In this series, the WBN highlights how members have adapted to changing business and consumer contexts by innovating within the business. By sharing their stories of change, we hope it gives confidence and insight to other Wheatbelt businesses.

MUNTZ PARTNERS BUSINESS AND TAXATION ADVISORS

An accounting practice specialising in the small to medium enterprise market as well as the self employed, professionals, consultants and employees in a range of industries. Muntz Partners has offices in Doubleview, Toodyay and York.

STRATEGIES YOU HAD IN PLACE BEFORE COVID-19

The team were at the time working towards improving their online presence as well as moving the business into the cloud.

INNOVATIONS DURING COVID-19

=> SOCIAL MEDIA 
Muntz Partners engaged an online specialist to coordinate and plan their social media presence. They had particular success targeting Perth Facebook Groups offering their services and had such positive engagement they had to prematurely close one of their offers due to the high demand

=> CLOUD
Moving their operations into the cloud was a priority prior to COVID19 but became more essential in the early stages. The business now operates in the cloud and clients can sign documents online reducing paperwork and postage costs as well as access their files on the client platform. The business also prioritised online cloud storage for backing up work

=> IT EQUIPMENT
The team invested in new IT services and equipment at the beginning of the pandemic. At the time they were losing efficiencies with staff accessing voice messages. In response they moved into direct forwarding to mobile phones. They also invested in IT training and quality IT equipment for staff working from home and conducting client meetings via videoconferencing

=> WORKING FROM HOME
The team moved into a mixture of working from home and in the office.

=> CLIENT MEETINGS
Accountants and advisors now schedule on site visits with their clients so they can identify opportunities and challenges they may be facing, getting a first-hand experience of their needs