Becoming more strategic in all areas of a business will improve performance and produce significant results. Companies can make intelligent decisions to iterate processes, develop more targeted marketing campaigns, and create an exceptional client experience with more insight into internal activities and consumer behavior. Enhancing each of these areas will impact sales and operating costs, positively impacting overall revenue. An excellent way to achieve this is by using data analytics to drive critical business decisions. CPAs can empower their clients with this powerful ability by transforming their workplace with innovative cloud solutions. Cloud technology allows companies to track, capture, and store customer and employee data across multiple platforms and applications through its advanced capabilities. Analyzing the data will reveal patterns and behavior, enabling clients to be deliberate in their approach and improve business in the three following ways.
Internal processes.
Companies typically make buying decisions based on employee feedback and what they believe is needed when selecting platforms, software, and services. While this feedback can be helpful, it is assumptive. Companies need to know how employees spend their time to truly understand which processes and activities need improvement and which solutions to purchase. Additionally, they should identify if employees are spending time on the appropriate actions. By adopting advanced cloud technology, companies will gain access to critical employee insights such as which platforms and features they use most, how often, and at what time of day. By analyzing the data, management can determine if they need to modify access, adjust capabilities, or possibly cancel a subscription. The data can also reveal if the wrong departments are utilizing software and need to shift responsibilities. A sales team frequently using a billing platform could signal they spend too much time correcting invoices, which is a non-revenue generating activity. Management might move that responsibility to finance to increase productivity. Companies can select the correct solutions to increase efficiency, productivity, and return on investment by identifying how and where employees spend their time through advanced data analytics.
Sales and marketing.
Data analytics also provides companies a better understanding of their clients' buying behaviors and patterns, enabling them to become more strategic in their approach. They will be able to segment and target clients based on size and demographics. By providing a more concrete snapshot of the clients' history, the data empowers salespeople to have more thoughtful conversations with their clients and gives them the ability to suggest the next logical solution. These data insights are vital for growing current clients effectively and will also help the company be more deliberate in account acquisitions. When companies can target potential clients with the highest propensity to buy their product or service, it dramatically increases the chance of conversion and lowers the acquisition costs. With data analytics, businesses are more strategic, powerful, and successful in sales and marketing initiatives. The client experience. 
Providing an exceptional client experience is crucial to acquiring new clients and retaining current ones. Companies must continuously evaluate all steps in the process to ensure clients have a smooth and easy journey. Additionally, maintaining this experience can be challenging as companies scale. However, through the advanced data analytics of cloud technology, companies can provide a better user experience and easily monitor each step. By identifying where clients spend the most time in the journey and which applications, companies can improve those key areas and create more efficiencies. Additionally, comparing client data daily, weekly, or monthly allows them to evaluate performance and understand which areas to invest in, ensuring they continue to provide a superior client experience as they scale.
By migrating their clients to the cloud, CPA firms will help them unlock critical insights that can significantly improve their businesses. With everyone working remotely, the opportunity to track user data has never been more prevalent than it is right now. Companies that apply sophisticated analytics can gain critical insights into their client behaviors and internal operations. CPA firms will empower their clients to improve internal processes, sales and marketing efforts, and client experiences through cloud technology. These strategic enhancements will give them an advantage over the competition, driving them to achieve significant growth and success.
Jefferson Keith
Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Pax8
Jefferson (J) Keith brings over 20 years of financial management experience to Pax8. As Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, he leads the global expansion initiative through Merger and Acquisition activities, collaborative partnerships, and entrance into new channels. J has been with the company since its launch in 2013, driving strategic programs to enable the company’s growth, scale, and impact. J is passionate about cloud technology and has spent the last few years redefining technology advisory services at Pax8. His innovative approach and the simplicity of cloud technology enable business advisors to become a single source of cloud consumption for clients while driving their digital transformation.
J joined Arthur Andersen after graduation from the University of Colorado, Denver, with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Accounting. He has held senior accounting and finance management positions with several companies, including First Data, MX Logic, and McAfee. J serves as a Treasurer for Denver’s City Park Jazz and enjoys escaping to his art studio to paint.