Post-awards comedown with teabags and magnesium – The Wild World of Accounting Tech!

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_05]: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Digi-Tools In Accrual podcast.

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_05]: I'm delighted as always to be joined by Indi and Ryan, my co-hosts.

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_05]: And we're just coming off the back of our awards, which hopefully have been absolutely amazing.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_05]: Of course it's been amazing.

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_05]: We know they have been, even if we recorded this before the Awards of Atom.

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_05]: Who cares?

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_05]: A bit.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_05]: There's tons of news to catch up with.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_05]: We've got a great interview coming up as well.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_05]: So let's get into it.

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_05]: Indi, how the devil are you doing?

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_05]: Are you busy?

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_05]: You have a good weekend?

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd like to say I've recovered from the Awards, but I'm anticipating that I haven't.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So unfortunately no.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm still tracking my sleep and it seems that magnesium on the feet does seem to work.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: However, I will say that I don't think it's accurate anymore because it just keeps

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: saying that I'm in light sleep the whole time.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And I know that I'm dreaming because I'm having multiple dreams throughout the course of the night.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_01]: But then it will say, no, I don't know.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: You didn't sleep at all and have deep sleep or REM sleep.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm quite sure.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_03]: What are you using to track it?

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Woop.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_03]: Woop-woop.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_03]: So what you're saying is the magnesium is interfering with the sensors in your woop.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_05]: I'm not wearing the woop on my feet, Ryan.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe it's like magnesium overdose.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe that's what it is.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I actually haven't got enough magnesium because I think that the skin might be acting as a barrier.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, what?

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_05]: You just got it in the first place.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_05]: No, surely not.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_05]: Surely the scientific fact that I talked about, surely that's not the case.

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Like fact with no backing.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Fact.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Well anyway, look, I think that I've done some different experiments on my own

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: and I think I'm pretty confident I'm getting to really grips with how to get to the deepest

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: heat.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And actually, the thing that a lot of it is to do with a book that I started breathing

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: calling for it's called breath or breathe.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure actually, but one of the things that it says is that we have

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01]: lots of use of our nasal cavity because at night we're breathing too much with our mouth.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think actually one of the reasons I'm not getting to the right amount of deep sleep

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01]: or being recognised more ornially is because I need to tape my mouth

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: in that most experiment.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_05]: I thought that's why you were doing more tea bagging.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what that means, John.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Can you elaborate?

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it's basically when you make a cup of tea, you've got to hold your breath

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_05]: as you scoop it out of the cup and give it a good squeeze as well

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_05]: because you want to get every last drop.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Is this a northern thing?

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Another northern tradition that's like northern.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: It's your cup of tea, I'm sure it is.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: You guys like teabags that do make good tea, god damn it.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Wait, receive my first cup of tea at Accountex from you, John.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Just don't ask him to teabag you as part of the demonstration.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_05]: No intentional plan to do that.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_05]: Do you not hang your teabags out on the washing line to recycle them?

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you know what I thought about this?

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what they used to do, John.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_05]: It was a bit rainy, so you get damp teabags then, don't you?

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_05]: Can you put them in the tumble dry?

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, that's a thought, isn't it?

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_05]: I mean like those washing pigs or whatever they call them.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_05]: You know what it's all about?

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_05]: Washing pigs?

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_05]: It's supposed to help your clothes dry quickly.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_05]: Pigs?

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_05]: I think they're called what?

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_05]: They're washing pigs or something like that.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Right, have you?

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, line, throw.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm good, yeah.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_03]: I am guessing I'm hungover at this point.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_03]: It's really hard to predict how we are just after the awards.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_03]: But no, I'm good.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm excited or happy about the winners,

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_03]: depending on what context or timeline I'm in at this given point.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_03]: But no, yeah, buzzing about anything rewards related.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_05]: And you pulled one out of the bag by winning as well, right?

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_05]: Didn't you?

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, release of the year.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_05]: That was amazing.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Especially for the award I wasn't nominated for.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean that was amazing.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: With one and I wanted to make sure that you were celebrated this year.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_03]: By someone at least.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the BAM of the Year.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_01]: What's the acronym, right?

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Bald White Angry Man.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_03]: 2025, that's what I'm going for.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_03]: That's what I'm going for.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I think that should be our new category in 2025,

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_03]: the Bald White Angry Accountant of the Year.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, boow.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Boow.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe like that, boow.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_03]: So we're smoking on our pipe or cigar.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, maybe that should be our next Woodwind Spoon category

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: because the ditch water seems to have received a lot of attention,

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_01]: hasn't it guys?

