Digly: “The scheduling automation saves me 15 minutes per appointment in back-and-forth mailing.”

The accounting world has come a long way from storing invoices and receipts in shoeboxes. That’s why Digly exists: the Zonhoven-based consultancy firm prepares accountants for the future. “Made by accountants for accountants” is one of their main taglines for a reason. “I live and breathe efficiency”, Bert says, “and I take this to heart in everything I do. With Digly, but also in using Teamleader and its scheduling capabilities.”

Digitisation has been the name of the game for some years now. Especially since Covid hit, Bert’s customers took a lot of their day-to-day business online. “The number of online meetings had been growing already, but everything exploded after Covid. And all of these meetings needed to be planned. It quickly became apparent to me: we need some form of scheduling software.”

Bert uses a personal agenda, a professional agenda, and a Teamleader Focus agenda. Matching 3 own agendas with the customer agenda for each appointment was daunting.

Manual processes in a company that promotes digital efficiency? No can do. Bert needed to lead by example.

The integrated scheduling of Teamleader has the added benefit of intelligently creating contacts and opportunities if none exist already. The right questions are asked each time a customer books a meeting and the records are updated in Teamleader.

• Switching to software scheduling enabled Bert to save on average 15 minutes per appointment that needs to be planned (!). That means 2-4 hours on a weekly basis saved on scheduling.
• Fewer interruptions: When working on complex accounting workflow, it’s not productive to get constantly interrupted by phone calls of leads and customers. By channelling the meeting requests to the scheduler, Bert can work more focused with his customers.
• The no-show rate is decreased thanks to the additional reminders that can be sent out from the scheduler. Prior, Bert was dependent on the reminders customers had set up in their calendar system. If they don’t have any appointment reminders on their side, customers are not reminded about upcoming appointments. With the scheduler, customers are reminded about the upcoming appointments. The frequency and content of the reminders can be configured.
• Better preparation: Both the customer and Bert can prepare conversations better: There is a minimum timeframe set up to make sure no appointments are planned too close to another and a minimum booking buffer of 24h make sure no last-minute bookings are coming in that require preparation. The booking confirmation and reminders contain clear next steps and content for the customer to make the most out of the planned appointment. In addition, the right information is sent before the appointment to make sure the customers do not just turn up on the appointment, but also come more prepared.
• Fewer errors: Before using the scheduling system, human errors could slip in the process more easily. A name or email address that gets misspelt, an appointment that was forgotten to be added. Software errors (we don’t want the customer to see a “404” do we?) are also reduced because it’s an integrated solution.

Bert Callens is the Founder of Digly. As a professional consultant at Digly, he helps guide accountants through their digital transformation to become the accounting firms of tomorrow. With over 10 years of experience in accounting and a passion for digital development and technology within the industry, Bert is well-equipped to assist his clients.