Maintaining a Customer-First Focus

For Kregel & Company, it’s all about the customer…all the time.

From the June 2012 issue.

Scott Kregel, CPA, MST, and owner of Kregel & Company CPA is a firm believer that the customer always comes first. In fact, he and his staff are so dedicated to providing a rich customer experience (every time) that he even puts customer workflow above internal firm processes.

“It’s all about the experience our customers have working with our firm. I believe that it’s our role to help the customer keep things as simple as possible, which is why we are always focused on how we can improve the customer process…even before enhancing staff workflow.”

A few years ago, Kregel noticed that customers were having an issue using the firm’s portal solution. He explained that the solution worked fine for his staff, but it caused problems among customers who required a fair amount of training to use the portal platform.

“Customers shouldn’t have to spend more than a few minutes uploading and retrieving their documents. But with our old solution, staff had to do a lot of coaching and explaining, and for some customers it was still too cumbersome,” said Kregel.

With a customer-first attitude, Kregel set out to identify a new system—one that would support his vision of simplifying customer workflow. After some research, he identified several Cloud-based applications to support a convenient and simple solution. “The solutions we choose support an efficient, paperless workflow across the board, including Thomson Reuter’s SaaS-based software and Bill.com. But it was SmartVault that helped to meet my main objective—a highly intuitive document management and portal system that was simple for our customers to use.”

Kregel further explained that because his customer base is made up of entrepreneurs and small businesses that run the gamut on tech-savviness, it was critical that he offered a document delivery system that was easy for everyone.

Kregel knows all too well that you can’t force all customers into one category. “We have very tech-smart customers and those who struggle. We had to have one system that worked for everyone. We now offer an exceptionally easy to use customer delivery platform thanks to SmartVault. Customers need little to no explanation on how to access their Vaults and upload or exchange documents. It’s just so simple for all users—and that includes my staff.”

Kregel explained that the firm’s original document management system is no longer used for sharing files. SmartVault is the main solution for handling all document exchange and sharing within the firm and with customers.

“It’s just so simple to get users up and running. Our customers absolutely love it,” Kregel added.

Other Reasons to Love the Cloud

Other factors in Kregel’s decision to adopt a new document management and file sharing solution included built-in tech support and elevated security. In fact, the firm is 100% cloud-based, supporting a broad system that is made up of best-of-breed applications to deliver great results for customers.

Kregel loves the fact that technical support is not an issue. “Our full solution lives in the Cloud, meaning the folks at SmartVault, Bill.com, and Thomson are on top of enhancements and updates. We have immediate access to new system versions without having to lift a finger. There is no reason for onsite technical staff, and that’s a big relief.”

Kregel stated that it’s nice not dealing with servers, IT personnel, and everything else that goes along with maintaining software onsite.