Finding, hiring and retaining employees can be challenging for any professional services firm,...
In a perfect world, enterprise tech platforms designed for professional services firms would support accountants and lawyers in providing superior client service and growing their books of business.
Instead of streamlining client acquisition and revenue generation efforts, however, many enterprise tech platforms lack the features and simplicity accountants and lawyers need to provide value. As a result, powerful platforms like CRMs are primarily used to manage basic tasks like sending holiday cards to clients at the end of the year.
When looking at the data, it's no wonder nearly 70% of CRM projects fail. Even though 80% of law firms have a CRM, for example, only 20% of firms rate them as “effective” across marketing and business development functions.
What’s causing the disconnect? Enterprise tech companies have primarily focused on high-margin sectors like retail, eCommerce, Fintech, and banking when developing their platforms due to their scalability and market size.
As a result, these platforms are built with a one-size-fits-all formula, ignoring the specific needs and behaviors of users like accountants and lawyers. This oversight impacts the professional services sector in multiple ways, leading to inefficiencies, wasted resources, and low adoption rates as end users grapple with unsuitable tech solutions.
Successful platforms are designed with a deep understanding of their users and they work well because they're built to complement those users’ processes and preferences.
Enterprise Tech is Missing the Mark with Accountants and Lawyers
Most enterprise tech solutions focus on C-suite executives and managers, forcing end users like accountants and lawyers to adapt their behaviors to CRM concepts originally developed for managerial and sales staff.
In a typical partner-led and relationship-based firm, however, clients build relationships with accounting and legal professionals, not executives and sales personnel, rendering generic CRM solutions inadequate and irrelevant.
Instead of helping accountants and lawyers build detailed client profiles or discover targeted cross-selling opportunities, enterprise tech platforms often fail professionals by offering generic features among many other frustrating challenges:
- Generic Features: CRMs typically include features that don’t support the specific needs of accountants and lawyers. For instance, professionals track billable hours and project outcomes and completions, while many platforms focus on tracking sales pipeline and revenue.
- Sales-Centric Design: Standard CRMs focus on sales and marketing processes, offering workflow designs that push clients through a sales funnel. Instead, platforms should accommodate the complex and evolving relationship-based nature of the professional services sector.
- Complex Interface: Many enterprise tech platforms are built with complex features, overwhelming accountants and lawyers by forcing them to spend hours learning how to use the platform.
- Compliance and Security Challenges: Some enterprise platforms don't support regulatory compliance requirements, putting firms and their clients at risk.
- Frustration and Low Adoption Rates: Overly complicated features often cause user frustration and low adoption rates among professionals.
Persona-Focused Platforms Support Professionals and Their Clients
Tech solutions are often standardized to simplify development and make products easier to sell to a broader market. However, standardization ignores the diverse human behaviors and needs exhibited by users, including accounting and legal professionals.
To encourage adoption, platforms must adapt to the behaviors and demands of end users at professional services firms.
The Benefits of Catering to the Individual Behaviors of Accountants and Lawyers
Enterprise tech platforms that develop solutions addressing the unique needs and behaviors of end users in the professional services sector provide the following benefits:
1. Increased Productivity and Efficiency
Custom features designed for accountants and lawyers simplify workflows and minimize the time these professionals spend on non-billable activities, enabling them to focus on higher-value work.
2. Improved User Experience and Adoption
Personalized features translate into user-friendly interfaces that match professionals’ natural workflows. As a result, platforms are easier to grasp and navigate, encouraging higher adoption and satisfaction rates.
3. Enhanced Client Relationship Management
A strategically designed CRM provides access to valuable client data and insights, a must-have element for anticipating client needs and providing proactive service recommendations.
4. Stronger Security
An enterprise platform with security measures tailored to the professional services sector can strengthen client confidentiality and minimize data breach concerns. Professionals won't feel as hesitant to store client-related information, allowing the firm to leverage the knowledge and data professionals have collected.
5. Higher ROI
Technology built specifically for the professional services sector cuts the time users spend on manual tasks while improving overall efficiency, paving the way for higher client retention and revenue.
Features and Functionalities Accountants and Lawyers Need to Better Serve Their Clients
When evaluating the best enterprise tech platforms for a professional services firm, accountants and lawyers should assess whether the platform has the following features:
- Client Intelligence: Professionals should be able to easily tap into detailed insights about client behaviors and preferences.
- Workflow Automation: Streamlining routine tasks and workflows is vital to maximizing the time professionals spend on the platform.
- Predictive Sales Intelligence: Accountants and lawyers want to anticipate client needs and intervene before potential problems escalate.
- Cross-Selling Recommendations: A well-rounded platform should leverage AI and data science to gauge client needs and suggest additional services.
- Human-Centered Design: A platform focused on individual users should leverage human behavior insights to deliver a smoother user experience.
Other valuable features include real-time feedback integration and secure data handling. Client Savvy and Intapp demonstrate that it's possible to build tech platforms around specific user personas at professional services firms. These fully configurable AI-powered solutions provide must-have features to help professionals manage risks while improving profitability and operational efficiencies.
Instead of Commoditizing Tech Solutions, AI Can Provide More User-Focused Experiences
Several businesses, including enterprise tech companies, have entered the AI race, with more than 77% of companies either exploring or using AI.
However, many companies are ignoring the needs of end users when developing AI-powered solutions. Some enterprise tech companies are using AI to commoditize their solutions in hopes of achieving broad applicability, further alienating professionals from their platforms.
Propense.ai advocates for technology that truly supports and enhances the work of professionals so they can better serve their clients and become rainmakers in their own right. That’s why we’re implementing real-time feedback from professionals as we’re building the platform from the ground up.
Our goal is to help busy accountants and lawyers provide the best experience possible to their clients with technology that supports their unique needs and behaviors.
Visit Propense.ai to discover how the AI-powered B2B cross-selling platform can deepen client relationships and generate dependable revenue opportunities for your professional services firm.
