How we created a massive accounting service. Experience of the company "Singuru"
In this post we will talk about how to automate business processes in a company providing accounting services. The experience we want to share can be adapted to any service company that wants to improve and accelerate its business processes. We have drawn this experience into a set of simple rules that work well for us and we are sure to be useful for you too.
The finguru is the daughter of such whales as RC Practitioner and SKB Kontur . Our accounting service is a complete replacement for a professional accountant in the state. This is a company that will quickly help with accounting, prepare all the necessary documents for you and report to all regulatory authorities. No businessman loves paperwork - he loves to do his own thing, so we in our work had 2 goals. The first goal is social: to make it easier for businesses in Russia to work, freeing their time from “digging” in bills, invoices, receipt and expenditure orders and so on. And the second is actually commercial: to create a mass service capable of working with tens of thousands of customers of very different levels of business. In the end, it turned out such an accounting "McDonald's", where for relatively little money you can get the service quickly and in good quality standard. And now, actually, about the rules that we followed.
Any “product” consists of the actual production part (as we do) and marketing (to whom we sell, how and why). We will begin the description with this last block, because understanding the needs of your audience is the main aspect of the business.
Says: Alexei Ermolov, CEO of "Finguru":
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“With an understanding of what the client wants, our service begins. Everything is quite simple with us: the client wants to pay more attention to his business and not have problems with tax, pension and insurance funds. But when he turns to an accounting firm, he often has to work directly with an accountant who communicates with him in his “bird language”. It is not uncommon for a client to be offended because “he feels like a fool”, not understanding what he is being told, although in fact the consultation can be rendered by the superuditor and super-professionally. ”
To prevent such situations from happening to us, client managers work in “Finguru”, who act as original translators who understand both of them. This is very important and it saves time.
It turned out to be wrong. It turned out that we had contact with the client at the very beginning of cooperation and closer to the reporting period, and the middle one “failed”: we tried to free up the client’s time, and in his eyes it looked as if he had been forgotten. We were able to automate the work in this “middle center” as follows: from the beginning of cooperation, the client receives a call from the manager for the purpose of acquaintance. Then throughout all further work from the manager reports and reminders arrive. For example: “You have recently been billed to a counterparty. Now we are waiting for you to act under such a number. Thank". So the client understands that they have not forgotten about him, and the manager sets him up for the "rules of the game."
Suppose you can filter a certain class of clients for unpaid taxes and remind them of the need and the date of their payment. You can inform about this by SMS, e-mail and, of course, through the personal account of “Finguru”. True, it is important to observe the line, to have an understanding of which information is best suited for automatic sending by SMS, and which one is for e-mail. After all, communication by phone (sms) is a very personal thing.
The most important thing is to catch the balance when the client is not flooded with messages, but they also do not forget about the importance of being “in contact”.
In "Finguru" this is implemented as follows: a script is installed on the site that generates a number displayed in the upper right corner of the site. At the end of a conversation with a new client, the manager asks the client to call this number: this or that code corresponds to the call from the search, contextual or media network, and so on. It gives us very useful information for analysis. It is strange that few accounting firms, even fairly large ones, do something like this.
Applications that are left on the site immediately receive such a code and get into Microsoft CRM Online, with which not only salespeople and client managers work, but all accountants as well.
In "Finguru" various services are used for this, for example Yammer : the appropriate answers are instantly selected for the keywords of the request. Among other things, the site provides video tutorials: for those for whom it is important not just to find the answer to the question, but to see step by step, “how it is done”. It is planned to go further, to give customers the opportunity to get an answer immediately on the site from the questions and answers that already exist in the knowledge base (for example, Copiny ).
Now how to make the product convenient and what business processes can be optimized here.
In fact, the entire service of "Finguru" is a combination of cloud products that are tightly integrated and customized for existing business processes.
Microsoft CRM is used for working with clients and managing the company. Document storage is provided by SharePoint Online from Office 365 . Mail, Yammer's corporate social network, and Lync messaging and conferencing systems — also from the cloud-based office suite.
