The quiet engine of growth
Behind every high-performing firm is an operational backbone. It is not flashy, but it decides whether growth is smooth and scalable or messy and exhausting.
That theme came through clearly in this week’s webinar with Jim Boomer of Boomer Consulting. We asked leaders where their firms stand on operational maturity. Nearly 70% said they are “evolving with gaps,” and about a quarter said they are still mostly manual or not sure. That honesty tells us firms know change is urgent, even if the path forward is not always clear.
“There should be no tech projects. There should be firm projects.”
– Jim Boomer
Why operational maturity matter now
The pace of change is picking up. Clients expect more transparency, staff expect better tools, and pressures from staffing and M&A continue to grow. You can no longer treat operations as a back-office burden. It is a driver of growth.
In my work with firms, three pain points show up again and again:
- Fragmented systems that create manual rework and data blind spots
- Lack of visibility into workflows, bottlenecks, and capacity
- Over-reliance on a few “heroic” staff members to keep things moving
What operational maturity looks like in accounting firms
Maturity is not perfection. It is progress. Firms that are moving forward tend to share a few traits:
- A clear operational backbone (CRM, practice management, workflow, document management, client portals)
- Governance that makes the right way easy and the wrong way intentionally harder
- Visibility into data so leaders spot issues before they become client problems
- Partners spending more time with clients and less time chasing admin tasks
Where firms lose the most time
Inefficiency often hides in plain sight. A few admins patch gaps, and the firm looks fine on the surface. Underneath, time and margin leak through:
- Engagement letters that are not digitized or linked to payments
- Billing and collections handled outside core workflows
- Document requests and approvals that require constant follow-up
The fix does not have to be overwhelming. Use a simple sequence: define the process, harden it, automate it, then link it to a complimentary process.
Getting everyone pulling in the same direction
Technology alone does not align people. Leadership clarity and follow-through do. Successful firms:
- Share a clear ROI story that connects the change to staff, clients, and firm goals
- Involve a cross-section of departments and levels in design and testing
- Use vendor resources for training, reinforcement, and accountability
- Aim for majority adoption, knowing 100% buy-in is not realistic
“100% buy-in is a myth. Build momentum with the majority.”
– Jim Boomer
Change fatigue is real, but so is the fatigue of inefficiency. The firms that move forward show their teams the value and keep reinforcing it.
One thing you can do this quarter
Operational maturity is a long journey, but results can start quickly. Pick one high-friction area such as engagement letters, payments, billing and design a 30 to 60 day win. Measurable outcomes matter more than big initiatives. A single win creates momentum for the next one.
Bulk engagement letters are one of the clearest places to start and your firm has a little over 60 days to knock this out. They not only cut a significant amount of manual work but also improve the client experience by making acceptance and payment seamless. Take the time to institutionalize the data needed for bulk engagement letters instead of relying on the ad-hoc approach of pulling bits from Tax, Practice, and Workflow and manually stitching it together. That combination drives adoption internally and value externally.
Final thought
Growth exposes weaknesses, but it also creates leverage. Firms that take operations seriously by integrating systems, aligning people and processes, and holding themselves accountable are not just keeping up with change. They are creating an advantage in how they serve clients and support their teams.
The future of practice management belongs to firms that treat operations as the growth driver it truly is.
