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Writer's pictureChris Rochford

Benefits of Sharing Metrics with Peers



Recently, members of our Boomer Technology Circles and Boomer Managing Partner Circle received an invitation to participate in our annual technology survey. We send out two surveys each year – one financial questionnaire and another to take inventory of the tools and technologies our member firms are using.


If you haven’t participated in the survey before, you may wonder whether it’s worth the time or how you might benefit.


Benefits of sharing metrics with peers

Many firms track their own IT metrics, such as:

  • Revenue per Full-time Equivalent

  • Average Hourly Rate

  • % Chargeable

  • % of Revenue Invested in Technology

  • Investment in Technology per Charge Hour

  • Ratio of IT Personnel to End Users

While tracking these metrics is important, your data is unique to you. You need to increase your data set beyond your own experience to get hints of wider industry trends. Sharing metrics with a peer network gives you that broader view.

You can understand whether your spending is higher or lower in certain areas than your peers, whether you’re underinvesting or overpaying for certain solutions, and adjust as necessary.

Sharing results also helps with forecasting. If revenue is down among your peers, but you haven’t experienced that yet, you may want to forecast lower revenues in the coming year.

Benefits of inventory survey

While data from the financial survey is aggregated so members can’t see what individual firms made from a revenue perspective or spent on technology, the results of our inventory survey are not anonymous.


There’s a lot of value in seeing what individual firms use for things like document management, workflow, and audit automation. If you’re considering implementing a specific solution, you can reach out to peers using that solution to learn about their experiences.


Our members also use this information to alert each other to issues with certain products. For example, if a particular solution provider has a security breach, outage, or another problem, we often see members alerting their peers on our Microsoft Teams group, which helps to build community around specific platforms.


Obviously, the more firms participate in these surveys, the better the data. If that survey is in your inbox right now, I encourage you to complete it in time for us to report on the results at our next meeting. It’s just another way that participating in a peer network can benefit your firm.

 
Could your firm benefit from getting firm management and IT leaders in alignment?

The Boomer Technology Circles are a peer group of firm and technology leaders in the accounting profession who benefit from aligning IT and firm strategy and building valuable long-term relationships with solution providers and peers. Apply now to start building confidence in your firm’s technology decisions.

 

As a Technology and Business Analyst for Boomer Consulting, Inc., Chris Rochford leverages a diverse background in web development and technology consulting. His role involves managing Boomer Consulting, Inc.’s internal technology, as well as researching how new and emerging technologies can be leveraged internally and for our external clients.

Before joining Boomer Consulting, Inc., Chris spent 15 years in tech, doing web development for state and local government agencies and commercial clients.

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