Electronic legally significant document flow with our clients is provided by Dyadok from SKB Kontur company (we do not receive paper documents from clients, and we do not send them from ourselves to the client).
The main “production” system is Cloud Contour Accounting , in which customers are recorded and reporting is transmitted. Back in 2013, Kontur-Extern was used for reporting, but now the BC is actively developing and the main stream of reports comes from there.
All documents are sent to the authorities in electronic form. In fact, we generally meet with our client only once - only when we sign an agreement with him for the provision of our services, give him an electronic signature and in the future we only conduct electronic document management with him, and with his contractors, and with government bodies.
Our graduation is presented as follows: younger accountants are engaged in processing primary documents, while older ones control, prepare and submit reports, and also provide advice. From this division of labor, a greater number of junior specialists and the release of elders from the “routine”, and accordingly the difference in the remuneration of these specialists, the profitability of the business is formed. The client as a result receives the high-quality service provided by the high quality expert, and pays at the weighted average price.
The main task of any business is continuous improvement. You can never rest on your laurels, as soon as you think that everything is already perfect, you need to look at what can be done even faster, better and better. We already have a whole bank of ideas that we collect at Yammer, discuss and launch into implementation.
We actively share our processes with our partners - they receive the same technologies and processes as the main company. As a result, there are unique opportunities to recruit accountants for work at Finguru on a remote basis with piecework wages, as well as build a franchise network of accounting companies that operate under the Finguru “umbrella” using processes and technologies that have proven to be effective.
For a start, in a few words about the "Finguru".
The finguru is the daughter of such whales as RC Practitioner and SKB Kontur . Our accounting service is a complete replacement for a professional accountant in the state. This is a company that will quickly help with accounting, prepare all the necessary documents for you and report to all regulatory authorities. No businessman loves paperwork - he loves to do his own thing, so we in our work had 2 goals. The first goal is social: to make it easier for businesses in Russia to work, freeing their time from “digging” in bills, invoices, receipt and expenditure orders and so on. And the second is actually commercial: to create a mass service capable of working with tens of thousands of customers of very different levels of business. In the end, it turned out such an accounting "McDonald's", where for relatively little money you can get the service quickly and in good quality standard. And now, actually, about the rules that we followed.Marketing rules
Any “product” consists of the actual production part (as we do) and marketing (to whom we sell, how and why). We will begin the description with this last block, because understanding the needs of your audience is the main aspect of the business.Says: Alexei Ermolov, CEO of "Finguru":
')
Rule # 1. Thinking from a client or "Do not call me a fool"
“With an understanding of what the client wants, our service begins. Everything is quite simple with us: the client wants to pay more attention to his business and not have problems with tax, pension and insurance funds. But when he turns to an accounting firm, he often has to work directly with an accountant who communicates with him in his “bird language”. It is not uncommon for a client to be offended because “he feels like a fool”, not understanding what he is being told, although in fact the consultation can be rendered by the superuditor and super-professionally. ”
To prevent such situations from happening to us, client managers work in “Finguru”, who act as original translators who understand both of them. This is very important and it saves time.
Rule # 2. Do not let the client feel abandoned
“At first, we simply took up work and did our job: we received documents from the client and processed them. They did not bother him at all and only billed him at the end of the month. ”
It turned out to be wrong. It turned out that we had contact with the client at the very beginning of cooperation and closer to the reporting period, and the middle one “failed”: we tried to free up the client’s time, and in his eyes it looked as if he had been forgotten. We were able to automate the work in this “middle center” as follows: from the beginning of cooperation, the client receives a call from the manager for the purpose of acquaintance. Then throughout all further work from the manager reports and reminders arrive. For example: “You have recently been billed to a counterparty. Now we are waiting for you to act under such a number. Thank". So the client understands that they have not forgotten about him, and the manager sets him up for the "rules of the game."
Rule # 3. Tell the customer what's important to him.
