Accounts Superhero
Accounts Superhero, Paul Thompson, delivers all the services you would expect for an experienced, customer-focussed accountant. His business relies on outstanding communication and excellent customer service.
Paul and his team help businesses to understand their numbers, streamline bookkeeping and payroll, organise tax returns and become more tax efficient. Clients have peace of mind thanks to the financial management package, which keeps them on track to meet their legal and tax obligations. A monthly dashboard makes sure they can see accurate and up to date financial information for their business although they often have questions.
Delivering prompt, professional advice and effectively resolving any issues with a personal touch is what makes the Accounts Superhero service stand out from the crowd.
Industry
Education, School and College
Featured Technology
The Challenge
Having moved into new offices in a shared block in April 2019, Paul needed BTT’s help straightaway because he found that his broadband service wasn’t working. Since his practice uses Cloud-based accounting software to provide clients’ all-important up-to-date information, this needed to be solved quickly – and it was.
This turned out to be important for the next problem Paul needed to tackle; the quality of the VOIP (voice over internet protocol) telephone service in the office.
Paul wanted incoming calls to ring on multiple phones so that they could be picked up quickly. He was also concerned that the sound was fuzzy and indistinct, and calls were often dropped.
As Paul says: “This was really frustrating, especially when I’d been on hold, waiting to speak with someone at HMRC. When I finally reached the person I needed to talk to the connection was sometimes lost after just a couple of minutes and I would have to start all over again”.
Although Paul had a call handling service for in-coming calls, it wasn’t really the right solution for his business. He knew that calls didn’t always connect properly, so some were missed. The service would send him emails about clients he needed to speak with, but it was too easy to miss them. This meant Paul wasn’t always able to deliver the high standard of service he wanted to provide to his clients.
What Paul really wanted was a phone system that allowed him to answer calls as if he was in the office, no matter where he was.
Our Recommendations
With the recent cost of moving office, Paul’s priority was to find a high quality but cost-effective solution. His initial requirement for just three users.
To meet his needs a hosted Cloud-based phone system ticked all the boxes. The outlay would be low, and it offered the advanced telecommunication features he was looking for.
BTT recommended the Horizon system, which is ideal for small to medium sized businesses. It’s especially suitable and cost-effective when people need to work remotely. The system can serve small businesses but has scope for hundreds of users too, so there would be plenty of scope to meet Paul’s needs as his business grows.
Implementation
As a Cloud-based solution, Horizon could be implemented quickly. Because BTT had already resolved his broadband issues, there weren’t any concerns about the quality of the internet connection. Paul’s new phone system could be easily supported and there wouldn’t be any worries concerning reliability or voice quality.
Paul says, “It all went really smoothly. We were shown how to use the system; picking up, holding and transferring calls was really straightforward. We had a booklet with all the instructions, and nothing was too much trouble for the team at BTT if we had any questions.”
The system delivers enterprise-level functionality for any size of business, including call history, call recording, caller status, queuing, forwarding and auto announcements.
It’s really easy set the system to send calls to the desk phone, mobile or both, and to redirect calls to a colleague. Voicemail messages can be picked up from any phone or via email. Callers only needed Paul’s office number to stay in touch. He can even transfer a call from his desk phone to his mobile without having to hang up.
Because it’s a hosted system, upgrades are deployed in the Cloud and maintenance costs can be kept to a minimum. There’s plenty of scope for growth in the future and it’s really easy to add and remove users.
With easy-to-use mobile and laptop apps, Paul can access his telephone system to take, make and transfer calls using Wi-Fi or his mobile.
Importantly, calls can be instantly rerouted in the event of a system failure, so he doesn’t have to worry about missing important client calls.
As a small business, cost is always a concern, so the system helps here too. As a hosted service, Paul only has to pay for what he needs on a simple per-user basis. He doesn’t need to invest in an exchange or other hardware and there aren’t any ongoing finance or maintenance costs.
The Benefits
For Paul the immediate benefits of his new system were quality and reliability. He didn’t have to worry that he couldn’t hear his clients clearly or that they couldn’t hear him. He could put the days of lost calls to HMRC behind him, confident that he now had a stable system.
Paul really is an Accounts Superhero to his clients, and they need to know they can reach him when they need his superpowers. Now they can easily contact him to talk about their questions, queries or concerns. He knows that he can deliver the level of personal support that is so important to them, wherever he is.
He also knows that expert help and advice is always on hand. He says: “Everyone at BTT has been very professional, right from the beginning. The transition was really smooth, and the support is brilliant”.
Paul also knows exactly what his new system costs. He didn’t have to buy a lot of new equipment; the fees are transparent and system maintenance takes place in the Cloud.
Ease of use is an added bonus. The web portal, dashboard and apps mean that everything can be set up and changed with just a few clicks or taps.
While there aren’t any plans to move offices, if Paul decided to relocate in the future, the system can simply be reprogrammed for a new site.