Business View Magazine | July 2020

51 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2020 Learn More rightnetworks.com 1-866-923-6874 x2 bdm@rightnetworks.com Right Networks Cloud Premier Join nearly 10,000 accounting professionals who have eliminated IT challenges with the only cloud-based outsourced technology solution specifically designed for CPA firms. It’s gratifying to know that we can drive this kind of aggressive growth with a technology partner that always says ‘yes, let’s make it happen’.” Jana Cinnamon, COO Abdo, Eick & Meyers ABDO, E I CK & MEYERS LLP we do. Outsource CFO work; comptroller; some account work – that pretty much mirrors where some of the growth has come on the business side. Government just takes longer to make a decision.” Specific to governments, McDonald notes, “When we go to a City Council and ask them what they’re going to look like five years from now, they shrug their shoulders and say, “I have no idea.” We help them see what that picture is. The thing I find most fun about our business right now is that we’re not just historians; we’re starting to help show what the future looks like. And that’s where we engage really well with our business owners.” AEM believes that one of the growth drivers in the firm has been the use of technology. McDonald acknowledges, “We learned through the last few months of COVID that this commitment is very valuable and will always be a priority. Our technology foundation is built on a hosted solution provided by Right Networks. They have been instrumental in creating and supporting a work anytime/anywhere environment and this gives us a strategic advantage over our competitors”. To keep up with the changing financial landscape, Abdo, Eick & Meyers is working on projects that revolve around data. They belong to a CPA association called DFK that has 30 firms across the U.S. as members and about 400 CPA firms, internationally. Members meet as a Managing Partner group twice a year to share information and resources. In May of 2019, they discussed how many firms were working on data analytics, Microsoft Power BI software, but they hadn’t anything teed up to build a project around it. Then in October, when they met again, every firm was focused on it. “That’s one of the areas I’m most excited about,” says McDonald, “building data skills in the firm. I think that’s going to be a critical skillset for