Cloud software should be just one part of your technology strategy. These days, if you’re not looking at how to digitise all your systems and processes, you’re missing a trick. It’s not only that this will make your business more efficient and profitable, though – there’s also serious pressure from the Government to get onboard.

Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is the Government’s plan for getting businesses keeping records and reporting to HMRC using only software, from start to finish. It’s been rolling out in phases since 2019, having been announced several years before that.

MTD isn’t optional. It’s yet another compliance issue. If your business is VAT-registered, or you have self-employed income or property income of more than £10,000 per year, you need to be on the case right now. It’s likely to apply to corporation tax from 2026, too, and it’s never too soon to get prepared. Fortunately, cloud software gives you a head start, along with all its other advantages. Providers such as Xero and QuickBooks are in constant conversation with HMRC and release frequent updates to reflect policy around MTD.

Software to suit your business

Cloud accounting apps are the default these days and offer amazing capability at reasonable subscription prices. Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks and Sage should certainly be your first stop when it comes to considering the options. Equally, you might have existing accounting systems in place, based on more traditional desktop technology – including bespoke packages designed specifically for your business.

Whatever your setup or preferences, we’ll work with you to ensure your software is properly set up; that you’re using its features to the fullest; and that it’s fully integrated into your systems and processes. Our tech experts can also help you implement new systems, migrate from one system to another or support you in reviewing the market and acquiring new accounting software. If you and your team need training and support, we can help with that, too.

Beyond accounting

Modern businesses use all kinds of software to perform a whole range of jobs. For a creative agency, it might be a customer relationship management (CRM) package. In retail and hospitality, it will be electronic point of sale (EPOS) systems. Others might use software to track project time and resources, or for business modelling.

Whatever software you use in your business, we can provide support with setup, training, implementation and, crucially, integration with your accounting systems. CRM packages such as Salesforce become all the more useful when they integrate with Xero so you can automate billing, for example. And if you’ve got gaps in your software setup and need advice on how to fill them, we can help there, too, mapping your business’s needs against what’s out there.

Get paid faster with technology

We’re always telling people the same thing: the best way to get paid is to invoice promptly, make it easy for clients to pay you and to be rigorous about chasing unpaid invoices. Software can handle all of that for you automatically – a really concrete example of how technology can make your business more efficient and profitable.

This is really about making the best use of the systems you’ve already got. Most of the popular cloud accounting packages have the functionality to automate invoicing, if you know where to look, and how to set it up. That includes issuing branded invoices, sending payment reminders and processing payment through to your business bank account. Our team can take care of this for you, getting everything running smoothly.