We hope you had the opportunity to attend our webinar with Geni Whitehouse, “How to Build your Dream Firm in the Cloud”. If not, don’t worry, you’re in luck! We’ll give you the quick and dirty recap here, as well as a link to watch the whole thing for yourself. Don’t wait to learn how one of the most unique accountants in the industry built a business exclusively in the wine industry.

So what did our attendees have to say for themselves? Let’s dive in.

1. What is your current status relative to being on the Cloud?

We are all in – 17%
Host one application – 26%
We are trying to build a new practice – 27%
We know we should but aren’t ready to move – 21%
I hate Windows 10 – 9%

Let’s get that Windows 10 thing out of the way. That’s just Geni being, well Geni – and that’s why people enjoy her so much. The other results show a remarkably even spread between one-another. What they show is there is definitive interest, but still some uncertainty in how to start and implement cloud technology.

2. What market will you go after?

Clients of a particular size – 19%
Clients in a certain industry – 17%
Clients based on geography – 18%
Anyone who calls – 19%
Not sure – 28%

Since this was vertical-focused webinar showing others the pillars of starting their own vertically-centered firm, this question was a no-brainer to ask. Again, quite an even spread between those who will base their client acquisition off of factors like employee count, industry, and location. However, at 28%, there are still a large number of accountants that have no idea who or what they want.

3. How will you bill for your services?

Hourly – 29%
Fixed fee retainer – 16%
Value pricing – 36%
By the transaction – 6%
Other – 14%

This one is pretty straightforward. Attendees were asked how they would bill for their services. Traditionally, accountants would bill hourly; however, more and more the industry is seeing a shift towards value pricing – or at least the desire to move in that direction.

4. Which tools are you using on the cloud?

Accounting – 34%
Office products (Google docs, Office 365) – 36%
Banking – 19%
Expense tracking – 6%
Timekeeping – 4%

Naturally, accountants use accounting applications. Coming in at number one though is general need for office products for day to day operations. While some applications are already cloud-based, prospective cloud adopters are seeing the power of moving their entire operations to a cloud environment.

How did you respond? If you need to accelerate your business growth while streamlining your operations – be like Geni and get on Cloudnine.