Company Culture: We Think Along

The Case: An Accounting Firm Goes Live with an Unusual Feature

We begin this series at an accounting firm that has completed the implementation of Payt under the guidance of one of our implementation consultants. This guidance is not necessarily required, but if a client wants to add specific functionalities, it becomes important. The administration of the accounting firm is live, and they are very pleased with the results they have achieved with the software so far.

One evening, one of the other directors of Payt is looking at the settings of several new clients, purely out of interest. He notices that a piece of software is set up that is unusual for the accounting firm. Namely, that a debtor can request a proposal for a payment arrangement through a request screen in their invoice portal. This was once developed for a ROC so that students could indicate which payment arrangement they could comply with. But for an accounting firm? Quite remarkable.

Now, this small piece of software does not make a world of difference. However, actively offering the possibility to propose a payment arrangement will lead to many more payment arrangements. Is the client waiting for this?

Interested in the reason behind activating this functionality, the director in question calls the implementation consultant to hear the reason. Because an inconclusive story comes back, the director decides to call the client. After all, he really wants to know now. Within a minute, it was clear that this functionality could be turned off again. The client had misunderstood that, by enabling this functionality, he could no longer create a payment arrangement himself if the situation required it. The client was completely satisfied, although he must have wondered why we were so concerned.

With such a situation at hand, many organizations—and certainly we too—forget to take the most important step. Using the example to inform involved and potential parties about how we do things here at Payt. Our company culture. It helps enormously if we all dare to share our pitfalls or mistakes. The management of a company is by no means infallible.

In the meantime, we are good enough and on our way together to continue growing. I am convinced that in such a culture, fewer mistakes are made, and I notice that people become happy with the growth they can personally experience.