S P O N S O R E D
While all of us had to change the way we work during COVID-19, the lack of in-person collaboration brought about a necessary and different approach to meet our firm’s goals and the goals of our clients. Any perceived limitations when we started this journey have brought to life inventive solutions and processes that elevated many benefits of working differently. They also changed everyone’s expectations of working remotely.
#1: More Efficiency
When all of our teams were required to shift to remote, we had concerns that productivity would take a hit. Our focus was to ensure the safety of our teams, but this concern was no doubt in everyone's mind, especially when we knew working remotely was a long-term change. As everyone settled in, we found we were more productive in many areas than previously. Think about all of the wasted time for commuting, the opportunity for more-focused conversations, and leverage tools and technology to maximize our workflow.
#2: More Flexibility
I have been extremely impressed with how the pandemic highlighted the perseverance we all have to achieve our goals. This perseverance required flexibility of how we work, collaborate, and plan, particularly when it helped our teams and clients be more deliberate in their approach to continually assess what is working, what isn’t, and to drive actions for rapid improvements. These improvements created even more flexibility by leveraging technology to remove some of the manual work we had to do in the past, freeing up more time to focus on the most important work, as well as give our teams more options on how they do their work.
#3: Rapid Continuous Improvements
The flexibility and efficiencies we gained did not come overnight. As we navigated our way into the new environment, everyone had to adapt quickly. Our teams were constantly assessing what could be done to enable our teams to do their best work. We removed activities, such as non-essential meetings, that did not help meet our goals. We looked for new technologies and tools to improve the way we do business. On the flip side, we worked with accounting firms to implement workflow solutions, including Intuit® Practice Management, to help them reorganize their practice, and the work, where it was needed. These improvements have yielded the flexibility and efficiencies that I foresee continuing, even when we go back to live after COVID.
It’s time to Meet and Exceed New Expectations
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the pandemic, it’s to expect the unexpected - but that doesn’t mean you can meet the viable expectations from your teams, clients, and their customers. While we’ve had to change the way we do business, we have been able to achieve results due to our commitment to always deliver excellence. Our goal is to continue to lean into what has helped us achieve those benefits internally, and continue to deliver and rapidly improve tools to enable our clients to do the same.