“Reminders are important, but they must be really useful. Therefore, in our database, we have provided a filter of potential messages according to several criteria of importance. ”
Suppose you can filter a certain class of clients for unpaid taxes and remind them of the need and the date of their payment. You can inform about this by SMS, e-mail and, of course, through the personal account of “Finguru”. True, it is important to observe the line, to have an understanding of which information is best suited for automatic sending by SMS, and which one is for e-mail. After all, communication by phone (sms) is a very personal thing.
The most important thing is to catch the balance when the client is not flooded with messages, but they also do not forget about the importance of being “in contact”.
Rule # 4. Interested in the client where he found out about you
“Explore the sources of your traffic to invest in resources that bring more leads and reduce the cost of ineffective advertising media.”
In "Finguru" this is implemented as follows: a script is installed on the site that generates a number displayed in the upper right corner of the site. At the end of a conversation with a new client, the manager asks the client to call this number: this or that code corresponds to the call from the search, contextual or media network, and so on. It gives us very useful information for analysis. It is strange that few accounting firms, even fairly large ones, do something like this.Applications that are left on the site immediately receive such a code and get into Microsoft CRM Online, with which not only salespeople and client managers work, but all accountants as well.
Rule # 5. Do not waste time on customer questions - prepare answers in advance.
“Most customers have the same questions. Personal consultation is good, but if you give it to everyone, it will take a tremendous amount of managerial time. Communication with the client on frequent issues also needs to be automated. ”
In "Finguru" various services are used for this, for example Yammer : the appropriate answers are instantly selected for the keywords of the request. Among other things, the site provides video tutorials: for those for whom it is important not just to find the answer to the question, but to see step by step, “how it is done”. It is planned to go further, to give customers the opportunity to get an answer immediately on the site from the questions and answers that already exist in the knowledge base (for example, Copiny ).
Product Optimization Rules
Now how to make the product convenient and what business processes can be optimized here.
Rule # 1. Do not reinvent the wheel - use those that came up to you
“There is a mass of ready-made solutions. The only question is the correct combination of them and fine-tuning for themselves. "
In fact, the entire service of "Finguru" is a combination of cloud products that are tightly integrated and customized for existing business processes.
Microsoft CRM is used for working with clients and managing the company. Document storage is provided by SharePoint Online from Office 365 . Mail, Yammer's corporate social network, and Lync messaging and conferencing systems — also from the cloud-based office suite.
Electronic legally significant document flow with our clients is provided by Dyadok from SKB Kontur company (we do not receive paper documents from clients, and we do not send them from ourselves to the client). The main “production” system is Cloud Contour Accounting , in which customers are recorded and reporting is transmitted. Back in 2013, Kontur-Extern was used for reporting, but now the BC is actively developing and the main stream of reports comes from there.All documents are sent to the authorities in electronic form. In fact, we generally meet with our client only once - only when we sign an agreement with him for the provision of our services, give him an electronic signature and in the future we only conduct electronic document management with him, and with his contractors, and with government bodies.
Rule # 2. Lever rule
"Any large consulting business follows the so-called leverage rule: most of the processes must be carried out by junior specialists, and the guru must control the process and make the final blow with a sledge hammer."
Our graduation is presented as follows: younger accountants are engaged in processing primary documents, while older ones control, prepare and submit reports, and also provide advice. From this division of labor, a greater number of junior specialists and the release of elders from the “routine”, and accordingly the difference in the remuneration of these specialists, the profitability of the business is formed. The client as a result receives the high-quality service provided by the high quality expert, and pays at the weighted average price.
Rule # 3. Keep improving your business processes.
The main task of any business is continuous improvement. You can never rest on your laurels, as soon as you think that everything is already perfect, you need to look at what can be done even faster, better and better. We already have a whole bank of ideas that we collect at Yammer, discuss and launch into implementation.
We actively share our processes with our partners - they receive the same technologies and processes as the main company. As a result, there are unique opportunities to recruit accountants for work at Finguru on a remote basis with piecework wages, as well as build a franchise network of accounting companies that operate under the Finguru “umbrella” using processes and technologies that have proven to be effective.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/228359/
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