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It's been very controversial.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we have obviously tried to represent as many of the apps

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: in the industry in the most positive way,

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: but it goes without saying that it's kind of helpful to talk

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: honestly and openly about some of the things

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_01]: that didn't go according to plan.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And anyone that knows us and knows this podcast knows

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: that we're going to talk about some of the things

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_01]: that don't really work in the app's favor.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully we don't cause too much offense with it,

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: but I think it's actually fair because the judges who helped us

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: convene and decide on the winner did so based on the

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_01]: very, very experience of feedback and actually quite noisy,

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_01]: wasn't it?

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think we did a good job on that.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_05]: I'd agree.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_05]: And I think sometimes you've just got to be honest with

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_05]: the marketplace and call out practices and things that

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_05]: haven't gone particularly well.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_05]: And I think the people that have been nominated

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_05]: and the people that will win the award,

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_05]: I think there's a marked difference between those who

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_05]: are nominated and maybe corrected things and those

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_05]: who are not that app vendor that will win the award who

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_05]: wasn't kind of about things particularly well.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe to extend this out we should go for like

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_05]: the dis-influencer of the year next time,

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_05]: the person like the snake oil salesman or woman

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_05]: who just basically takes people for a ride in our industry.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll say I liked when you said dis-influencer,

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_03]: I thought it'd be someone that has no influence,

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_03]: no one listens to them whatsoever,

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_03]: literally trying to be heard and everyone's just going, nah.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_05]: That'd be you Ryan.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh what?

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay it's me, yeah it's true.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_03]: It is me.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_05]: Screaming into the void.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Everyone just looking the other way.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_05]: It was just like randomly taking baby pics off Google

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_05]: to post on your LinkedIn so you get good impressions.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean this has now got weird, very weird John.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Show you crack up the warning.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I have something from Intuit who has accelerated their

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: development velocity with enhancements to their

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_01]: proprietary gen AI operating system, gen OS

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: and it sounds like they've made some big steps

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: to now include gen OS AI work bench which is a dedicated

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: development environment for end-to-end application

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: development and enhancements to gen studio,

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01]: gen one time and gen us components.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So what does that mean?

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Practically they've enlisted the support and help of

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_01]: a number of different businesses and small business

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_01]: customers, consumers to then help design and build and

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_01]: deploy different forms of generative AI into their platform.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And the new gen OS AI work bench and enhanced gen OS

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_01]: components include an LMM leaderboard so a tool for

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: quickly identifying the best LMM specific use cases

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01]: based on bench marks and tailored to Intuit

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_01]: domains, i.e. consumer tax, personal finance, small and

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: mid market business and accounting and marketing.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's also a structured method for comparing LLMs.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So those including model cards with brief descriptions

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: to help technical and non-technical members of

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_01]: product development teams to understand the context

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_01]: performance and applications for which an LLM may be

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: the best match.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_01]: There's also prompt management so it helps

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: developers create, iterate and deploy prompts faster

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_01]: throughout the gen AI development process.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And again it's a systematic way to provide the

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: systematic way to store version and retrieve, manage

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_01]: and templatize prompts which is helpful because

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: obviously if you're building a library of those

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: it's easier to have those stored somewhere

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: and manage them throughout the team.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Evaluation service and so that you can look at the

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: quality latency cost of a wide number of metrics

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: that helps the product team then experiment, develop

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and optimize and deploy and monitor user experiences

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: and then prompt flow traceability.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's also a sandbox for gen studio

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: that has been included for developers.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Interesting to see that over the past year

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_01]: the interiors also includes a number of different

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_01]: AIs into or LLM sorry into what they're running out

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: so Anthropic, Claude via AWS, Bedrock, Geminoi from

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Google Cloud and Mistral from Mistral AI

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and a few others.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: I like the way Intuit are approaching this

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and saying we need to be responsible guardians

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: for how AI is used in the platform

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and what their role will be in deploying that

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_01]: into their various products.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: So a very concerted effort for how they want to go about it

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: and it encompasses the best in class

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: in terms of the different LLMs that are out there

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: and it sounds like they've got a really structured

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: approach to how they want to deploy that.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_01]: So big steps I think from what they're saying

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_01]: is 100 million different customers, consumers

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and business customers have been involved

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: in trying to build this portion of what they're doing

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_01]: with GenOS out.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Well in summary it sounds like they've released a lot

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_03]: of tongue twisters that was a lot of very long

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_03]: and technical words wasn't it?

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_03]: But essentially my understanding is they've doubled down

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_03]: on all their AI that we talked about

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_03]: you know they were releasing a huge number

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_03]: of employees bringing in a whole lot more.

