In recent times, the “Great Resignation” catchphrase has been splashed across newspaper copy and social media all over the world. Jobseekers, who are in the drivers’ seat for the first time in a while, are leaving their jobs in droves and are seeking new opportunities with career progression, more money and better employers. The finance industry in Brisbane has not been immune. A skills shortage is obvious to anyone trying to fill a finance position. We all have a ton of new work to complete but not the people to do it. It is a real risk to business and our mental health. So, if we can’t find some “fab finance fixers”, what are the alternatives? Personally, I think there are two options. And the beauty is, they could apply to many industries. These are
1. Find someone with less experience but with a great attitude and teach them the skill set you need or
2. Automate, automate, automate and use your little app helpers to make space for you to complete the more complicated tasks
I am currently working with both of these options and believe the two go hand in hand. It’s finding the sweet spot combination of the two that is the key.
There are many blogs out there advising how to find great people so I will leave that topic for others to explore. But I am specifically interested in all the apps out there that help to automate tasks within business. I love people, but apps work 24/7 without needing a coffee break. I have been playing a bit with Zapier. It’s a tool that automates repetitive tasks between two or more web apps. When an event happens in one app, Zapier can tell another app to do a particular action. For a simple example, when you post on Facebook, Zapier will also tell Instagram to post it. For someone that has more of a finance brain rather than a programming brain, it has been a struggle to get my head around. But I am seeing the opportunities as endless. All those little tasks we do when we take on a new client can be performed by my app minions. So long as you have a trigger and an outcome, you could automate it. And once you understand the process, it’s really easy to use.
I have also recently been trialling a New Zealand app called Tania. It’s powered by Alexa and combines with Xero to act as a financial assistant, including giving a 5-minute daily briefing of cashflow, performance and financial health. Of course, this kind of app is only helpful and accurate if you are up to date with your business books. But I have heard of clients getting a spoken update from Tania in bed right before they go to sleep and their partner being jealous because they are “in bed” with their accountant. Probably a situation to avoid if you want to keep the peace.
Any of these kinds of apps can take stress from your life. And the possibilities are endless. Just make sure they connect with your current accounting system to ensure you are not adding double handling of data to your workload. If you use Xero, check out the app marketplace in the link below. If it’s on this site, it integrates with Xero seamlessly. Then go forth and automate!
