Intapp Workspaces helps accounting and consulting firms transition to modern ways of working. By using this advanced firm collaboration tool, your professionals can better manage Microsoft Teams governance, workspace provisioning, and client collaboration. In addition, Intapp Workspaces makes it possible for your IT team to automate the creation and lifecycle management secure workspaces within Microsoft Teams.
We spoke with Brendan Ridge, Intapp’s Vice President of Collaboration & Content, to learn more about the benefits of using Intapp Workspaces as your firm collaboration tool. In this Q&A, Ridge explains how Intapp Workspaces empowers Microsoft Teams to become a hub for your firm’s modern work.
Learn how a purpose-built firm collaboration tool can better connect your professionals with clients and one another — all while upholding your firm’s security and compliance standards.
Why should a firm invest in Intapp Workspaces now? How will it help firms increase client loyalty?
Clients are now demanding that firms have a centralized location where documents can be stored safely. They also want real-time document collaboration and the ability to reference them throughout the engagement. Unsurprisingly, accounting and consulting firms are seeing an increase in requests for proposals (RFPs) that require them to deploy Microsoft Teams.
However, Microsoft Teams out of the box isn’t purpose-built for the ways accounting and consulting firms work each day. Intapp Workspaces can bridge that gap.
When Microsoft Teams is powered by Intapp Workspaces, your firm can create team-based workspaces that are engagement-centric and secure — improving the client experience and increasing satisfaction and loyalty.
How does Intapp Workspaces make it easier to find documents and other information?
Intapp Workspaces integrates with Microsoft Teams to centralize all the information you need for a particular engagement within a single location. This means you won’t waste time looking for specific data across multiple applications.
All the people involved in an engagement — both internally and externally — will have access to the corresponding team and all the documentation that lives there. Intapp Workspaces automatically provisions documents and locks them down to ensure only people with access can see what’s related to any particular engagement. Clients can rest assured that the data they’re entrusting to your firm is secure and won’t get into the wrong hands.
Because everything is centralized and easy to find with an engagement-centric setup, your firm can be much more collaborative and responsive to client needs. Professionals can co-author documents and share ideas in real time, increasing speed and productivity. And your firm and clients can keep each other accountable since the client can track their engagement via Microsoft Teams.
How else does Intapp Workspaces help accounting and consulting firms boost their efficiency?
The thing that I enjoy most about Intapp Workspaces is that I don’t waste time looking for any documentation. Everything that I need for an engagement is all within one space on Teams.
Coauthoring is another huge benefit. You can create a document and request edits from the stakeholders in your practice group with just a few clicks. Intapp Workspaces also keeps track of exactly who made which revisions and when they made them. This information is hugely helpful to both internal and external stakeholders.
Many firms who use Intapp Workspaces have also cut down on the number of meetings needed because they can collaborate so effectively with coauthoring and Teams’ chat and video conferencing. All of that saves time so you can spend more time on what’s most important: the work you do for your clients.
Many accounting and consulting professionals are constantly traveling and meeting with their clients. How does Intapp Workspaces empower them to get their work done while on the go?
One thing that’s common to accounting and consulting firms is a highly dispersed workforce. With Intapp Workspaces, your firm’s professionals can open up Microsoft Teams from their mobile phones and enter meeting notes, update documentation, and send them to their colleagues in between meetings.
Intapp Workspaces opens up opportunity for your professionals to be on-site with clients and collaborate from anywhere. They’re no longer tied to an office.
How does a firm’s profitability increase when its professionals use Intapp Workspaces?
Microsoft did a total economic impact study that showed that rolling out Teams to an enterprise account will net a 291% ROI — an enormous percentage for most businesses. But accounting and consulting firms can’t achieve those levels until they have all the right checks and balances in place to make their data safe and secure.
Powering Microsoft Teams with Intapp Workspaces helps firms achieve that. Intapp Workspaces creates a more secure information environment and governance structure, ensuring that only the necessary people have access to sensitive data. Intapp Workspaces also enables automated user provisioning and archiving on a predetermined schedule, both of which reduce risk.
How do the benefits of Intapp Workspaces give accounting and consulting firms a competitive edge?
Since not all practice groups collaborate the same way, we designed Intapp Workspaces to be highly customizable to meet your firm’s unique needs. For example, Intapp Workspaces can pull information such as budgets, documentation, and contacts directly from your firm’s existing systems into your practice group’s team.
You’ll be able to access any Microsoft 365 application directly from Teams, such as Planner for tasks, Power Automate for workflows, and Power BI for data visualization. Thanks to the capabilities of Intapp Workspaces, the efficiencies for end users are huge and far more advanced than if you’re using a software solution that isn’t engagement-centric.
With improved collaboration, your firm’s professionals can work smarter and faster, increasing productivity and boosting your firm’s bottom line. These support higher rates of client satisfaction, improved employee retention, and greater profitability. With Intapp Workspaces, you’re making people — both externally and internally — happier and more productive.
Schedule a demo to learn more how Intapp Workspaces can transform your accounting or consulting business.