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_03]: This I guess is the first part of their

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know next phase from all these new employees

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_03]: building out the the generative AI tools

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_03]: and for I guess reference this is in the TurboTax platform

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Credit Karma, QuickBooks and MailChimp

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_03]: but I believe only in MailChimp in the UK

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_03]: and what I'm really interested for what you've said

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_03]: is the stewardship bit and the responsible AI principles

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_03]: because earlier this week FYI released what they were going

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_03]: to be doing in their platform regarding AI

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_03]: and how are they building that out over the course

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_03]: of the rest of 2024 and most of it was about data security

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_03]: making sure your data was secure how you're interacting with it

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_03]: and although they were not building an AI tool

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_03]: they're picking backing off a chat GPT style tool

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_03]: the way the data was being shared meant that everything

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_03]: that was sensitive was staying entirely in your platform

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_03]: and then you know they were sharing our prompts

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_03]: etc externally and I thought there was a really good concept

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_03]: the way they're working with it and I'm excited to see

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_03]: where they go with that so let's hope more of the

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_03]: intuit AI tools appear in the UK over the rest of 2024

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_03]: I have a number of releases from ApprovalMax

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_03]: big release and then following the release of Capture

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_03]: and Pay earlier in the year is they've now brought

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_03]: in reviews before approving so ApprovalMax built around

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_03]: approvals but there's always this step where

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_03]: maybe the finance team just want to check allocations

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_03]: before it goes on through a formal approval process

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_03]: this is what they've done with reviews so historically

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_03]: I guess people would add an approval step which was for the finance team to have a

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_03]: look and maybe that's some changes and the review step now

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_03]: enables I guess that element the quick check we allocate things the

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_03]: right direction so firstly is the flow going to the right person

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_03]: is the does it need to be any revisions or does it need to go back to

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_03]: I guess the suppliers and invoice do you need to

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_03]: customize the the routing so break I guess the automated approval to go to someone

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_03]: else because of a very specific flow in it but I think it's a good step I think

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_03]: it's something that's been used in ApprovalMax for a while but hasn't actually

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_03]: been named to review and technically that's what you're doing so

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah I think it's a good step by ApprovalMax there

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_03]: we've then got how to merge bills so going on from the capture element they've now

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_03]: released the ability to merge bills and from the same supplier into a single

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_03]: transaction reducing your load into zero so when this was released by ApprovalMax

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_03]: initially was that you could have line items turned on but it had to be on for

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_03]: everything and you couldn't really turn it off so if you had a large volume of

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_03]: transactions push it into zero may create a huge burden on zero the ability to merge

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_03]: now reduces that burden and then finally if you've not seen this I think this is a

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_03]: really helpful part that's in ApprovalMax you've got the ability to create a line

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_03]: item accrual report inside ApprovalMax and export it as a manual journal so

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_03]: checking any accruals that you need to do through those purchase orders

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_03]: anything that you know you're going to that relates to a period you've not

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_03]: received the invoice for you can create a report inside ApprovalMax

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_03]: and then push a button that essentially creates a journal push it for a view and

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_03]: then you can push it directly into your finance system and that's something I've

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_03]: never come across and is an incredibly powerful feature and science should be

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_03]: talked about more so if you're using ApprovalMax check it out there's a

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_03]: help guide online it says how to create a line item accrual report and it's

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_03]: very powerful please do explore it further yeah I think that that last

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_05]: feature is really really interesting right isn't it and I say it's not

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_05]: not something you see in many other products probably in the ARP space but

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_05]: not certainly in the sort of zero quick books ecosystem space and of course

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_05]: they've always had that ability to accrue based on purchase orders previously

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_05]: adding that now into the line items and invoices it is really cool and I think

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_05]: for me that's probably one of the biggest questions that we get from

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_05]: some of our clients when we're implementing zeroes like how do we do

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_05]: pre-earnments and accruals more easily more effectively and in zero

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_05]: quick books so great to see that coming I have a couple of updates from

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_05]: sin seven they have just released a couple of key features and key integrations

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_05]: so the first one is perhaps unsurprisingly about AI

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_05]: but as a consequence of the acquisition which we previously talked about on

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_05]: on the part of few a few weeks ago of Inventoro

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_05]: they now have the ability to build out some additional AI functionality into

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_05]: sin seven and they called it sin seven foresight AI

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_05]: and they're effectively building into the product to enable you to enhance sort of

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_05]: the inventory management and order management capabilities so you'd be

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_05]: able to do more intelligent predictions and optimizations so I guess those kind

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_05]: of key things especially if you're managing a warehouse or managing

