Last week, the Rightworks team had the opportunity to attend Wolters Kluwer’s user conference, CCH Connections, in Orlando, Florida. Wolters Kluwer put on a beautifully executed event, complete with a night spent at Universal Studios.
Along with the Rightworks team, I enjoyed connecting with our accounting firm customers at the conference and learning about the latest technology innovations in the accounting space.
But, more than anything, CCH Connections was an exciting moment to celebrate our newly announced Rightworks brand with our partners, customers and the profession.
As our president, Michael Bird, noted in his summary of the event, we were able to provide insight to participants about how Rightworks OneSpace Firm Premier offers firms a comprehensive, customized and turnkey approach to accessing all their applications securely, regardless of where they work.
Rightworks also covered some important security and product topics over the course of CCH Connections.
If you couldn’t make it in person, here’s a closer look at the key things we discussed with firms:
AI and the future of your firm
I ran a session entitled “Securing your firm in the age of ChatGPT” for conference participants twice during the week.
Many firms shared how challenging building a comprehensive AI usage policy is; here’s a synopsis of what I heard from them:
- Tools like ChatGPT have come to market quickly…and not all firm employees understand how to balance the tools’ risks and efficiencies.
- Generative AI tools are necessary to remain competitive. Before using them, AI usage policies that clearly outline what authorized usage looks like for your firm—plus what overall AI use cases work best for your business—need to be created.
- Attackers are using generative AI tools to stay one step ahead of cybersecurity trends. To combat those threats, a layered approach to protection is necessary. My session took firms through a security evaluation, providing insight into how to fill any gaps.
If you missed CCH Connections but want to understand how Rightworks is providing the accounting profession with safe, tailored AI tools, head to labs.rightworks.com for a look at AskGPT.
Enabling flexible work
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the accounting profession is facing a talent shortage that has no signs of abating. That’s where OneSpace Firm Premier comes in. We enjoyed diving deep into our product functionality with CCH Connections participants. Our turnkey, fully managed approach to accessing applications provides efficiency plus security, with no extra headcount needed.
And because OneSpace Firm Premier has a web-based login, firms using our solution have access to their applications and tools from anywhere, supporting a culture of hybrid and flexible work.
In numerous conversations throughout the event, firms noted how important flexible technology experiences have become to ensure employees remain engaged in their work—and committed to the accounting profession.
During our CCH Connections theater session, we shared more about OneSpace Firm Premier’s specific features, showcasing:
- What a firm’s single-pane-of-glass view of data looks like.
- How to add new users in just minutes as firms expand (in terms of headcount or new office locations).
- How to access our new Connect suite for revenue and client insights directly from within the OneSpace Firm Premier portal.
Supporting your clients
And finally, in conversations at our booth, at dinners and throughout the event, firms told us about their desire to offer their own clients more targeted, comprehensive advisory services.
In turn, we spoke to firms about how Rightworks and OneSpace Firm Premier could help by:
- Delivering secure access to client applications.
- Offering security services, such as ongoing device monitoring with endpoint detection and response (EDR).
We shared that in partnership with us, firms are doing things they might otherwise have forgone for lack of knowledge or fear of complexity. With Rightworks, firms can simultaneously build out their advisory services’ portfolios while offering their clients services to stay secure. Win, win.
CCH reflections
Overall, CCH Connections provided a moment to reflect on the pace of threats to firm data and the myriad of innovative accounting technology tools available today.
Rightworks is here to help firms seamlessly manage the pace of this innovation. We’ll help you grow and scale while you deliver clients the services they need to stay safe.
For more event recaps, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog below. See where Rightworks is going next—here.