we’ve been asking, “what’s the best way to economize on technology costs in this economy?” and you’ve been answering….
steve bates
director of operations at bates tax and accounting, inc.
http://www.batestax.com
obviously, the best way to save money is to not spend it in the first place. but, i think the spirit of your question is asking more about how firms can deploy capital wisely and in ways that can add to the bottom line.
new firms can have an advantage over older firms because they do not have the sunk costs associated with legacy systems.
new phone systems utilizing voip can be very inexpensive and can have more features than their older counterparts. a sole proprietor could decide to opt out of the $100+ per month land line and use a vendor like skype for $5 per month to have a phone system on their computer complete with voicemail and all of the other features. this phone system can travel with you on vacation and send you an e-mail when you have a new voicemail.
costs for computers and especially servers are dropping dramatically. the cost to build and develop a website is getting cheaper by the minute.
all this being said, the best way for a new or established tax and accoutning provider to spend their money wisely is to do a great deal of research on the current products available in the marketplace, match those products with true business needs and then look at the different ways to acquire those products. another way a firm could use technology is to see what new technology is available and how that can help them reduce costs. for instance the tax department at yum! brands recently began imaging many of their documents instead of making paper copies. there were instances where three or four people would make a photocopy of a 1,000 page tax return to keep on their desk as a reference source. that’s 4,000 pages! now, they can scan those returns as pdf’s and store them on their hard drive or cd. over the course of a few years the savings can be incredibley substantial.
creativity and curiousty about how to improve the process plus a frugal, common-sense approach is probably the best way to look at technology issues.