When it comes to your accounting firm, working with a Managed IT Service Provider (MSP) is an absolute must. This relationship is more than just handing over your practice’s IT to an IT company – it’s a partnership that heavily contributes to your business’ success.
Find out how you can make great use of this relationship and learn how we’re here for your accounting practice in more ways than one!
What exactly is a Managed IT Service Provider?
A Managed IT Service Provider, often shortened MSP, is an external company that can help manage your day-to-day IT, as well as ongoing IT strategies including cyber security solutions.
A wide range of IT services, strategies, and solutions are used to help your accounting firm grow, strengthen client relationships, and get the best advice and support where it’s needed and when it’s needed.
So how can your accounting firm get the most out of an MSP?
Lean on us to protect more than just your data
When it comes to cybercriminal activity, the accounting industry is one of the most targeted industries, especially around the end of the financial year. To add more into the mix, the Covid-19 pandemic has further led to a 300% increase in attack rate among accounting firms. If you ask us, that’s a pretty big jump and it’s not going to stop there.
With cybercriminal activity on the rapid rise, modern Managed IT Service Providers are now moving into the cyber security space. Years ago, MSP’s work was limited to IT helpdesk and while still very important, the world has changed and so have your business needs.
Getting the most out of your MSP means getting the most out of building your cyber security defence. When your accounting firm has the right tools, strategies, and solutions in place, you’ll have a strong defence force against any potential threats.
Not only will it reduce your firm’s risk, but it’ll reduce your client’s risk. After all, accounting firms have a duty to protect sensitive information and are heavily relied upon to do so! MSPs such as ourselves understand that and make it a top priority to protect your client’s information as we would our own.
It’s important to note that a great MSP is one that is fully aligned with the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s security framework, the Essential 8.
These 8 best practices include:
- Application control
- Patch applications
- Configure Microsoft Office macro settings
- User application hardening
- Restrict administrative privileges
- Patch operating systems
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Regular backups
Start increasing efficiencies like never before
If you ask any MSP what some of their top priorities are, we’re confident that a good one would say “increase client efficiencies”. In saying that, if you haven’t spoken to your MSP about automation, now’s the time.
Let’s break it down: Running your accounting practice takes time – even more so during the End of the Financial Year (how did that go at your firm?).
Why not increase efficiencies and alleviate some of the stress by automating areas that can be automated? With the significant time saved, your staff can focus on other mission-critical areas and the bits that need a ‘human’ to work on.
Another bonus? You’ll save money in the long run.
If you need help automating your accounting practice so you can focus on what’s important (your clients), talk to us today.
Access all the knowledge and trends, utilise all the support
We all know how fast the tech landscape evolves. There are new updates continuously being released, new trends, products and more, making it difficult to stay on top if you’re already running your accounting firm!
So, let’s face it: you’re already working with a team of IT experts who understand the accounting technology industry back to front. Why not tap into their fountain of knowledge and ask all the burning questions about what’s possible for your accounting firm?
Partnering with a Managed IT Service Provider means you have direct access to state-of-the-art technology. With modern technology, comes modern solutions that can help you stay ten steps ahead of your competition. Getting more from your MSP means taking full advantage of this.
And the IT support? A large part of an MSP’s role is to put measures in place to fix IT problems before they even happen. If your accounting firm has a tech problem, we’re here to fix it. If you have a question, we’re here to answer it.
As IT experts in their field, MSPs are here to offer your accounting firm helpful advice and support that’s been backed by years of experience. Take full advantage of it in your partnership. You won’t regret it.
Strengthen Your Advisory Services
What’s more, at Lucid, we offer a unique partnership that can extend to your clients. We can provide your accountants and advisors with information and resources to share with clients and as a result, help to strengthen your relationships and become stronger advisors.
Ultimately, we’re here to help your business succeed. So, if we can help you by providing our knowledge for you to share with your database, tell us!
Talk to us today about our Accounting Firm partnership.We’re here for you
As professionals in our industry and with expertise serving accounting firms, we’re here for you when technology isn’t. Our wide range of services and solutions are here to help strengthen, secure, support and grow your accounting firm so that you don’t have to. Talk to us today to hear how you can use this partnership to its fullest extent.