Business moves fast. It can be tough for organizations (especially smaller ones) to keep up, much less grow.
But this is where outside expertise can help. It supplements your firm’s capabilities and provides access to experts in many fields, which can enable growth. Here’s how.
Technology
Outside information technology (IT) expertise helps maximize your investment and can facilitate growth in big ways.
One example is a Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO), which provides executive-level planning and budgeting to align IT plans with organizational goals, all for less than the cost of an in-house CIO.
The desire to understand and be understood is strong, so collaboration is key. Our vCIOs regularly work with different functional levels of client organizations, not just the IT department. Understanding your business – it’s pain points, opportunities, culture, and more – allows for critical IT organizational alignment.
Since IT is a common thread in almost every facet of a business, the vCIO can foster that alignment with a unified, proactive approach. In practice, this method has been shown to eliminate many “shadow” IT problems, like the use of unauthorized (often unsecured) software and electronic devices.
Another way to enable growth is by partnering with a Managed Services Provider (MSP), which would manage some or all of your IT organization. MSPs provide comprehensive capabilities and support, from security to IT policies to everyday maintenance, including:
- Managing IT entirely
- Cybersecurity
- Cloud computing
- Network design, setup and maintenance
- Product solutions
- IT governance
- Consulting
- IT assessments
- Support
Partnering with an MSP adds incredible depth of expertise to your IT team. At its best, it means your systems are maintained, capacity is monitored, and issues are resolved before they impact the business. The MSP partnership also can be a catalyst for innovation because you’ll have experts in all aspects of IT working alongside your company.
Attracting Talent
With recruiting, two hard facts remain true. First, you must be clear on who you want to hire. That means what they’ll do, what they know, and so on. And second, you have to know where and how to tap into that talent.
These can be a challenge, especially for start-ups with limited resources. Many times, a manager who needs help is tasked with putting it all together – writing the job description, posting the job, sifting through resumes and more.
In this case, external HR expertise can stoke growth while allowing the manager to do their job. A recruiter could do initial resume screens, leaving only relevant candidates to the manager. Similarly, the recruiter could handle correspondence and even make the offer.
The real issue with the manager-as-recruiter scenario is scale. Multiply it a few times in an organization and it’s possible branding and messages to many candidates are inconsistent. What message do you want to share as a company? A recruiter will convey consistent messages about your firm and its goals, every time.
Pre-employment screening is another area HR expertise can deliver value. Often overlooked, this critical due diligence can help you avoid the huge costs of ill-fitting hires and reveal problems like fraudulent behavior before they can take hold.
The fact is, corporate recruitment is always changing (e.g., recreational marijuana is legal in some states). HR expertise can help you navigate this dynamic landscape, which over time, can be a wise investment that smooths the growth path.
Data-Driven Growth
Today, many decisions must be made in real-time. As such, supporting data must be current and available on-demand. Similarly, the organization must be able to devote bandwidth to key matters (i.e., not be tied down with minutiae).
Absent these two critical variables, growth is difficult, if not impossible. But this is where your accounting team can be a big enabler of growth.
For instance, automation and custom workflows can remove friction caused by many routine business functions and offer key insights. Real-time dashboards and the development of key performance indicators will reflect the current state of the business and enable course corrections when they’re needed. In fact, your financial team can often be the frontline in spotting potential issues or corrective actions.
These tools and techniques are just part of the evolution of the CPA role. Perhaps the most important evolutional step has been the CPA analyzing data to inform future success.
See how IT, HR and accounting expertise can help your organization grow. Contact Rehmann today at 866.799.9580 or rehmann.com.
