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Testimonial - Kevin Minkoff CPA

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Testimonial - Kevin Minkoff CPA

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Kevin and Deanna tell us about their experience switching to Firm360.

Firm360

Canopy

Karbon

TaxDome

Best For Firms That:
Need an expert-driven, robust solution with U.S. support
Focus on tax resolution services, but also need project management
Firms operating globally that consider AI a necessity
Require support for multiple languages & desire a heavily branded client experience
Document Management
Client Portal
Integrated Time & Billing
Basic Reporting Options
Advanced Reporting Options
At some plan levels
Payment Collection via Credit Card & ACH
E-signature
Via integration
Additional fee
Piloting as of November 2024
Project Management
At some plan levels
Additional fee
Automated Workflows
Additional fee
Advanced Integration Options
At some plan levels
Dedicated Customer Success Manager
At some plan levels
Unclear
Additional fee
At some plan levels
Strong Customer Service Reputation
U.S. Based Customer Support
Unclear
Unclear
Built by Accountants, for Accountants
IRS-integrated Transcript Retrieval Tool
Additional fee
AI Integration
Straightforward Pricing
Monthly Pricing
Based on annual billing and listed prices in Nov. 2024. *Denotes "per user"
$49 - $99*

Custom pricing for 20+ users.

3-user minimum for Standard & Premium plans.
$150 - $175 base price for client engagement platform only.

PLUS

$89 - $107 for remainder of modules for first user.

Small-firm pricing available with limited capabilities.
$59 - $89*

Enterprise pricing available.

Add-ons for implementation, training, customer support & more.
$58 - $66* depending on subscription length.

Seasonal users: $85.

Basic

Popular
$96/year
Basic features for up to 10 users with everything you need.
Get started

Business

$192/year
Advanced features and reporting, better workflows and automation.
Get started

Enterprise

$384/year
Personalised service and enterprise security for large teams.
Get started
Overview
Basic features
Users
10
20
Unlimited
Individual data
20GB
40GB
Unlimited
Support
Automated workflows
200+ integrations
Reporting and analytics
Analytics
Basic
Advanced
Advanced
Export reports
Scheduled reports
API access
Advanced reports
Saved reports
Customer properties
Custom fields
User access
SSO/SAML authentication
Advanced permissions
Audit log
Data history

Firm360

Best For Firms That:
Need an expert-driven, robust solution with U.S. support
Document Management
Client Portal
Integrated Time & Billing
Basic Reporting Options
Advanced Reporting Options
Payment Collection via Credit Card & ACH
E-signature
Via integration
Project Management
At some plan levels
Automated Workflows
Advanced Integration Options
At some plan levels
Dedicated Customer Success Manager
At some plan levels
Strong Customer Service Reputation
U.S. Based Customer Support
Built by Accountants, for Accountants
IRS-integrated Transcript Retrieval Tool
AI Integration
Straightforward Pricing
Monthly Pricing
Based on annual billing and listed prices in Nov. 2024. *Denotes "per user"
$49 - $99*

Custom pricing for 20+ users.

3-user minimum for Standard & Premium plans.

Basic

Popular
$96/year
Basic features for up to 10 users with everything you need.
Get started

Business

$192/year
Advanced features and reporting, better workflows and automation.
Get started

Enterprise

$384/year
Personalised service and enterprise security for large teams.
Get started
Overview
Basic features
Users
10
20
Unlimited
Individual data
20GB
40GB
Unlimited
Support
Automated workflows
200+ integrations
Reporting and analytics
Analytics
Basic
Advanced
Advanced
Export reports
Scheduled reports
API access
Advanced reports
Saved reports
Customer properties
Custom fields
User access
SSO/SAML authentication
Advanced permissions
Audit log
Data history

