There’s a catch to becoming a trusted advisor: provide an expert answer on one topic, and your client may turn to you for expert answers on every topic.
It’s an honor, but an impossibility. Accounting firms can’t be equally expert at tax and technology, cloud computing and tax-flow forecasting. Nor can they turn clients away. If a client is trusting you to find an answer, you need to go and get it. The client isn’t just paying for the information in your head. Sometimes the knowledge you can access is just as valuable.
That doesn’t mean you need to turn every partner into a miniature IT department just to handle the cloud computing, cybersecurity, integration, automation, and artificial intelligence questions that are no doubt coming your way. It does mean, however, that you need a partner who can, and who can do it with the level of business understanding, technical expertise, and professionalism your clients have come to expect.
What to look for in a technology partner
When you bring on a partner firm, you’re handing over a piece of your professional reputation. Recommend the wrong technology stack, and the client is unlikely to care where the design originally came from. As their advisor, it starts and ends with you.
To make sure your technology partner reduces your risk, rather than adding to it, choose wisely. The right technology partner will:
- Provide strategic recommendations
- Support your understanding and growth
- Put security first
- Reward the client’s trust in you
Done correctly, a technology partnership will allow your accounting firm to extend capabilities without overextending people. Your clients get the advice they need and you get to focus your attention on the client service and strategic guidance that builds long-term relationships and reputation.
What strategic tech advising looks like
The key to finding a great advising partner is in the strategy, not the technology. The technology is table stakes — if they weren’t great at that, they wouldn’t be in business. What makes them worthy of being in business with you is their ability to understand your clients well enough to offer solutions, not software.
After all, your clients don’t turn to you to recite the tax code or crunch the numbers. They turn to you to achieve better outcomes. The right partner will help you to confidently deliver them.
Finding a partner who works for you first
A strong technology partner provides resources that help firms succeed: training and education, marketing support, sales resources, product expertise, and ongoing guidance.
Partner programs like Summit’s are built to give accounting professionals the resources and support they need to confidently recommend technology solutions to their own clients, rather than just resell them.
Relationships are built on trust, and trust is built on security
Accounting firms handle some of their clients’ most sensitive financial information, so security can’t be an afterthought. A strong technology partner has clear, documented processes for protecting data, managing risk, and maintaining reliable systems. They should give you everything you need to confidently answer questions like:
- What happens if my data is stolen? What is the recovery plan?
- Am I covered if I lose business critical materials?
- Do I have cyber insurance, or can you provide it for me?
- What type of security do I have in place to prevent a cyberattack from happening?
Ideally, you should look for a partner with a standard cybersecurity protocol in place. Firms looking to benchmark their own cybersecurity posture can reference the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which provides a structure for identifying, assessing, and reducing cybersecurity risk. A partner who can speak fluently to frameworks like this signals they take security as seriously as you do.
Technology can make or break a client experience
Surprising absolutely no one who has used a less-than-effective piece of software, technology is a core part of the customer experience. No matter how much money you may save a client, if the software is a drag to use, that’s what they’ll think about first. Provide them with delightful tools, and they’ll be delighted with you.
Clients expect easy access to their information, efficient communication, and systems that just work. When technology creates friction, the firm is the one who ends up fielding the complaint, whether the underlying problem was theirs to begin with.
Summit’s application hosting solutions give firms a foundation for more flexible, reliable workflows without adding to their internal IT burden. For firms managing remote or hybrid teams, Summit’s guide to secure remote desktop access for accountants covers the practical steps for keeping that access safe. And for firms specifically weighing QuickBooks hosting options, Summit’s QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop hosting guide breaks down what that decision involves.
You don’t have to own every problem to provide every solution
The firms navigating AI, cybersecurity, and client experience most successfully aren’t the ones trying to master every category in-house. They’re the ones who’ve found the right technology partners — partners who aim to solve problems, not just sell servers.
Summit's Partner Program
If you're evaluating what a technology partnership should deliver, Summit's Partner Program is a good place to start the conversation.