AI and machine learning have been hot topics in the industry for some time, but the adoption of this technology within accounting and consulting firms is now finally being implemented in a big way — and early efforts have yielded mixed results. Accounting and consulting firm leaders are excited to continue exploring how they can best leverage AI in their firms. There are critical considerations to make to ensure you optimize AI implementation to enhance staff performance and deliver better service to your clients.
1. Diagnose acute problems and prescribe AI for desired outcomes
Although it’s easy to get swept up in the possibilities that technology like AI presents, it’s critical that firms remember that any technology should help deliver better service to clients and help produce your firm’s desired outcomes. It’s imperative that you define both the problem and desired outcomes and map them to the right people, data, and processes within your firm.
Here’s one example: As your firm grows, so too can the risks of slow business acceptance and conflicts of interest. You’ll need to consider how your firm might improve its processes and equip professionals with the tools they need to accelerate new business acceptance while ensuring accuracy.
Having identified the need to optimize processes, you’ll be able to seek out an AI solution that accelerates conflicts clearance by analyzing conflicts search results to automate clearance, escalating only those engagements with known issues or others that require human review. Your conflicts team, as a result, will have more time to focus on critical engagements that drive your firm forward.
2. Invest time today to increase profitability tomorrow
To free up your professionals from monotonous tasks, your AI solution must be capable of streamlining their daily processes. But, for AI to be effective, those same professionals will have to invest time and attention to train the system to accurately navigate and make decisions based on your existing data. Kim Cornell, Senior Managing Director of Client Intake and Conflict Management at Ankura Consulting, recently spoke about her own firm’s AI implementation, saying, “It’s learning from your skilled people.”
Properly trained AI will help your firm operate more profitably by accelerating business acceptance and can help you make more informed pricing decisions based on timekeeping and budgeting data from previous engagements. As a result, your firm will improve by offering competitive pricing and avoiding budget overages.
3. Partner with AI vendors that understand your business
While using off-the-shelf technology rarely produces the desired outcome; building homegrown solutions or piecing together a bunch of disconnected software can create problems down the road. In the case of exceptionally powerful tools like AI and machine learning, it’s essential that your vendor intimately understands the unique needs and challenges of accounting and consulting firms to offer purpose-built AI-enhanced technology that reflects these needs, seamlessly helping your firm achieve its goals.
Warren Knowles is senior director of product management at Intapp, where he is responsible for development and implementation of purpose-built AI-powered applications for accounting and consulting firms. He can be contacted at warren.knowles@intapp.com.