Canopy

Best For Firms That:
Focus on tax resolution services, but also need project management
Document Management
Client Portal
Integrated Time & Billing
Basic Reporting Options
Advanced Reporting Options
At some plan levels
Payment Collection via Credit Card & ACH
E-signature
Additional fee
Project Management
Additional fee
Automated Workflows
Additional fee
Advanced Integration Options
Dedicated Customer Success Manager
Unclear
Strong Customer Service Reputation
U.S. Based Customer Support
Unclear
Built by Accountants, for Accountants
IRS-integrated Transcript Retrieval Tool
Additional fee
AI Integration
Straightforward Pricing
Monthly Pricing
Based on annual billing and listed prices in Nov. 2024. *Denotes "per user"
$150 - $175 base price for client engagement platform only.

PLUS

$89 - $107 for remainder of modules for first user.

Small-firm pricing available with limited capabilities.Custom pricing for 20+ users.

Basic

Popular
$96/year
Basic features for up to 10 users with everything you need.
Get started

Business

$192/year
Advanced features and reporting, better workflows and automation.
Get started

Enterprise

$384/year
Personalised service and enterprise security for large teams.
Get started
Overview
Basic features
Users
10
20
Unlimited
Individual data
20GB
40GB
Unlimited
Support
Automated workflows
200+ integrations
Reporting and analytics
Analytics
Basic
Advanced
Advanced
Export reports
Scheduled reports
API access
Advanced reports
Saved reports
Customer properties
Custom fields
User access
SSO/SAML authentication
Advanced permissions
Audit log
Data history

Karbon

Best For Firms That:
Firms operating globally that consider AI a necessity
Document Management
Client Portal
Integrated Time & Billing
Basic Reporting Options
Advanced Reporting Options
Payment Collection via Credit Card & ACH
E-signature
Piloting as of November 2024
Project Management
Automated Workflows
Advanced Integration Options
Dedicated Customer Success Manager
Additional fee
Strong Customer Service Reputation
U.S. Based Customer Support
Built by Accountants, for Accountants
IRS-integrated Transcript Retrieval Tool
AI Integration
Straightforward Pricing
Monthly Pricing
Based on annual billing and listed prices in Nov. 2024. *Denotes "per user"
$59 - $89*

Enterprise pricing available.

Add-ons for implementation, training, customer support & more.

Basic

Popular
$96/year
Basic features for up to 10 users with everything you need.
Get started

Business

$192/year
Advanced features and reporting, better workflows and automation.
Get started

Enterprise

$384/year
Personalised service and enterprise security for large teams.
Get started
Overview
Basic features
Users
10
20
Unlimited
Individual data
20GB
40GB
Unlimited
Support
Automated workflows
200+ integrations
Reporting and analytics
Analytics
Basic
Advanced
Advanced
Export reports
Scheduled reports
API access
Advanced reports
Saved reports
Customer properties
Custom fields
User access
SSO/SAML authentication
Advanced permissions
Audit log
Data history

TaxDome

Best For Firms That:
Require support for multiple languages & desire a heavily branded client experience
Document Management
Client Portal
Integrated Time & Billing
Basic Reporting Options
Advanced Reporting Options
Payment Collection via Credit Card & ACH
E-signature
Project Management
Automated Workflows
Advanced Integration Options
Dedicated Customer Success Manager
At some plan levels
Strong Customer Service Reputation
U.S. Based Customer Support
Unclear
Built by Accountants, for Accountants
IRS-integrated Transcript Retrieval Tool
AI Integration
Straightforward Pricing
Monthly Pricing
Based on annual billing and listed prices in Nov. 2024. *Denotes "per user"
$58 - $66* depending on subscription length.

Seasonal users: $85.

