Herkess & Partners simplifies operations with CCH iFirm: A single, integrated cloud system
Herkess & Partners is a boutique professional firm of chartered accountants, which is dedicated to partnering with their clients to provide tailored support and services. For many years, the firm has relied on CCH iFirm integrated cloud software to help run their firm and support their client relationship management needs.
Benefits
- Enabled increase in pricing across all clients
- Easier to manage a single service provider
- Moving from server to 100% cloud solution
- Improved efficiency and support experience with integrated solution
Embracing the cloud
Herkess & Partners had previously been using MYOB AE but wanted to move to the cloud, as they could see that the future direction for the accounting sector was a move to full cloud software.
“Back then most other products were either desktop or hybrid solutions. We knew it was just a matter of time that the firm would need to move completely to the cloud, and we didn’t want to go ‘half-way’. CCH iFirm was already 100% in the cloud at the time, so we decided to make the move,” said Augustine Au, Partner, Herkess & Partners.
Since then, Herkess & Partners has been taking advantage of the integrated modules in the CCH iFirm software suite, including most recently, the document management module.
“Prior to adding the Document Vault module, we had a separate server and Sharepoint. We realised that if we were to stick with onsite data management, we would need to upgrade our hardware every second year, as technology is moving so fast,” said Augustine.
“Cost is a consideration with hardware, but the main thing is that there is a real disruption to work, and with a full cloud solution, there is no need to stop and start, and lose that productivity.”
The benefits of an integrated system
Working with a single service provider and a single integrated system has been a key benefit for Augustine and team.
Having multiple service providers is such a pain. There are often issues with integrations between different products as well – sometimes it looks good on the outside, but what is promised isn’t what happens in reality when you start to use the different solutions by different vendors. That’s why we’ve decided to stick with the CCH iFirm system, which has integrated full cloud modules. It makes it easier with support as well.
“It’s a stable product, and the way it works is straightforward and easy to learn as well; critical modules like Client Accounting, Practice Manager, Document Vault – they are all quite easy to navigate and easy to use.
“We’ve seen improvements in the product as well particularly in recent years and this kind of continuous improvement keeps us happy as customers,” he said.