Robert Laundry, CPA
As a solo-entrepreneur, Robert (Bob) Laundry, CPA and owner of Robert H Laundry CPA is always looking for ways to operate more efficiently. His core focus is to best serve his clients—and he understands that with great service, smart technology is required.
“We are a slow group [accounting professionals] to adopt technology, even though it’s the best thing for our business,” said Laundry.
“When I migrated to SmartVault from Lacerte DMS, I knew I couldn’t drag my feet, so I just jumped right in, and it has paid huge dividends in terms of time and cost savings. My clients also love the change, and it’s really all about them.”
From the start of his migration to SmartVault, Laundry indicated a positive experience. His SmartVault support rep worked with him to transition all his client files from the DMS to SmartVault, which he reported saved him a lot of time.
“Their [SmartVault’s] team is so helpful,” Laundry stated.
While the system offers many great features from secure document storage and sharing to advanced portals, Laundry was the most praiseworthy about file sharing. In fact, he indicated that after using SmartVault for a relatively short time period to date, he could not go back to the old way of working.
“In the past, there was a lot of emailing and moving documents around to ensure that current versions [for example, tax returns] were filed properly. Emailing just isn’t secure, and you run into file version issues. With SmartVault, when I make updates to a tax return, it overwrites the old file in SmartVault so the current version is always accessible…the added step of re-saving and filing is not needed. I can then easily and securely share files with clients without having to email.”
Everyone wins
Laundry gave a few great examples of the efficiency gains that come with SmartVault, which in his words make him “…look really good to clients.”
In addition to eliminating paper files for many clients, the convenience of working with Laundry online offers ultimate convenience. With file sharing, clients can upload their scanned source docs with ease, and Laundry can provide a history of financial documents to clients online for 24/7 access.
He provided an example of wowing a client: “I had a tax client come in one day. I actually processed his tax return while he was sitting there. I then emailed him an invite into SmartVault and showed him how to access his tax return from his smartphone. He viewed it right there in my office. The client was so impressed and it made me look really good. Providing this level of service is only possible when you have the best technology in place.”
In addition to clients loving the new system, Laundry also mentioned he works with a local bookkeeper to serve a dozen or more joint clients. Once SmartVault was in place, he set her up on SmartVault. This eliminated the need for her to drop off thumb drives loaded with client files.
“SmartVault also makes me look very good to this bookkeeper. She absolutely loves that we can now share files online and she doesn’t have to make in-person drop-offs and keep track of all those thumb drives. Again, it makes me look very good because the other CPAs she works with have yet to update to online file sharing,” Laundry recounted.
And, finally, his firm is also a big winner. Laundry indicates great return on investment with SmartVault. “We run so much more efficiently now. I would estimate a 30% increase in time savings. This is huge, because saving time translates into saving money.”
Final words…
Bob Laundry’s move to SmartVault has been a positive and productive one. While he is focused on the value of file sharing, he understands the extended possibilities with other advanced features and with SmartVault Portals. He also knows he will never go back.
“I’m just getting started. I know there is more to learn and more enhancements to be made, and I will get there. I also know that I’ll never go back to the old way of working. If I had to, I would be miserable.”