Basic

Popular
$96/year
Basic features for up to 10 users with everything you need.
Get started

Business

$192/year
Advanced features and reporting, better workflows and automation.
Get started

Enterprise

$384/year
Personalised service and enterprise security for large teams.
Get started
Overview
Basic features
Users
10
20
Unlimited
Individual data
20GB
40GB
Unlimited
Support
Automated workflows
200+ integrations
Reporting and analytics
Analytics
Basic
Advanced
Advanced
Export reports
Scheduled reports
API access
Advanced reports
Saved reports
Customer properties
Custom fields
User access
SSO/SAML authentication
Advanced permissions
Audit log
Data history

0:02 hi this is Clay Lehman with firm 360.
0:04 I'm here today with Kevin and Deanna
0:07 um from Kevin Minkoff CPA uh you have
0:10 been using firm 360 since May of 2020
0:13 and um I just wanted to
0:15 get a couple of questions and see uh
0:18 what you thought of the platform for
0:20 other people who might be thinking about
0:21 making a switch um so first of all when
0:24 you were started first started talking
0:26 to us how how big was your firm how many
0:28 people
0:29 uh five people okay
0:33 um and what what were the softwares
0:34 you're using like for tax and uh project
0:37 management or whatever
0:38 we use Drake tax software we were using
0:43 smartsheet for our project management
0:46 and we didn't start out with a client
0:52 portal we were using a well a
0:56 proprietary software package that was
0:59 tied into our website initially and
1:03 discovered that it was very much out of
1:07 date our programmer didn't keep up with
1:10 the latest software and it was a couple
1:12 of generations late and so it was
1:15 creating all kinds of security
1:17 issues with our very sensitive data of
1:20 course tax returns and Social Security
1:22 numbers
1:24 and we switched to Drake has a secure
1:30 file pro
1:32 program that that's linked up to Drake
1:35 tax software but unfortunately it didn't
1:40 work very well for our clients it was
1:42 very clunky and I think it just was in a
1:45 very early stage and it's still very
1:48 clunky to use their tech support team is
1:53 not very responsive they weren't to our
1:56 requests for upgrading or making some
1:59 changes and we just couldn't use that
2:01 anymore with
2:03 um I'll I'll say I'll I'll add in here
2:06 that a smart sheet
2:09 was a huge problem as well and anyway
2:14 those are the reasons why they switched
2:16 over to firm 360. awesome okay
2:19 um and then I this question might be
2:20 redundant what problems when you when
2:23 you called us the first time what was
2:24 the problem you were looking to solve
2:27 well I'm gonna let Deanna jump in here
2:29 well first of all it was right smack in
2:32 the middle of tax season and our smart
2:34 sheet
2:35 um literally just kind of blew up and so
2:37 anytime I made a change to uh the smart
2:42 sheet
2:43 it would dump about three to four
2:46 hundred emails into my email box
2:50 and it would we also started realizing
2:52 that the computer started changing the
2:55 dates as to that date and so we weren't
2:57 able to track
3:00 um what was actually happening with each
3:02 of the clients tax return because it was
3:04 changing the Status date
3:06 um to whenever it dumped the email and
3:09 then secure file pro it was just very
3:13 difficult for the clients to understand
3:15 what the the security questions were
3:19 asking of them and so they had to go
3:21 make a password and
3:23 um as they had we had to tell them what
3:26 the computer was looking for or the
3:28 program was looking for so they could
3:30 actually get into their portals in order
3:34 to get their documents okay okay
3:37 um so
3:39 um you switched to firm 360. it's been
3:41 uh most of the year now how would you
3:44 say uh things have changed or is there
3:46 anything specifically that that has
3:48 helped has helped your business with
3:50 this process
3:51 well I'll start off by saying it has
3:55 been a tremendous help we were relying
3:58 very heavily on smartsheet to track all
4:03 of our tax returns we had at the time
4:07 the 350 tax returns
4:11 um well in fact
4:13 I had just purchased or was in the
4:15 process of purchasing another smaller
4:17 CPA practice I had 350 clients roughly
4:22 and this other practice was about
4:24 another 150 tax clients
4:26 and at the same time that we were
4:29 switching over to firm 360 and I have to
