If there may be one problem that resonates amongst giant tax and accounting companies, it’s knowledge visibility. As a result of most companies are utilizing disconnected methods, getting a fowl’s eye view throughout all knowledge units can appear subsequent to inconceivable. Nevertheless, by incorporating APIs, forward-looking companies are making knowledge visibility a actuality — and utilizing it as a aggressive benefit.

What are APIs and the way do they work?

Software Programming Interfaces (APIs) are software program code that enable two unrelated methods to entry and use one another’s options or knowledge. From lowering human error to analyzing knowledge, APIs are remodeling industries by bringing collectively disparate methods and unleashing countless methods to extend effectivity.

Actually, 70% of companies that added automation to their accounting processes reported a stronger ROI. However how your agency applies APIs will depend on your particular workflow and answer set. This speaks to the versatile nature of APIs and the necessity to personalize an strategy that works finest on your agency.

Usually, API automation permits your agency to:

• Automate key processes and cut back hours spent on non-billable work
• Keep away from coming into knowledge manually to scale back the danger of errors
• Improve visibility of consumer wants with linked options
• Join in any other case disconnected third-party methods
• Achieve insights for evaluation and determination help

APIs in motion at a prime accounting agency

Baker Newman Noyes (BNN) realized the ability of APIs firsthand. Based in 1995, BNN is a U.S. Prime 100-ranked tax, assurance, and advisory agency serving shoppers domestically, regionally, and globally from workplaces in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

When the agency got down to sew collectively their disparate knowledge methods, they started their journey with a Thomson Reuters Automation Session. The Thomson Reuters crew performed a half-day workshop with the BNN tax division to stroll via their processes, step-by-step, and develop an API roadmap suited to their wants.

The primary advice was to include PowerBI to tug particular dimensions and parts from GoFileRoom and FirmFlow to floor knowledge utilizing visualizations. As soon as the information was made seen, the agency was in a position to establish particular areas that required extra time for general course of enchancment.

However their journey didn’t cease there. Utilizing the identical API strategy, the Thomson Reuters crew helped BNN improve the interoperability of different methods used of their workflow to remove duplicate knowledge entry. The outcome was knowledge passing from system to system seamlessly, enabling a single supply of reality and higher understanding of their distribution of labor.

“We didn’t simply keep inside the boundaries of GoFileRoom,” says Travis Hersom, Chief Data Officer at Baker Newman Noyes. “We began to take a look at a few of our different methods and by strolling via our workflows and the steps that we observe, we have been in a position to establish a formidable listing of alternatives for us to leverage these APIs to take away much more waste in our processes. We have been doing this initially of busy season this yr, so these fast wins have been actually welcomed.”

The influence of information visibility

At present, BNN makes use of the steering gleaned from their Thomson Reuters Automation Session to make data-driven selections backed by PowerBI templates to create visible reviews — monitoring time yr over yr and week over week — enabling the agency to proactively establish and monitor potential bottlenecks within the engagement workflow.

“Shifting ahead, Baker Newman Noyes can be doing a ton round analytics and knowledge visualization,” mentioned Hersom. “Our partnership with Thomson Reuters has been actually useful in evolving our considering round how we wish to show this knowledge. The GoFileRoom initiative allowed us to indicate the significance of getting this degree of visibility and it’s been extraordinarily efficient for us to have the ability to shine a light-weight on the areas that want a bit extra consideration.”

The personalized PowerBI dashboards created by BNN enable the agency to match present yr utilization with historic utilization knowledge to forecast whether or not the agency has sufficient assets to deal with new work. Balancing utilization may also help keep away from burnout and enhance work-life stability for worthwhile employees, particularly throughout busy season. Managing general assets, slicing down on waste, and lowering duplication of effort are just a few of the advantages of automation.

Hersom continued, “With that type of visibility, we are able to forecast out and make it possible for we have now the best assets in place to deal with regardless of the load goes to be. We’ve additionally regarded on the time it takes to finish every step of our course of to establish bottlenecks, which supplies us an indicator about whether or not there are some alternatives for us to enhance that course of.”

Constructing a customized API roadmap on your agency

The Baker Newman Noyes case examine is only one instance of the numerous methods by which tax and accounting companies are leveraging automation to enhance their operations and keep aggressive in an more and more digital world. A Thomson Reuters Automation Session may also help your agency obtain these transformative advantages by documenting your every day workflow, figuring out gaps and inefficiencies, and constructing a customized API roadmap.

Sometimes, your session will consist of 4, two-hour periods with Thomson Reuters API and automation consultants that dive deep into each facet of your enterprise. The periods are designed to know the day-to-day work of every job operate and assess alternatives for automation. After compiling an in depth report of their findings, the automation consultants will share the alternatives, gaps, and proposals for which merchandise and automation instruments could be most impactful on your agency. From there, they may aid you in prioritizing and implementing the suggestions.

One of the crucial vital issues in creating your automation roadmap [link to infographic?] is guaranteeing that your methods can talk with each other. Expertise suppliers that embrace different corporations’ tech and create APIs that enable disparate methods to work collectively carry one other degree of worth to accounting companies. As a result of every agency makes use of tax software program and methods in their very own means, a personalized session and plan of motion is of the utmost significance in guaranteeing the advantages of APIs are maximized on your agency’s particular wants.

E-book your Thomson Reuters Automation Session

With a personalised automation session, Thomson Reuters may also help you unlock knowledge visibility, countless methods to extend effectivity, and aid you higher serve your shoppers.

For those who’re able to unleash the ability of APIs, e-book your Thomson Reuters Automation Session immediately.