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By Chris Kosty, CPA, CIDA

While understanding the features and functionality of emerging solutions is critical to staying in tune with the ever-changing technology space, it is equally important to separate fact versus fiction as it relates to the perceived barriers of entry for implementation. It may not always feel this way, but emerging technologies are truly attainable and accessible to all corporations.

As a technology consultant and CPA, I often discuss these topics with clients and prospects and hear common themes or reasons as to why they feel they are unable to implement emerging technologies at their organizations. This blog highlights three of those themes and addresses the concerns head on.

Cost

As CPAs, we are financially driven and come by it honestly. Cost certainly is a factor with implementing new technology, but performing a simple cost/benefit analysis after having a clear understanding of the value of the emerging technology will provide clarity into the actual “cost.” Often there is an intrinsic value that these tools bring to an organization, making a cost/benefit analysis more challenging to calculate. Determining efficiencies to be gained is one way to quantify a benefit in terms of dollars.

Example: Assume implementation of a data visualization solution eliminates the need for manual report generation and distribution, conservatively resulting in the corporation saving 416 hours a year (1 day a week) for an individual with a $100,000 per year salary. That translates to about $20,000 of benefit back to the organization. Further, if the same data visualization solution saves that amount of time for five employees in the same position (i.e., project managers, regional managers, etc.), the benefit is now approaching $100,000 annually or one full-time employee at that level.

By calculating the benefits, a $10,000 price tag for technology implementation may not appear as significant as it once did. Any successful technology consultant should be able to provide you with multiple options for implementation spanning various price points that still meet your needs without pricing you out.

Size and Complexity

There is a misconception that emerging technologies are only realistically accessible to large or complex companies. The fact is most, if not all, companies can realistically implement and benefit from emerging technologies. Will a mom-and-pop retail store benefit enough from implementing a corporate performance management solution to justify the cost? Maybe not, but they certainly can benefit from robotic process automation processing invoices and online orders to free them up throughout the day to serve their customers face-to-face without hiring an additional employee. Does a $10 million wholesaler need machine learning? Perhaps not, but a data analytics and visualization solution may allow them to perform recurring analysis to identify, monitor, and grow their most successful markets. It is easy to hear about emerging technologies and mentally jump right to NASA-developed advanced algorithms that send astronauts into space. The truth is there is a use case to implement different emerging technologies at every company, at a variety of price points and regardless of industry, workforce skillset, or company size or complexity.

Readiness

“We aren’t ready for any new technology. We have too many manual processes to convert.” Have you said that to yourself when reading this or any other posts? Or what about, “We can’t change: that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Does anybody else cringe when they hear this? Enhancing processes that have existed seemingly since a company’s inception is certainly challenging, but not impossible. Notice I did not say replace. Layering technology into previously manual tasks takes time, planning, and training, but it is imperative in keeping the company positioned to be as profitable as possible. Investments in technology equate to investments in your people, as automating mundane and repetitive tasks open opportunities for employees to perform more value-added tasks for the organization while simultaneously increasing the capacity of the existing workforce. Getting from current state to future state in terms of business processes often requires outside consulting to assist with the transformation and implementation, but the journey can easily begin by equipping employees that have the institutional knowledge with the appropriate technology to carry out existing process is the most efficient and effective way possible. All companies can implement emerging technologies, but those who think they are not ready or able simply are at a different checkpoint on the roadmap of readiness than others.

When considering any new emerging technology, my advice is this: ask questions, get answers, consider your options, and find a trusted partner to help you understand the options and work through the implementation process. Each question answered and every piece of information received about the process will make developing and executing an implementation strategy easier. Perception is not always reality, and understanding the technology and implementation process will transform perceived barriers of entry into realized opportunities for growth.

Chris Kosty, CPA, CIDA, is a manager with the automation and data analytics process team (ADAPT) of Schneider Downs & Co. Inc. in Pittsburgh. He can be reached at ckosty@schneiderdowns.com.

Be sure to attend PICPA’s Technology for Public Accounting Conference on Oct. 8 for more coverage on critical advancements for CPAs.

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