Transforming tax & accounting: Elevating the client experience with AI

With these new technological capabilities, how is Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting leveraging advanced technology and AI internally? How are customers able to feel the impacts of these internal innovations?

We take pride in our reputation as a company that drives efficiency, automation and capacity for our customers. Our human-centric innovation approach seeks to elevate user experiences by solving problems with cutting-edge technology. We apply these same principles internally. 

One of the ways we do this is by giving employees the space and opportunity to think outside the box and search for solutions outside their daily deliverables. In our recent Code Games and Global Innovations Awards competitions, about 2/3 of the ideas were AI focused and half of those ideas were based on improving internal operations to make us faster and more efficient. The ideas developed in these competitions are often implemented into internal processes and market solutions. We developed LLMs to support our customer service team in summarizing cases and developing knowledge-based articles. This technology was launched as part of the AVA customer service bot this year and will be rolled out globally by next year. Our customer service representatives are now more efficient, closing more cases more quickly, and able to devote more time to handling more complex issues.

Our focus remains on creating operational efficiency to streamline our internal processes and the overall digital customer experience. Customers these days are looking for fast, digital solutions to get answers to their questions. We want to create a smooth digital experience for our customers, so if they have a question, there are multiple self-service options; and when they need and want personal assistance, they can get to a representative faster.   

What about tax and accounting firms? What solutions is Wolters Kluwer developing to build efficiencies for accountancy staff?

Firms all over the world tell us their most persistent challenges are staying on top of changing regulations, dealing with competition and commoditization, and recruiting and retaining staff. Firms look to us to help them drive efficiency so they can achieve better workload balance and shift focus to offering higher-value advisory services. 

There are two angles to this – how we can solve their problems now and how are we innovating to anticipate and address the challenges they’ll face in the future. 

So, to ensure our customers operate efficiently today, we use AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics to automate a lot of the manual work. We drive efficiencies by improving data aggregation and seamless data movement through workflows. We use GenAI to help us enhance and extend the capabilities of other AI, applications, and data. Our integrated cloud platform and common client database connect tax, audit and firm management solutions, enhancing connectivity between firms and their clients.

Looking ahead, we’re constantly exploring emerging technologies and anticipating how they will allow us to redefine the fundamental way firms operate. For example, we are extending how research content is infused into software workflows and making the systems contextually aware of the specific client circumstances. At any point in the workflow, the precise information accountants need will be delivered precisely when they need it. 

Innovative activities like these allow us to explore new working methods and create new ways of interpreting and applying information, elevating the value accountants provide to their clients.  

There is a lot of discussion around transformation in the industry. How is the firm of the future different from the firm of today? What are the forces pushing the industry to change?  

In my experience, change and transformation are inevitable. This current transformation is driven by three forces: the demand for real-time, personalized and strategic advice; professionals' desire to meet these demands amidst staffing and competitive pressures; and finally having the technological ability to address these challenges.  

At our core, Wolters Kluwer is a knowledge and technology company. Knowledge and data are the fuel that builds firm intelligence. We’re working with advancements like GenAI and intelligent automation to infuse relevant information into tax and accounting workflows, providing deeper insights for firms to optimize processes and offer strategic guidance to clients. 

The firm of the future will be free from the manual tasks currently needed to prepare, research, and analyze data. This frees up the accountant to be more understanding of client needs and focused on problem-solving, applying judgment and creating stronger client relationships.