Development of CRM systems for accountants and financial accounting

The Accounting Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform is software that helps accountants and finance professionals manage customer data and relationships, increase productivity, reduce workload, and streamline processes.

CRM for finance and accounting opens up even more new opportunities for companies:Lead Management

• Receive via online and offline channels
• Referral Lead Management
• Qualification of leads based on company size, industry, location, interest in accounting services, engagement with the firm’s website, etc.
• Automated lead distribution and prioritization based on predicted conversion probability

Storage of customer data and documents

• Client segmentation based on the type of accounting services they are interested in, size/type of business, etc.
• Storage of documents (contracts for the provision of services, invoices, tax invoices, etc.).
• Detection and consolidation of duplicate customer data.

Customer Relationship Management

• Multi-channel communication with clients
• Automated email distribution
• Activity calendar, task calendar

Safety

• User activity logs
• Data backup
• Compliance with key regulatory requirements related to GDPR, etc.

Self-service for customers

• Customer Portal
• Base with information for clients (with a description of accounting services and prices for them, guides and tips on effective accounting processes, etc.)
• Chatbots to handle customer frequently asked questions

Optional control

• Project management (defining project scope, tracking project progress, assigning project tasks to managers and accountants, creating task templates)
• Managing client documents (adding electronic signatures to documents, verifying the authenticity of client electronic signatures, setting up templates for standard documents, automatically filling in data in document forms)
• Time tracking (for billing clients according to the time spent by accountants on projects)

Analytics and reporting

• Customizable dashboards and reports
• Tracking and analysis of KPIs (customer satisfaction rate, customer churn rate, average revenue per customer)
• Analysis of profitability and customer value
• AI-driven accounting cross-sell recommendations (based on customer’s purchase history)

In the process of developing CRM for accounting outsourcing, different technologies and frameworks can be involved. The choice of the optimal stack depends on what functions the future platform will perform and what tasks the client wants to operate.

• Web version. Any device and operating system where a browser is installed can be used to run CRM on the web platform. Frontend is implemented in HTML and CSS or reactive technologies – React.js and Vue.js.

To create a Backend, Python, PHP, their frameworks or Node.js and Java can be used.

• Mobile app. The backend of a mobile application and a web system can be identical. Frontend is developed on the cross-platform Flutter framework or on native technologies – for Android, Kotlin and Java are used, and for IOS, the Swift language.

Step 1. Information gatheringTo collect the necessary information, analysts turn to the analysis of solutions that are already on the market and conduct meetings with the client.Step 2. Design and technical documentationSpecialists are working on the creation of technical documentation, which includes the creation of a mockup (prototype of the future system), a full description of the functionality being developed, the stack of technologies used, and a work implementation plan. The terms and cost of project production are calculated on the basis of this documentation.

Step 3. DesignA high concentration of functionality is something that such a multitasking tool as CRM for an accountant cannot do without. UI designers are faced with the challenge of maintaining a user-friendly and intuitive user interface, regardless of the scale of the customer relationship management system.Specialists create a system design completely from scratch or using ready-made components for building interfaces. The second option significantly increases the implementation speed.

Step 4. ProgrammingThe technical part of the development of CRM for an accounting firm is the most complex and labor-intensive stage, divided into two components:

• Frontend part

Designing a user interface for interactions with end users: accountants or financiers. It creates a corresponding vicious circle of receiving a request, sending it to the server, and then displaying the result. Implementing a front-end with HTML and CSS takes less time than reactive development with Vue.js or React.js, and is a less expensive option.

• Backend part

Creation of the CRM server part, which is responsible for processing incoming requests, working with databases and interacting with external APIs.

Step 5: Test and DeployAfter the completion of the technical development of CRM, a thorough testing is carried out, which includes the following criteria:

• The correctness of the functionality
• Compliance of the project with the initial plans
• System performance
• Data security
• Ease of use
• The project is returned for revision if bugs are found, and then it is retested. This makes it possible to make sure that the error was actually fixed, and that the corrections made did not break the operation of other functions.

Ready-made CRM for an accounting company is hosted on a public server and becomes available to users. After that, the developers communicate with your business employees and train them on how to use the new software.

AVADA MEDIA has extensive experience in the development of software for financial accounting. We conduct business analysis: we determine the features and goals of the company, its structure, and also focus on the goals and objectives of the CRM system itself.

Our company is engaged in the design and development of convenient and multifunctional interprise-scale CRM systems on a turnkey basis. Our staff has already formed teams of experienced professionals who, with the help of a modern set of technologies, can implement a project of any complexity.