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_05]: your items that perhaps have like long lead times has been able to sort of

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_05]: say right okay well we might run out of this product and say

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_05]: you know in a couple of weeks and so we need to get it on reorder because it will

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_05]: take three weeks to to to get into the country for example so there's a whole

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_05]: bunch of things that allow you to forecast that demand and then you're more

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_05]: accurately maintained stock levels at an optimum point and hopefully as well

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_05]: reduce the risk of having too much stock because of course that's also an

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_05]: issue in terms of you know in terms of holding too much and they're

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_05]: costing you money and they've got in the press release they've got an

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_05]: example of one of their clients where they did some work with them and the

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_05]: company saw a 10% sales boost with the implementation of their smart

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_05]: forecasting capabilities and saves around about 50% of their time that was

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_05]: previously spent on receiving God receiving goods and allocating those

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_05]: into the system. They've also got some additional features that are

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_05]: expected to come out because they've got a summit coming up in the next

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_05]: to distant future in Denver which is around intelligent document

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_05]: recognition so this is the ability to you're scanning purges orders and get

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_05]: that information out through OCR again great little time saving a good

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_05]: opportunity because again that's something that in that kind of operating

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_05]: system model of apps that we see is trying to get OCR into those products

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_05]: can be quite difficult. There's also a SIN7 pay which is exactly what it

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_05]: says on the tin and then SIN7 capital as well so allowing business

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_05]: owners to tap into funding sources to help with their business

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_05]: and then the second update or integration that's come about

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_05]: is a partnership with Airwollux which is designed specifically for SIN7

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_05]: integrated into zero and this effectively adds a pay now button

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_05]: onto invoices as they go through SIN7 and obviously get

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_05]: passed through to Airwollux for the payment and again I guess for a lot

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_05]: of SIN7 users are going to be using multi-currency there's a lot of 3PL

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_05]: businesses that use SIN7 so this is going to be a real

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_05]: interest for them in terms of making that a little bit more

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_05]: seamless in terms of its approach and it also means again that from the

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_05]: sort of operating process of managing payments here

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_05]: previously with SIN7 you would have had to manage that through zero on the

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_05]: payment integrations in zero which means you're handing off an

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_05]: invoice that you might have raised in SIN7

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_05]: into zero to then send out and that doesn't always work well from a

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_05]: workflow point of view for business so there you go.

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah well I think Airwollux has been doing really well with the partner in

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_03]: recently they've been looking for a lot of strategic partners in building in

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_03]: I've got a question though this new ability to capture purchase orders

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_03]: and turn them into sales orders inside SIN7

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_03]: they're called intelligent document recognition why is it not just

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_03]: OCR why is it not optical character recognition why is it something now

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_03]: that's got a different name because it doesn't sound cool enough that's why

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_03]: right that's what I was thinking are they just

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_03]: gone well OCR is old school we want to make this sound new

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_03]: and so I've just called it IDR that's yeah I'm just wondering IDR is the new OCR

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: right no we should call everything IDR. Something from one of our sponsors

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_01]: from Alicar Bank who has entered the bridging market with the acquisition

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_01]: of Tuscan Capital and Alicar who launched a few years back

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_01]: has its banking license and has also recently acquired Tuscan Capital which

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_01]: is a specialist bridge finance lender and previously had acquired Allied Irish

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Banks which was a loan book of around 600

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01]: millions run across 2,000 customers and it looks like

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_01]: they're making another strategic purchase

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: it's already short of a lot of lending to the tune of around

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_01]: two billion to establish businesses and since it launched and this looks like

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: another market step into advancing money to businesses across the UK

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_01]: seems like it was a decent acquisition but doesn't say the amount that the loan

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_01]: book is worth however they do have a head of bridging who was recruited

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: who is spearheading its bridging distribution strategy

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and Justine Trouse who was director of structured property finance and

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_01]: investors has now come over to Alicar and we'll be working on more of that

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I imagine it looks like a good acquisition for Tuscan and there's a team

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: that has come over by the look of it and it will go a long way to support

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and accelerate the work that's already been done in terms of lending

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: on bridging to businesses in the UK.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Now how quickly can one business grow though with what the fastest

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_03]: growing UK business at one point and are they buying others

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_03]: and they've only been out they've only been released for a little while

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_03]: since saying how fast they've been growing.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah but they do have their full banking license and I guess that when you buy a

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_01]: loan book which was like I said in 2021 there was 2,000 customers already

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_01]: that came as part of that so there will be several refinancing agreements

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_01]: that would have taken place from that book of customers

