The One Advisory Strategy AI and Automation Will Never Replace

Look around the accounting profession today. You will see the same story everywhere. Accountants are armed with powerful software tools. The numbers flow in. Reports get generated. Trends pop up.

And yet…

Something feels off.

Insights from all these tools start to look alike. If a client chooses to go to another firm, that firm will likely provide very similar insights and reports. This is because most firms operate from identically structured databases, generate similar patterns, analytics, and reports, and inevitably reach comparable conclusions. Unsurprisingly, there is pressure on pricing because anything commoditized leads to pricing sensitivity.

Now, you would want to start wondering.

The simple answer? You can't. Not if your advisory services start and stop with data and information.

But an almost forgotten truth is that your competitive edge has never been nor will be in the numbers. It is always in what those numbers don’t show.

The story the numbers will NEVER tell you.

Take two clients with essentially identical financials. Their revenues, expenses, and margins are the same/very similar on paper. Traditional advisory thinking would lead you to believe they need the same strategies. Right?

Except that one of them is secretly stressed about a decision to invest in something that can help grow the business. The other is thinking about exit and is worried about numbers that won’t fetch a better exit price.

Same numbers. Completely different realities!

And this is where software, automation, and AI fall short.

AI can help you process and analyze data at lightning speed. However, it doesn’t notice the hesitation in your client’s voice when discussing their thoughts. It fails to pick up on how they avoid eye contact when talking about the future. It also doesn’t ask the right follow-up questions that reveal what they are genuinely concerned about.

That is your job.

Why “data-driven” advisory is holding you back

For years, accountants have been trained to treat financial statements as the source of truth. (Hopefully) Discover trends. Call out inefficiencies. Offer guidance based on what has already happened. And if one is good at it, find the why behind the numbers.

And that used to work.

But today? When every accountant wants to deliver advisory insights through the same/similar software, your advice will start sounding like everyone else’s.

Think about that for a second.

How unique is your advisory service if you and ten other firms pull insights from the same accounting platforms?

This is precisely why advisory is beginning to feel like a commodity.

The more reliant you become on software-led insights, the less you remember what actually makes your advisory valuable:

Your clients don't require just reports. They require guidance. They require clarity. They need someone who understands their unique circumstances and can help them make informed decisions.

That kind of trust isn’t built on historical data.

It’s built on discovery.

From data -> to discovery -> to decisions

So, what if advisory services didn’t start with data at all?

If you notice, the numbers come to be what they are because of the decisions clients make and/or do not make.

So, what if, instead of beginning with historical data, you start with a formal discovery process that documents client needs, wants, objectives, and priorities (which they may not always truly fathom) before they become an entry on a balance sheet?

Instead of saying, “Here’s what your numbers are,” ask:

• What’s on your mind right now?

• What’s stopping you from getting that off your mind?

• How are you deciding what to do next in the upcoming three to six months in your business?

• What’s going on in your business that you don’t want happening or what’s not happening that should happen?

Such open-ended questions reveal what really matters. They reveal what no dashboard, spreadsheet, or AI can do.

It is easy for accountants to think they are already having these kinds of conversations with clients. However, when I recently contacted several accounting firm leaders, I surprisingly discovered that most firms do not have advisory software solutions or advisory processes that start with clients' thoughts.

Maybe you have. But are you incorporating clients’ needs, wants, objectives, and priorities to customize your advisory services and infuse them into your workflow? Or are they getting lost in scattered notes, buried in emails, and forgotten by the next meeting with the client?

Scaling without losing the human touch

You want to have deeper, more meaningful, and impactful conversations with clients. But you must also have a streamlined way of doing so without being bogged down by laborious note-taking or random follow-ups.

If your firm doesn’t have a structured way of capturing client needs in a way that directs your advisory process, you end up employing gut, ad hoc meetings, and reactive advice.

That's not scalable. Nor impactful. Nor actionable in time.

Imagine a software tool that ensures the discovery of clients’ needs, wants, objectives, and priorities. A system that doesn’t just generate financial metrics but guides client discussions, prompts you to ask the right questions and ensures no insight slips through the cracks.

That is the kind of advisory service no AI can replace.

The only future of advisory

Automation is here to stay.

AI will continue to evolve rapidly.

Accounting software will keep on getting more intelligent.

So, what happens to accounting firms that continue to leverage only data?

They will blend into the crowd. Easily switchable. Easily commoditized. Easily price-pressured. Guess where the new talent will go!

And the firms that become great at client discovery?

They will establish something AI cannot match, i.e., extensive, robust, personalized, strategic, valuable connections.

Because advisory isn't about the numbers.

It is about the human beings behind them.

If this hits home, ask yourself:

• Do I really understand what my clients search for beyond dollars and cents?

• Do I have a system for capturing their needs and customizing (at scale) my advisory services?

• Am I stuck responding to data in the moment rather than helping drive strategy upfront?

The accountants who make this shift today won’t just survive in an AI-driven world. They will become future-proof and beat any technological disruption.

I maintain an exhaustive market map (categorized list) of software solutions accountants use. I track the AI roadmaps of several solutions and dive in to learn more about new-age tools.

I recently came across two intriguingly different software solutions that can super-power Client Advisory Services (CAS).

• One connects to your tech stack and then helps you do real-time analytics whenever you want to help you CUSTOMIZE advisory to each client. So, it’s like proprietary software for you to leverage your intellectual property that other firms cannot copy.

• The other is advisory discovery software that makes it systematic for anyone at the firm to discover advisory requirements based on each prospect’s/client’s needs, wants, objectives, and priorities. This is similar to how consultants at McKinsey are trained to execute consulting projects flawlessly, regardless of which consultant is on the project.

These are two distinct approaches to advisory, yet they both share the characteristic of not being merely post-facto, data-triggered (reactive) advisory.

If you’re ready to shift from data-driven to client-driven advisory-CAS and want to explore what can help you capture the right drivers to deliver effective and valuable advisory insights, reach out to me here, or message me. I will be more than happy to share the details.