Across industries, 63% of potential clients say that onboarding experiences influence their decision to stay with a business, product, or service, and 90% of those are willing to spend more to avoid difficult processes.
In financial services and accounting, client onboarding requires an unusually high volume of documentation. If firms and institutions still use paper-based processes or have new clients submit documentation via various email attachments, wasted time accrues and client satisfaction goes down. The first step to clearing this bottleneck is automating and digitizing as much of the process as possible.
In this brief guide, you’ll learn how accounting firms can automate much of the client onboarding process.
Client onboarding in accounting refers to all the steps necessary to initiate a new business relationship. As a starting point in the working relationship, onboarding can set the tone for expectations and client trust. It’s also an opportunity for firms to ensure they understand their clients’ accounting needs and uncover new areas of required services that may not have come to light yet.
While the process primarily consists of clients submitting the necessary documentation and granting their new firm access to business financial information, the steps firms take to ease this process through automation and technology solutions, as well as their commitment to clear communication, can establish the foundation of a solid business relationship.
Getting started with a new accounting firm can seem like a daunting challenge to clients as the successive demands for more information accumulate. At a minimum, these will include:
Regardless of the industry, just 12% of employees report that their employers handle onboarding processes smoothly and efficiently. For most organizations, turning this around begins with process automation. Here are some of the benefits of automating the onboarding process.
Fortunately for client onboarding automation, your firm does not need to reinvent the wheel. Here are four powerful software tools you can use to get started.
Zapier is an API-enabled software integration platform. Independently written applications can’t exchange information fluidly or without manual input. APIs connect independent applications predictably so that data requests and updates can move freely between them.
Zapier provides an integration-platform-as-a-service (IPaaS) that uses automatic workflow connectors called Zaps to connect accounting applications, allowing users to automate onboarding documentation reminders, invoices, and account status updates.
GoProposal is an independent platform capable of automating many client onboarding steps. These include:
Practice Ignition is a handy onboarding tool designed to roll out steps from the initial client contract signature. Once an official business relationship has been defined and created, Practice Ignition automates six necessary next steps for you:
FileInvite is a secure automated document collection platform, which can be used for many different onboarding scenarios without the need for complex application integrations (but the option to integrate with other systems does exist). Within FileInvite, companies can send out documents for clients to fill, and clients can upload their documentation at their own pace and see their progress reflected in their document upload portal. Users on the other end can configure automated reminders to help ensure deadlines are not missed.
FileInvite’s platform employs bank-grade security features like 256-bit end-to-end encryption and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance.
To learn more and request a demo, visit FileInvite today.