from troubleshooting to status updates—to help you stay focused.
By choosing the right approach to technology management, your tax firm can streamline operations, enhance client service, and stay ahead in a competitive market. Whether you opt for an all-in-one platform or a managed services platform like Harness, the key is to integrate technology strategically to drive growth and efficiency.
Want to discuss your tax firm’s technology?
Schedule an intro with Harness today to see how our modern software, in-house concierge team, curated high-value client introductions, and professional community can support your tax practice.