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: that came across to Alicar and also they as they have a current account product

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_01]: at that point probably only acquired a loan book

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_01]: and have since migrated more of those customers over to the current account

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_01]: that they provide. They've also done some really great work in the space

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_01]: in terms of interest bearing accounts and let's not forget that they've managed to also

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: speed up or dramatically reduce the lead time to get commercial property loans

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_01]: agreed so I think actually this just speaks to the fact that they're very good at financial

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_01]: structuring and they've had a good win for behind them because perhaps there's not enough

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: new banks in that space that have been able to take those businesses that bar please

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_01]: had let go off maybe a year ago just partly because of the AML provisions had changed

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_01]: in the KYB around that was quite difficult for Bar please so I think they've had a bit of a success

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_01]: then picking up businesses who've had more than one director and turned over a few million

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_01]: in the UK and that is their their heartland so the fact that they're they've now picked up

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01]: another acquisition of something that's again short-term lending to me just signals that

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_01]: that's the way that the market needs to move and it needs to invest more in short-term

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_01]: financing in general because I think that's still a squeezed space and there's not enough money being

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_03]: advanced SMEs on a short-term basis so we're back with Paul Sparks from Iplissian we're diving into

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_03]: an area that is that I'm quite passionate about because we're talking about data migrations

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_03]: and the challenges and sometimes benefits of doing this but one of the big things that I find

[00:22:55] [SPEAKER_03]: is that for I guess the smaller financial systems there's not a choice do I have advances you

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_03]: can use some pre-programmed tools to kind of lift and shift your historic data or you've even

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_03]: got some consultants that are really good in this space such as Florentine from DAS Dorset

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_03]: but the mid-tier space is a challenge at least from what I have encountered this is something

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_03]: that when you're talking to your prospects or clients Paul that you come across it's one of

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_02]: their number one concerns it's one of the reasons why they are worried about even making such a

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_02]: change Ryan so 100% it is a big concern and it was such a clear message that we got from the

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_02]: market right from our launch of Iplissit back in 2019 we specifically you know architected

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_03]: features in our software to address it yeah and I guess you've got you've got multiple

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_03]: aspects there are a big worry isn't it you've got the compliance aspect like you've got to keep

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_03]: our data for seven years you've got oh I've got that supplier customer that may have a question

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_03]: like how are we ever going to know that do I have to dig through old data

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_03]: and you've got the thing of just going reporting like okay I want to compare what I've done in this

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_03]: year can pair the prior years how do we look at all so how does I how do you kind of resolve that or

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_02]: try to resolve these areas Iplissit yes so like I said we specifically designed a feature in

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Iplissit to help make that a much easier task and this feature is called archive data

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_02]: it and facilitates the ability for people to take data from their old system

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_02]: in the current format of chart of accounts and so on and just import them into a specialist

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_02]: archive repository which is held within Iplissit so even though they're using their new system

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_02]: they can still search for old transactions for old suppliers they could do effectively show

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_02]: all the transactions which are on which particular vat return so they hit the compliance

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_02]: area by achieving that as well so yeah it's it's it's quite unique and it's something that

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_02]: really changes the landscape and of course one of the other big factors is that a number of

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_02]: other providers will charge a right to use license for them to carry on using their old

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_02]: software and you know it's not insignificant in many cases whereas using the this feature

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_02]: with our software because the transactions are there and they can report they actually can

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_02]: achieve that result and have no need to have a right to use and it is that something you charge

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_03]: for is there a fee for the the repository side or is it something that's kind of absorbed into

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02]: the monthly description how does that how does that work there is a fee and it and it depends upon

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_02]: the number of legal entities that they're doing it for but it's kind of realistically just to

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_02]: sort of you know cover the cost of the data stories that's associated with it it's

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_02]: it's not significant there's a bit of time around just the data mapping that's involved but

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_02]: if you consider that versus in many cases that ongoing cost to pay for a license from another

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_02]: provider it's it's not really yes significantly yeah and I understand that and so I guess that

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_03]: solves a couple of errors how do you get around the reporting aspect say that you know you've got

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_03]: seasonal reporting and they want to look year on year do you bring in I guess historic moving

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_02]: trial balances is that something exactly what we do exactly what we do yeah so basically post effectively

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_02]: tb for each period over the last three five years whatever you want to do and that way you can

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_02]: then have a comparative figures there as well brilliant yeah I mean that's what we do in the

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_03]: I guess some of the smaller platforms as well it can be notably easy especially if you have

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_03]: to remap char accounts and doing that just for child balance rather than individual transactions

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_03]: so when you're moving the stuff into the repository is it all from like excel exports or do you kind of