4:31 say that firm 360 has allowed us to
4:36 easily manage
4:38 all 500 clients I don't think we would
4:41 have been able to merge our two firms
4:44 together with the success that we've had
4:46 if we hadn't had firm 360 there to be
4:50 able to track all of the steps that are
4:56 part of a project which is a tax return
5:00 and managing other tasks so not just tax
5:04 returns but when clients get notices or
5:07 when they want us to do a tax projection
5:10 or they want to have other work done
5:14 review financial statements whatever it
5:16 is firm 360 can manage and help us track
5:20 all of those types of projects really
5:23 well and it's made our life much easier
5:27 and I would say we've been in the
5:30 process of trying to hire an assistant
5:32 for Deanna but we've been able to even
5:36 though that's still critical we've been
5:39 able to get by
5:40 with the support of firm 360.
5:44 um in the background helping us manage
5:47 all this to kind of take some of the
5:49 responsibility of that extra person now
5:51 we still are going to hire an extra
5:53 person
5:54 so but I just want to say that it's been
5:56 a tremendous help
6:05 we did have receptionists but the thing
6:08 is is that before from 360 Kevin had
6:10 said we're going to hire you attempt for
6:13 tax season next year in addition to the
6:16 administer the receptionist firm three
6:19 with firm 360 we don't have to do that
6:21 wow some of the features that you have
6:24 created the the computer programmers
6:27 have created are such a time saving tool
6:32 it is phenomenal I mean there it's
6:36 Second To None just the things that you
6:38 have been able to program for a tax
6:42 office
6:43 to have such uh time saving features has
6:47 been I mean you've you've freed us up
6:50 from having to hire a sixth person wow
6:54 that's awesome thank you
6:56 um and just one one final thing if if
6:58 you were talking to somebody that had
7:00 five employees and they were using Drake
7:03 um and they were on the phone and they
7:04 were like I'm thinking about maybe doing
7:06 firm 360 or somebody else what would you
7:08 tell them don't think just do it
7:12 we can tell them that we've tried yes
7:15 other Solutions we looked I looked quite
7:20 in depth to a program called monday.com
7:24 we have tried canopy as another project
7:28 management solution and we've we found
7:33 numerous problems with both of those
7:36 smartsheet
7:38 is touted as Excel on steroids because
7:42 that's the framework it has and
7:45 monday.com is supposed to be smartsheet
7:48 on steroids the problem is it's this
7:53 blank canvas of
7:57 almost like what you would call a you
8:00 know the marker board that that liquid
8:03 chalk board it's just blank and you're
8:06 handed a bunch of pens and say here you
8:10 go create yourself a project management
8:13 process well I I'm not a programmer and
8:18 and and it was going to be very
8:21 expensive to hire somebody to program it
8:24 all the way we need it but firm 360 is
8:27 already programmed the way we need it it
8:30 thinks like we think we are a tax office
8:34 it's created for for accountants
8:37 and for tax offices so
8:40 um so it's it's complete and take my
8:45 word for it you can save your time and
8:48 energy and money looking at other
8:50 Solutions this is the solution and
8:53 second to the program itself is just the
8:57 support
8:58 um between the programmers
9:00 page the training I mean you everybody
9:04 has seriously been an email away we get
9:07 a response
9:09 um if we are having a problem you are so
9:12 receptive to helping us figure out what
9:14 to do and without getting a bill for it
9:19 or you know there's no worry that oh
9:22 gosh we gotta call them again and it's
9:25 going to cost us a little bit of money
9:26 you the thing that I so appreciate about
9:30 firm 360 is their support staff because
9:33 they want us to be
9:36 um successful successful with the
9:38 program with the program and there there
9:41 is nothing out there like that anywhere
9:44 else and so the program is good but the
9:47 programmers are even better the support
9:50 is terrific Second To None awesome well
9:54 I really appreciate y'all taking the
9:55 time to talk to me here today
9:57 um and thank you and we we look forward
9:59 you know to working with you for a long
10:00 time to come absolutely we do too all
10:03 right

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