Happy Monday!!
Here’s something I’ve been thinking about non-stop since our in person company retreat a couple of weeks ago.
The Wrong Question
Maybe it’s because I’m an accountant…. but lately every AI conversation seems to end in the same place:
More automation.
More efficiency.
Less manual work.
We get it.
That doesn’t excite me about potentially limitless technology.
We should be asking bigger questions.
A new world
If we all have access to the same technology, are firms that automate everything really going to stand out? Absolutely not. That’s going to be table stakes.
Every single firm will automate more, move faster, and use AI insights.
But that’s not exciting to me. I’m mostly excited about giving my clients more.
More visibility.
More confidence.
More proactive conversations.
More support.
More value.
Instead of asking how technology can help us do the same things faster, I think we should be asking a different question:
What experience do we want to create for our clients?
Working backwards
Steve Jobs said something that I love from the 1997 WWDC event.
“Start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology”
The best products weren’t designed around technology.
They were designed around the user experience.
Only then did they work backwards and build the product.
I think accounting firms are in a position to think in the same way now.
Lately, it’s been influencing how we think about continuous close, communication, and client service at Celerity.
AI is giving us the opportunity to rethink the experience entirely.
Not just how we deliver the work, but what clients experience because of it.
Designing the experience
First question you should ask yourself is.. “What outcomes do I want to create for my clients?” This could be feelings, experience, data, or whatever.
Some example what if’s:
What if a client never had to ask how the month went, because they already knew on the 3rd?
What if you flagged the cash crunch six weeks before it hit the bank balance?
What if a client could see the financial impact of a decision before they made it, not in next quarter's P&L?
What if nobody ever chased you for a document or a status again?
What if a client felt like they had a financial partner, not just another expense?
Open your mind up a bit and think about the possibilities. What if you had full control over software, data, etc?
The future winners won’t be the firms that automate the most.
They’ll be the firms that have the clearest vision of what they want clients to experience.
Because eventually everyone will have access to the same technology.
The differentiator becomes the experience you create.
Question for you:
What’s something clients currently accept that they shouldn’t have to?
Ramp Stack:
Okay, I can finally talk about this! This isn’t sponsored, I just think it’s great.
Celerity has been a design partner with Ramp for almost a year now in background helping build Ramp Stack.
Stack is basically a set of tools built by Ramp to help with close and client processing. It benefits Ramp because we’ll want to use the tools and refer our clients to their AP and Spend platforms.
A few things it can currently do:
Categorize non-Ramp bank & Credit Cards with Ramp logic now. (aka new banking screen)
Auto-accrue for expenses & bills.
Reconcile accounts.
Amortize expenses over time.
Trainable AI logic by client + chat experience.
It’s basically like Claude but 10-15% better for accounting tasks. My team uses it all the time. Let me know what you think if you try it.
This is going to be a great week.
Talk soon,
Tailor