Suppose you want to do more with advice. But how do you then ensure that it's not just about great plans? Many accountancy firms think reporting software or a dashboard tool is the solution. They choose a new tool, start a pilot and hope that the rest will follow.

But in practice, consulting work doesn't get off the ground if it doesn't logically fit into how your organization works. After all, it's more about people than tools.

Good intentions and tools are not enough

In practice, it appears that people in the workplace simply have no time or space to provide their customers with good advice. They want to, but they don't know when. Especially when there is no space in the planning to set up a clear plan.

Moreover, the real bottleneck is not in technology, but how to organize consultancy work. If the new advice software does not logically fit into daily work, it quickly ends up in the drawer. The result? The tool stays in place. And with that, the consultancy work.

How to make consultancy work workable

To really make consulting work part of your service, it shouldn't be an extra. How to do that? According to Thijs Olthof, owner of Liquid, this is by including consultancy work in your regular services, just like annual work and administration. This way, you can serve different types of customers in a way that suits them. Without having to work on customization right away. This also means that you can plan your capacity better.

For example, start with:

• Package S: for customers who dwell on the figures quarterly
• Package M: for customers with monthly analysis and budget rounds
• Package L: for customers who need CFO-as-a-service

This way, you and your customer know exactly what to expect. And advice won't be a block on your feet, but a logical part of your service.

Software as an accelerator

Only when you have structured advice can software help to accelerate it. Tools such as Liquid help you deal with recurring requests for advice quickly and process-wise. Think about (cash flow) forecasts or consolidation reports.

What took you eight hours in Excel is now possible in an hour and a half. And if you want to continue later, you know exactly where you left off. Software is therefore not a solution in itself, but it is an accelerator, provided you have the basics in order.

Advice is sparring, not sending

Advice is not a report that you throw over the fence. It's about sparring, thinking along and making choices together. That only works if you structurally free up time for the conversation. So giving advice is different than emailing a report: you want to discover together what's going on and what's possible.

First a plan, then a tool

Software only helps if you first have a clear idea of your business model. Start with the problem you want to solve, redesign your work process, review your business model, and only then choose the tools that suit you.

This way, you can be sure that your brand-new tool will not be left on the shelf and that consultancy work will become an integral part of your services. All without draining your team.

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