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_02]: plug into certain systems how does that work it's a mix so some systems we have some native

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_02]: connectors that will take us in and be able to bring that through other systems will take a

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_02]: we'll take an export from their data so you know they're typically the ability to do an

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_02]: export of you know all certain types of transactions and bring them through accordingly

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_03]: now it makes sense and I assume this is something that your team as part of that whole

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_03]: and boarding process can help with and the consultants that you work alongside we do

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_02]: and here's a little a little gem that we introduced that really helps is that

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_02]: there's a lot of pressure around system migration time on all the people involved time is you

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_02]: sort and this often represents a real worry and a concern for people but the way we've

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_02]: architected this is that you can actually do it after the event so you focus on going live

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_02]: with what you need and then once that's done and you've got what you need your operation everything's

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_02]: good then you can say all right let's go and go back and get that archive data and get it

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_02]: put through now inside the system so I can then switch off the old one so not having to do all

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_02]: of it as part of one block piece of work makes a huge difference yeah I've been doing so many

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_03]: day migrations and I know the pain and if something goes right like something affects

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_03]: the delivery on a date you can throw every other timeline out so the ability to reduce

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_03]: the amount of things you have to do in that go live date is incredibly helpful and not when I've

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I guess look around this up the marketplace I don't really see many sort of providers

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_02]: doing what you've described is this pretty unique my understanding is it is unique at the stage

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah most other providers you'd have to put that data in as like any other piece of normal data and

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_02]: that then means in order to get it into a status if you're changing your chart of accounts or the

[00:28:28] [SPEAKER_02]: way in which you do different dimensions which most people do when they're looking to revisit a

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_02]: system I mean if you're upgrading from an entry-level system probably one of the driving

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_02]: reasons will be because you want better analysis which means you're definitely going to reorganize

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_02]: your chart of accounts etc etc so in order to bring in data to other systems what we hear is that

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_02]: they have to then get the raw data then re-code all of it inside a spreadsheet or whatever

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_02]: which is prone to errors and a lot of time consuming work yeah I know that one of the big

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_03]: things that I thought when I talked to clients is they go nah we don't really trust a lot of

[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_03]: historic data we probably need it for reference but actually we really don't really want to see it

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_03]: anymore so the BAS either hide that out into an area that they can get access to but isn't part of

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_03]: their core data set it's a big win now I think this is a really interesting take a really

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_03]: interesting approach that you've got when doing this and yeah it's something that I think I'd

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_03]: like to see from more vendors open up over time so no thanks Paul for running through this verse

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_01]: absolute paper you can't get enough of double downing you're up for digital deity at the year

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_01]: award and I have to admit I put you in there twice thank you very much well it was just me and my

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_04]: clone and that's how we delivered MTD awareness last year wasn't it I know that there's a day

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_01]: downing and a night downing yeah to be honest with you I just thought that both needed to get a

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_01]: chance on thank you very much and I was very much honored I was gutted that you didn't win it

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_01]: to be honest with you I'm gutted still because you are a gent like that did torture award

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_01]: was probably the most controversial in the industry as you can imagine

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_01]: the fact that you go up there you just can't buy class first you went up there and absolutely

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_01]: everyone this evening has said to me wow that's very exciting you are a credit to sage thank you

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_04]: very much thank you very much well I'm just doing my job and I enjoy what I do and really end

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_04]: the day we're just full of a room of accountants and even in technology who are actually probably

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_04]: most of our accountants we all recognize the fact that life brings its challenges but it's all

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_04]: about rising above them and seeing any challenges in opportunity and I think it's the case of

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_04]: actually how we work for and how we work with the community and also all the great things

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_04]: that sage is doing is really really powerful and also the fact that we're going through a very

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_04]: exciting year 2024 isn't just about AI it's about how our accounts are for keepers and leading

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_04]: the way of change we're headed that little thing called MTD happening what it's really 80 working days

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_01]: or so and the thing is is that sage has made so many acquisitions over the last two years like

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_01]: the way that sage has changed the face of accounting by at least realizing that there's

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_01]: big leaps to be made in terms of technology they haven't at least had a strategy when it comes

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_01]: to acquiring different parts of the accounting tech

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_04]: I think there's one of the great things about sage we perform the research

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_04]: we understand what their needs of accountants bookings are we listen to them intently and also

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_04]: it's a case of recognizing what we should build what we should buy in who we should partner with

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_04]: to deliver the best possible experience and when you think the majority of accounts and bookings

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER_04]: from the UK are literally sole practitioners and those earning employees is one or two people

