Stephen Wooster: IT Manager
Erin Cordwell: Database Administrator
Tel: +61 3 9325 6300
Advance Practice Management, XPA (Xcede Professional Accounting), Tax, CRM (Client Relationship Management), BPA (Business Process Automation) and PIQ (Practice IQ). Considering Document Management and Desktop Super.
35 users in total
“APS software provides our business with comfort and confidence across our day-to-day business operations. We can trust the data and this gives us the self-belief to grow and offer new services to our clients.”
We moved across to APS in March 2003. Prior to this the firm used Sol6.
In total we have 35 users.
Matthews Steer is a progressive accounting firm, we have an energetic and enthusiastic team. We offer a comprehensive range of services beyond the norm of accounting and tax which includes business strategy and planning, financial planning, debt advisory, insurance and a range of other value-added services which all form part of our service offer.
The firm was established in 1985 when Ken Matthews set up shop in his garage, and as the story goes - it all grew from there. Geoff Steer joined the firm in 1990 and for the next 16 years, our offices were located in Keilor – but two-and-a-half years ago we decided to up-size and moved into our current offices in the business park at Essendon Fields.
While we are based in a suburban location, we are very different to the typical suburban firm – we are a CBD-style practice with suburban prices.
We are proud of our growth story and as such our overall business philosophy is to be heavily involved in our community.
The firm outgrew Sol6 and we wanted a database that could expand with us and ultimately give us an integrated solution. APS came out as the shining star against all other suppliers at that time, back in 2003.
It was not an easy process and there were a few early hiccups that tested the relationship. At the time both APS and Matthews Steer were on a steep learning curve – but once Quintin from APS came into the picture he provided direction and clarity, solving those early issues. There’s not a single person here who would have a bad word about Quintin, he’s been a fantastic support to us – if he says he will solve something, he solves it! Quintin’s involvement was a crucial step as we needed someone to advise and guide us as many components of the APS suite were being customised to suit our growing business needs.
Actually, no. Another issue arose in mid-2005 which led to the business losing confidence in APS – it wasn’t necessarily APS' fault but it got to the point that, when our new Office Manager joined the firm in late 2007, the partners’ first directive to her was to replace APS as the practice software supplier.
This seemed to bring the parties together. What came out of this is that APS were alerted to the fact we were unhappy and less then impressed - some very frank discussions took place.
It turned out that in fact we weren’t really using the software properly; we hadn’t been training our team, we had bought the software and just wanted it to ‘work’ – we had issues and we blamed the product when in fact we had not invested the time into getting to know the product, test the product and implement fully.
When Erin and I came onto the project in 2007, we decided on a strategy that would ensure we were going to get the best result possible.
We knew that the Advance database was powerful, so we set about building rules around how to use it, how to configure it and how to use PIQ (Practice IQ) to generate the right reports (we had previously been doing these manually!). We also limited who could update the data and set controls on what data must be entered. This was a huge driver in data integrity. It’s that old saying of rubbish in results in rubbish out.
Suddenly, it all started to come together for us and consequently everyone in the firm started to see the value. From being seen as a ‘problem’ we moved quickly to a point where Advance was an integral part of managing the firm and driving us forward. The biggest plus was that we could now start to get some honest reporting which was credible and useable.
A defining moment – when we realised Advance was the right solution for us was when the same partners who had directed for APS to be replaced turned round to our Office Manager and said ‘I love APS’.
This was less than 12 months after directing her to replace the product!
We use Advance Practice Management, XPA (Xcede Professional Accounting), Tax, CRM (Client Relationship Management), BPA (Business Process Automation) and PIQ (Practice IQ)
We are now looking at extending our suite to include Document Management and Desktop Super – the partners can see the financial benefit especially via efficiencies and streamlined reporting and are happy to look at more and more products as they become available.
We also now turn to APS for consulting advice on generating new management reports – we look for their guidance on strategic management of the database and for help with marketing campaigns.
The way we look at it, the real benefit is in being able to generate accurate, timely reports; that tell a story – ensuring our clients can manage their business efficiently and effectively.
We love the accuracy – because with APS there is no duplication or having to input data more than once.
From a service standpoint, we are very happy. Both parties know what we are trying to achieve – and with Ross, David and Tanya, we know we have a dedicated team helping us reach our firm’s strategic goals.
For each product we know who the go-to person is – and the relationship has become very strong.
What’s great is that all the APS people question the intention behind what we tell them we want to do – which challenges our thinking and the outcomes we are after. The trust is built-in now – they are our ‘trusted adviser’ in database management.
For us it’s the reporting functionality to assist with running our own business – productivity, tracking, revenue, management reports and so on.
You need to have confidence in the reports and so the integrity and accuracy of data is critical to us. With APS we know that 99.9% of the time it’s going to be right. This brings efficiencies that every business needs and we cannot speak highly enough of the value it brings to Matthews Steer.
Team members do have their fair share of questions but these are quickly answered when they arise. Our team continues to become better and better at using all the tools available to them. We invest in training every 6 months - for the whole team - which keeps us abreast of updates, changes and new tools.
Financial Planning! We know why it is not on the radar but we would love to have a single integrated product for both accounting and financial planning clients.
We’re told that Advance Fusion (a database tool that ‘fuses’ separate databases) can help create a ‘virtual’ single database so we will have to look into the potential available.
We would also like to see the range of PIQ standard template reports extended, this would be really helpful.
We are also building an internal APS user guide so that, as we grow in numbers, all staff are clear on maintaining the integrity of data and credibility of reporting.
APS software provides our business with comfort and confidence across our day-to-day business operations. We can trust the data and this gives us the self-belief to grow and offer new services to our clients.
Fundamentally, the APS / Matthews Steer relationship is strong. It underpins the mutual trust, the resources we use and the product suite itself.
