DSS launches ‘first cloud-based platform’ to simplify client billing
The product caters for accountants and other professional services workers struggling with tracking tedious disbursement expenses.
Professional services software supplier Dynamic Software Solutions (DSS) has launched what it claims is the first fully cloud-based platform to integrate cost recovery and productivity features.
It said Dynamic Connect was geared towards accountants, lawyers and strata managers who charged clients for disbursements and it could be integrated with their existing billing and document management systems.
Product manager Derek Lawton said Dynamic Connect represented a “major overhaul” of its previous software products, using technology from cost recovery software firm Softlog Systems, which DSS acquired in July last year.
“We’ve taken our cloud platform and then supplemented it with Softlog’s decades of technology to enable accountants to bill for copies, prints, scans, telephone calls and turn them into time entries,” he said.
For many firms, tracking and allocating disbursement expenses to clients was a tedious task, Mr Lawton said. “I think some firms still keep notepads next to their photocopiers and write down the matter number and copy amount, which they will then key into client invoices at the end of the month.”
“There's a whole range of things that accountants do in the process of their work which our system will capture and help recover for direct revenue generation,” he said.
“[Dynamic Connect] is a cloud-based platform which gives people the flexibility of working inside one network, but also working from home or working in remote offices. The functionality follows them.”
It also addressed productivity challenges by offering a desktop PDF application that allowed users to edit, redact, combine and scan PDFs.
Mr Lawton admitted PDF software was not a novel product but said the DSS offering was cheaper and built specifically with the professional services industry in mind.
“We're in competition with Adobe Acrobat Pro. But it is twice the cost of our solution yet it doesn't offer any additional functionality that's useful for accountants. The reason it's an expensive product is because it's got high-end graphics, but accountants don't need that to do a tax return.”
Dynamic Connect was currently being used by 220 businesses including 24 accounting firms, he said.
“Our users like the fact that our interfaces are focused on automation and require less clicks to navigate. That's key to everything we do – it's less clicks, so that people can achieve what they want with less effort.”
General manager Andrew Tsiorvas called the product a “game changer”.
“The platform’s interface has been designed with the consumer very much in mind.”
“[It] empowers local law, accounting firms and strata management companies. It provides them with the means to automate cost-recovery processes, drive down costs, increase productivity and their revenue,” he said.
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