Using Chat for your Accounting Business

These days it seems like everyone is talking about Slack. But what is it exactly? Slack describes itself as a ‘collaboration software that moves work forward‘. Basically, it’s an application (think the old AOL messenger) where users can create chats. However, it becomes collaborative when you throw in the element of file sharing, video conferencing, archiving, and group conversations centered around a topic.

Our accounting firm recently added the chat feature to our suite of products (we use Zoho) and it has been very successful. So much so I recommended it to one of our clients who was struggling to manage his communication with his clients and staff. He somewhat balked at the idea, claiming that ’email can do the same thing’. Which in essence it can. But it does do a few things better.

Reduces Email Traffic & Saves Time. As a business owner or manager, you probably have a ton of email from your employees on a daily, sometimes hourly basis – most of them quick questions that need timely answers. With Slack, Zoho Cliq, or a similar product, employees can quickly access you at any time of the day without interrupting your schedule and get the answers they need to continue their work. This will also reduce your email traffic to client or vendor communication only, which makes for more efficiency when checking email. It also keeps you away from constantly checking email, which can be a complete waste of time.

Creates a Positive Company Culture. Our business has several locations across the country – therefore each office has created an internal group chat for quick conversation. While some of the conversation is work related, it also is a way for the group to make ‘small talk’ without having to waste time walking to other offices or distract others with loud conversation. Although it is a small attribute to using the chat, it is something that I have noticed makes a difference in teamwork and employee job satisfaction.

Better Communication Across Office Locations. Like I said before – our accounting firm has locations across the country – most of our employees have not met one another but still require interaction. Having the chat available across locations increases communication between the offices that may not otherwise occur. It also opens the communication lines, making for a more cohesive company despite the employee location.

Run Your Business from Anywhere. The beauty of being a business owner is of course the flexibility, but as said before, your employees may need your help in a timely manner to carry on with their work for the day.

I can say that it has literally changed the way we communicate in terms of organization, collaboration, timely responses, and company cohesiveness. When I have new employees join our organization they fall in love with our use of chat and I can say it has definitely increased our cohesiveness and efficiency greatly since we adopted the software.

I once suggested using a chat application like Slack to a client who responded to me – ‘Why can’t you just use email for that?’ Good point, email can keep a record of all conversations, allows for document sharing, and can include multiple people. So why add yet another software to the mix? Here’s why.

While we do not use Slack, in my experience many of the features between Zoho Cliq and Slack are the same. The only reason why we utilize Cliq over Slack is that it completely integrates with all of the other applications we utilize with Zoho.

07/30/2019
By: Hollie Bourne, Quality Back Office LLC