QBConnect 2019 – Here’s what I learned in Melbourne

I was invited to sit on a panel at the QBConnect event in Melbourne discussing “The KPIs that no advisor should be without.” It was a great event with industry leading commentators and experts and speakers.

Here’s what I learned from an advisor’s perspective:

• For advisors, accountants and bookkeepers, “the riches are in the niches” where you have the domain experience and expertise

• It’s not just about reporting, forecasts, software and data. The first port of call is what your clients want to achieve with their business, the rest comes after that

• There is a lot of hype around big data, but not all of it matters or is relevant to clients

• Data quality is key if you want to leverage Business Intelligence (BI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). “Rubbish in and rubbish out” still stands

• KPIs that drive your clients’ businesses for critical day-to-day decisions and strategic KPIs should be the area of focus and an opportunity

• There is an opportunity for accountants and bookkeepers to move beyond the traditional lag accounting KPIs to leading daily and weekly KPIs in sales & marketing and operations that drive financial outcomes. Accountants and bookkeepers have the data disciplines. They know how to balance the books and clients trust them with their data. But they will need to have business domain expertise and experience to go after the opportunity

• There is an opportunity to go after deeper online BI solutions with the likes of Power BI, Qlik and Tableau, beyond monthly management reports, especially for the mid-sized business. But BI is not a stand alone solution.

All in all,  QBConnect was a great event and an opportunity to meet with some of the faces we are connected to in Australia.

Warwick Russell  – June 2019