Local service backed by a global network: GreatSoft helps ECOVIS Clark Jacobs grow
ECOVIS Clark Jacobs is streamlining efficiencies to make more time for the work that matters – all from one cloud-based solution.
3 GreatSoft benefits for efficiency:
Access to real-time data: on-the-spot, accurate data available for your client needs, when you need it.
Single source of truth: all employees using the same cloud-based integrated platform, in the same way.
Cost & time gains: boost productivity and revenue by enabling your employees’ to spend time on doing work that matters.
Part of a worldwide network of accounting and tax firms across 80 countries, ECOVIS Clark Jacobs is a full-service accounting firm that’s dedicated to delivering their locally focused services, with a global growth approach.
Based in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, Ecovis provides international tax, Australian tax, accounting, bookkeeping, insurance, and business advisory services.
“We’re a local firm dealing with local issues, but we also have access to a worldwide network of professionals in 80 countries,” says Scott Hogan-Smith, Director.
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Adapting to keep client success front and centre
The directors at ECOVIS Clark Jacobs know happy clients are the best clients, so having the best possible work systems in place to keep their client work on track is crucial to their service.
Understanding that digitisation is the next frontier in the workplace, the team at Ecovis knew that they needed to be on the front foot of going to the cloud, as running an accounting firm with confidential data on desktop was no longer going to be viable for them.
That’s where GreatSoft was able to bridge the gap.
“Before GreatSoft we were a 100% desktop firm, everything was based on servers in the office,” Scott explains. “We were looking for a cloud solution that allowed us to better service our clients and make it easier for our clients to deal with us.”
Through GreatSoft, Ecovis was able to streamline their workflow to improve their team’s efficiency, which flowed into benefits for their clients.
"We found that GreatSoft is something that is purely built for and bred by the cloud."
Scott Hogan-Smith Director | ECOVIS Clark Jacobs
Creating meaningful outcomes for their clients
ECOVIS Clark Jacobs prides itself on the care, dedication and personalised approach they take to their client work, adopting a genuine client-first mentality throughout the firm.
Elissa Lippiatt, Director, says, “The fact that we're locally owned means that you're dealing with directors and business owners who care deeply about their staff and our clients. But we're part of a global network, so we've got the reach of a much larger group."
“We often take on outsourced CFO functions for when businesses are small and don't have a large finance team behind them,” she says. “It's amazing to see those businesses grow to the point that then they can hire their own finance team internally, and we can work to support that. One specific example is a media company that we worked with. They started with one person in Australia, and we were their outsourced CFO. They've now grown into a huge operation with over 180 staff in Australia.”
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"We see each of our business relationships as a long-term partnership rather than a transaction."
Elissa Lippiatt Director | ECOVIS Clark Jacobs
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The impact of improved efficiency
The biggest benefit the ECOVIS Clark Jacobs team has found in moving to GreatSoft has been efficiency, as “all employees are now using the exact same system in the exact same way,” says Scott.
“The biggest impact on our firm of having a business management solution like GreatSoft in place is the ability for us to build a tech stack around it. GreatSoft is the spider in the middle of a web of applications now,” he explains. Scott credits GreatSoft’s native cloud architecture as one of the main reasons why the product is able to easily integrate with a range of cloud SaaS providers; this would not only have been difficult to engineer for an old desktop solution but it would have also created an inefficient tech stack with lots of standalone products.
“GreatSoft allowed us to integrate a whole lot of products into it – and into our firm – for our employees to use that make their workflows more efficient. It makes our ability to service clients easier, and it allows for the constant build-out of new services, new products on the cloud.”
Ultimately, these efficiencies impact their clients as well, who have benefitted from Ecovis’s improved functionality.
“It’s made our firm a lot more efficient which saves cost for clients, saves time for our employees, and means we have more capacity in the firm to deal with more tasks because we are more efficient.”
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Data-centric business done right
Working in such a numbers-heavy field means access to data is crucial to success. One of the key benefits of GreatSoft is the ability to access real-time information, from anywhere at any time. This allows businesses like ECOVIS Clark Jacobs to better serve their clients when it’s crunch time, enabling real-time support and advice, backed by accurate data.
Alison, another Director in the firm, explains, “When a client changes an address, for instance, it's now only changed in one place – which is GreatSoft – and that flows through to all of the client tax returns, ensuring everything gets updated in one spot.”
“The other huge impact of GreatSoft on our business would have to be time saving. Having everything on the cloud, letting us use it from home or from work, and having all data integrate into different work modules has just been terrific. It’s also given me back a lot of spare time, which allows me to spend more time with clients and client work.”
"I don't think I'd go back to a time before GreatSoft, because I love the fact that it's in the cloud and that makes life, in terms of working from home, working on devices, so much easier. And also, the integration of all our different work functions in one solution has made work simpler and more seamless."
Alison Lacey Director | ECOVIS Clark Jacobs
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