5 Useful Apps Accountants Should Be Aware Off

Every day I am speaking to accountants and entrepreneurs, and every day I am able to surprise them with apps they have never heard of or seen. Valuable apps that could make your life much more easier but most important, can help you and your practice to become more client focused. ‘Well, why should I?’, that’s true, you don’t have to but you can’t deny that times are changing and your clients are changing. Expectations are going beyond traditional services like accounts production. They ask for more, engagement in their business and make them act smarter to let their business grow. The next 5 apps can help you to collaborate with your clients much more easier. Great upside of these apps is that you will start to find new clients during your online journeys without searching for them. In a natural way you will see how you will get connected with equal minded people.

Hootsuite

For several years now I am in the software industry serving accountancy practices. Small ones, but also large practices that struggle to embrace all those new developments related to the cloud and new ways of collaboration. Start using some simple apps will enable you to get a feeling what is going on outside your comfort zone. To see where the magic happens and how you can be beneficial for you. The first app I want to show you is HootSuite, the place where my day starts and ends. It is a free social media dashboard that gives you reatime insights with regards what is going on in your network or the topics of your interest. To see where the magic happens and how you can be beneficial for you.You can monitor multiple streams in one screen like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and many more. You can even specify keywords that are of your interest so you can see who is talking about it in real time. With one click on a button you share your thoughts, interesting articles etc. in multiple networks. There is even an auto schedule option so the app itself determines the best time to publish your posts your network is the most receptive for it.

Bufferapp

Bufferapp is a mobile app for smartphone and tablet. Just like with HootSuite you can share and publish posts to multiple networks with one click on a button. This single purpose app is more simple than HootSuite for this specific function. That is why I like it so much. My default browser is Google Chrome and a nice extension is available which makes it easy to share at any moment sitting behind your laptop or pc.

Pocket

Many times you read headlines of interesting articles but at that time you simply are not able to spend time on it. With the Pocket app you store the article in the cloud so you can read it later. In a very fancy and nice way a electronic magazine is created based on the articles and posts you wanted to read later. Great if you want to spend some time for reading relevant stuff in the evening, when you are travveling etc.

Flipboard

Still for me the best app developed ever for smartphone and tablet is Flipboard. In real time this app creates an personal electronic magazine based on your social networks. In my situation it combines Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and Instagram in one magazine. It not only shows you the text of a certain post but it also extracts images in a very attractive way. Look alike apps are Zite and Google Current.

 

Google keyword tool

It surprises me that many don’t know this free tool exists. It gives you great insights with regards to the search behavior of your potential customers. In a very simple way you enter the type of industry you are in, the region you want to cover and the services that you deliver. Google will come up with a list of keyword ideas where you could potentially advert with on their network. It shows for instance that 2,500 times a month someone is searching in the London area for an accountant. With seasonal influences this is more than 40,000 times a year. Imagine that your practice is able to acquire only a small percentage of these potential clients.

Just 5 apps that can help you enter the new world in a fairly easy way. If you need help, just ask for it, I might have some other suggestions for you. It’s the challenge to arrange your ecosystem of apps in such a way it helps you and your practice to become better and make your clients better. So you don’t have to search for things but they will come straight to you in a natural way. Good luck!