[00:31:49] [SPEAKER_04]: they need an amazing platform the ability to access and fuel their client data the ability to price

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_04]: the ability to actually manage the client portfolio be on top of the compliance and also think about

[00:32:00] [SPEAKER_04]: the future and the future is AI and actually bringing that AI into the theme of work which

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_04]: enables them to work alongside their clients create capacity so they can do what they love

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_01]: wow they spoke like a true short book they spoke like a true nominee deity

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_01]: and the fact is that you um we were talking earlier in the bar just before we came down

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_01]: about how like if you are of a certain generation and you really want to own your own business

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_01]: spend one week with this gentleman because if you can spend a week with this gentleman

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_01]: in the way that you spend your week and deliver and learn I will invest happily in that every day

[00:32:48] [SPEAKER_04]: of school day that's my philosophy you're always learning you are on the road you are out the

[00:32:54] [SPEAKER_01]: door at 3 a.m this morning and then up to Edinburgh this week right yeah Edinburgh and Glasgow and

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_01]: then back down south again and the fact is that you came what all the way up from Somerset to

[00:33:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Canada and that's not even an unusual week for you standard yeah so you know to be honest with you

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_01]: you are like levels above this industry in so many ways so it's such a pleasure to have you here tonight

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and although we never mentioned you specifically on like the influencer stage I would say that like

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_01]: you are an influencer you've got a little bit quieter though this last one year why

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_04]: I've just taken a bit of time now I had a break for the summer and really it's all about what we're

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_04]: doing now over the next six to twelve months yeah but it's bringing to life the fact that

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_04]: the industry of the profession is changing it's evolving it's an intrigue by what AI can bring

[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_04]: to the profession so it's bringing that to life in a practical manner which I've been showcasing

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_04]: some of the presentations but also again the profession ready for MTD as well because it

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_04]: is actually going to be one of the biggest legislation chains in the market and it is happening

[00:34:04] [SPEAKER_04]: and this is why the whole point is so important to get behind in terms of actually understanding

[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_04]: how the hands of the bookkeepers should be ready and the fact that the value of their practice

[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_04]: will improve if they are more digitised and this is what's safe as a trusted partner

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_01]: so I feel like you're telling me though in this final statement is

[00:34:22] [SPEAKER_01]: that next year there might be three Chris Downings nominated because is that possible

[00:34:29] [SPEAKER_01]: is an AI version have you seen my avatar I don't know I'm going to train the LLM tonight

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_01]: okay yeah to be honest and we're gonna learn about the credits and debit shuffle of the dance floor

[00:34:43] [SPEAKER_01]: very much so well maybe not tonight yeah thank you for joining us and we're really glad to see

[00:34:49] [SPEAKER_01]: you take it like a champ and hopefully we can take down some of the the temperature of people

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_01]: that were really scared they were going to win the digital award so well done you should never be

[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_01]: scared of anything we are joined today by Vipo who is the CEO of advanced track advanced track

[00:35:14] [SPEAKER_01]: just sponsored one of the digital disruptor awards that was for the evening before it was

[00:35:19] [SPEAKER_06]: the disruptor of the year award I believe yeah so yeah it was great seeing being here tonight

[00:35:26] [SPEAKER_01]: thank you for joining us and then we wanted to be able to reach out and talk to you about how

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_01]: you felt the evening went and why in particular you've chosen to support us on this awards event

[00:35:37] [SPEAKER_06]: amongst our many shenanigans yeah the evening's been fantastic and in terms of why we're

[00:35:44] [SPEAKER_06]: sponsoring the podcast and the awards it's because we do want people to hold our industry to task

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_06]: and the fact that you guys do that is an important I'm trying to think of the right words but

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_06]: and it will come to me but I think it's really important that that happens and I don't like

[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_06]: when people are just patted on the back just because you hand over a bit of money and the fact

[00:36:09] [SPEAKER_06]: that you kind of question what they're doing and actually I know you you're there to help

[00:36:17] [SPEAKER_06]: and you're part of the ecosystem but John and Ryan also use a lot of the products

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_06]: and therefore it's really important that there's real users that are holding them to the fire so

[00:36:30] [SPEAKER_06]: I think that's that's a great reason why why we're involved it's it's been excellent to have

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_01]: you on board as like one of our key sponsors and also because you have so many relationships

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_01]: within this space you've been in it now for how many years 21 years it's gone so I bet it's gone

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_06]: like a snap of a finger yeah when I started I had a full head of black hair and what's left is no

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_01]: longer black not gonna comment not gonna comment no comment but to be honest with you it's

