Yes, you read the headline right. Firms that have embraced connected accounting technology, are leveraging data to make informed decisions, and are generally more technology-mature are outperforming their slower-to-adopt counterparts by 39% revenue per employee. This is a big deal that equates to big bucks over the long term. Best guess, you’re already calculating the revenue opportunity in your head. No surprise there…you do love your numbers.
In our 2024 Accounting Firm Technology Survey, nearly 500 firm leaders and decision-makers provided insights and attitudes on the role of technology in their practices. The big takeaway: No matter firm size, technology adoption helps significantly elevate revenue per employee.
So, understanding that technology adoption has a major, positive impact on revenue, why are so many firms still hesitant to adopt and implement new tech? It’s a good question to ponder as we dig deeper into how adoption fuels revenue—while also identifying key blockers to achieving double-digit profit gains.
Read on to get the details…
Technology maturity fuels revenue
As part of the survey, respondents were asked to plot themselves on what we’ve termed The Modern Firm® Maturity Continuum. The continuum serves as a rubric for grading a firm’s technology maturity—enabling leaders to evaluate where they fall on the continuum…and by default, what they need to do to advance.
The fact is, you can’t begin to know where you need to go until you know where you are. So take a moment to see where you land. The Modern Firm Maturity Continuum is laid out as shown in the image below.
Firms that fall within the top three levels—Contender, Collaborator and Leader—are the ones reaping the rewards of elevated revenue per employee.
To break it down a bit further:
- Firms that identified as Contenders (mid-continuum) realize at least 29% more revenue per employee than Initiators and Followers.
- Firms that identified as Collaborators or Leaders realize 39% higher revenue per employee than Initiators and Followers.
The data speaks for itself. Adoption of advanced cloud-based, connected and collaborative technologies supports increased revenue per employee. Score!
Blockers to earning more
Long-held beliefs about technology adoption prove to be blockers for many firms, per survey respondents. Those who landed near the bottom of the continuum are earning considerably less than their tech-adopting counterparts. But why?
The core issues are cost and resources. Survey data also indicated that mindset plays a role in lack of adoption—with 28% of respondents citing internal resistance. Top responses included:
- Lack of technology expertise: 44%
- Cost/budget: 43%
- Lack of understanding of choices: 29%
- Internal resistance to new technology: 28%
- Lack of time: 27%
- Current tech hampers moving to the cloud: 12%
Despite reasoning, the fact is that technology maturity elevates revenue per employee. And that means it’s time to move past “how things have always been done” and adopt a new, modern mindset around technology and its value—including higher revenue per employee, operational efficiency gains and heightened security (more to come on the last two value props in future posts).
Movin’ on up…the continuum
Modern firms are harnessing the power of connected, collaborative and cloud-based technologies to significantly earn more—on average, 39% more per employee.
Take some time to figure out where you land on The Modern Firm Maturity Continuum. And be honest in your evaluation. From there, you can start to chart your path onward and upward, taking your place as a Contender, Collaborator or Leader and enjoying the revenue hike that comes with it.
Download the full 2024 Accounting Firm Technology Survey to view detailed data. Convinced already? Want to move to a connected, collaborative, cloud-based tech environment? Get started today.