CCH Software and Workbooks.com integration to provide client relationship management solution for accounting professionals

Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting UK has signed a strategic partnership with UK-based CRM vendor, Workbooks.com. The partnership will see Wolters Kluwer UK’s CCH software business (cch.co.uk) integrate the Workbooks CRM and business application into CCH Central, its flagship suite of practice software, to introduce a market-leading client relationship management application to accounting professionals.

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK took a decision to select what it considered to be the best available product and integrate it with its own market-leading software. Workbooks.com was selected after an extensive evaluation of the CRM market and recommendations from Wolters Kluwer’s own customer base.

Simon Crompton, Wolters Kluwer UK Executive Director responsible for CCH Software, says: “Traditional methods of marketing and networking are too often insufficient to help firms grow when there is strong competition and pressure from clients to keep fees low. Marketing and selling their own services and expertise requires a new level of sophistication, whether they are targeting existing clients or new prospects. Practices need an easy-to-use CRM system that co-ordinates all their marketing activities and removes the need for countless spreadsheets, multiple databases and endless to-do lists.

“The integration of Workbooks and CCH Central will bring a significant benefit to Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK customers. Practices will no longer have to implement a completely separate CRM solution. They will access Workbooks’ capabilities within CCH Central, allowing them to exploit the comprehensive information they hold about their customers to develop new marketing and business development strategies.”

The functionality of Workbooks was an important reason for Wolters Kluwer’s selection.

Graham Henley, Managing Partner of Shaw Gibbs, a 14-partner practice based in Oxfordshire, originally contacted Wolters Kluwer to see whether Workbooks CRM could be synchronised with CCH Central to deliver a first-rate sales and marketing product for his practice.

Unsurprisingly, CCH Central customer, Shaw Gibbs, will become the first accountancy practice to be a ‘CCH CRM powered by Workbooks.com’ customer.

John Cheney, CEO of Workbooks.com, says: “Our strategic partnership with Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK is a significant move in the professional services marketplace. As Simon Crompton indicates, successful, ambitious professional services firms recognise that they must improve their marketing and new business execution strategies if they are to grow.

“They recognise that the kind of business development systems that work in other industries can be applied to the accountancy sector. The integration of Workbooks with CCH Central will provide users with improved marketing execution and automated business processes, which in turn will deliver accelerated sales growth while reducing operational costs.”