[00:37:03] [SPEAKER_01]: great to see the innovations that you're bringing about as an advance track and you are on the cusp

[00:37:09] [SPEAKER_01]: of launching something new so can you tell us a little bit more about what it is that you're

[00:37:13] [SPEAKER_06]: launching in this space absolutely so you know when when you are a 21 year old business and

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_06]: you're recognized as one of the leaders there's always a target on your back so you always have

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_06]: to look at yourself and say can we do what we're doing better and so um and this year I don't

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_06]: but as I was reading it this year it's like actually there's this way that we've been delivering work

[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_06]: for nearly two decades that's worked really well to technology led but there's a there's actually

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_06]: a variation on that and what we call it is pod sourcing so it allows group firms to take

[00:37:53] [SPEAKER_06]: entire teams multi skilled multi tiered um and that will allow them to build their own outfit

[00:38:01] [SPEAKER_06]: in our offices in India but support them to deliver better service for their customers and clients so

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_01]: that's really interesting so does that mean that they can choose different levels of who

[00:38:12] [SPEAKER_01]: sits within the pod as is that what it's called that in effect you could choose multiple different

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_01]: senior seniority of employees who would sit in one pod and is that pod then how is that pod

[00:38:27] [SPEAKER_01]: measured in terms of their success as a unit or as individuals it's as a unit it's very much you

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_06]: know it's like any football team cricket team yeah it's the scores on the board that's what it is

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_06]: and it's they collectively help each other but the the biggest reason for us doing it is

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_06]: it's an ability to have the youngsters come in much younger and what it allows them is

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_06]: to learn the skills on the job and it's a much more like every firms are set up they're typically

[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_06]: set up as pods and you know I say this for effect but when I left EY shock horror they didn't fall

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_06]: apart and the reason they didn't fall apart is because there was a pod I was just a cog in it

[00:39:13] [SPEAKER_06]: and so what happened is somebody either stepped up into the role that I vacated or someone was

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_06]: brought in to fill that hole but it's it's the way every firm every successful professional firm

[00:39:27] [SPEAKER_06]: is set up and so why wouldn't we do that and it allows them not to be stuck at any level

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_06]: their their performance will enable them to reach right to the top so that's really exciting for

[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_01]: me can the pod be focused on a specific area or do they have to focus on as if are they

[00:39:47] [SPEAKER_01]: able to introduce new service lines that did not exist before and therefore specialise in one

[00:39:54] [SPEAKER_01]: service line that perhaps a firm is not yet has not currently offered to their clients okay well

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_06]: we've already got some firms using the pods and what it's allowed them to have is that

[00:40:04] [SPEAKER_06]: multidisciplinary piece so what we've got is youngsters that are coming in they might start

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER_06]: in bookkeeping but they're actually saying oh can we do exams and can we go into accounts

[00:40:14] [SPEAKER_06]: and well because they're in that pod that has that multi skill piece they're absolutely able to do that

[00:40:21] [SPEAKER_06]: and you know I'm hoping you know I may not be running it in 20 years time somebody else will

[00:40:29] [SPEAKER_06]: but these youngsters will have that opportunity to to be the leaders in the future so I'm

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_01]: very excited by that I think this sounds like a really great way of being able to harness talent

[00:40:40] [SPEAKER_01]: better and also to be able to upscale very quickly without having to

[00:40:48] [SPEAKER_01]: make so many big capex or salary commitments and in effect if you're running something that is a

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_01]: global team this allows you to I guess bolt on as and when you have the need to enter a new

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER_06]: jurisdiction or enter a new service yeah so what we're seeing is that those pods will train their

[00:41:13] [SPEAKER_06]: the new additions and so that's going to mean that onboarding's faster and clients actually have less

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_06]: of the management on a day-to-day basis and it's up to the the group to actually

[00:41:27] [SPEAKER_06]: onboard the youngsters if that is indeed the case or just the new team members

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_06]: and that'll allow them to deliver that wider range of services so yeah that's absolutely where we see it

[00:41:40] [SPEAKER_01]: going sounds like a really great way of de-risking an operation and being able to scale so we're

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_01]: really excited to see how that launches for you and I'm sure we'll hear about it on an

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_01]: upcoming podcast at some point that's great thank you so much thanks for joining us

[00:41:58] [SPEAKER_05]: right there we have it there's another episode of the digital and accrual podcast

[00:42:02] [SPEAKER_05]: thank you of course as always to tuning in to listening to the updates and the interviews and

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[00:42:16] [SPEAKER_05]: and tell all of your accounting and audit friends and anyone else in the technology industry

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[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_05]: dropping into your streams in the next week or so thanks very much