HMB Accountants

HMB Accountants has worked successfully for years in a cloud-based document management solution with Documentaal and SharePoint

HMB Accountants: stable growth with Documentaal and SharePoint

HMB Accountants found itself at a crossroads a few years back. The existing Document Management System (DMS) no longer met expectations. "We just weren't satisfied," admits Marc Bastiaansen of HMB Accountants. "And on top of that, the current system did not yet work in the cloud." The search for a better solution went via the ICT partner, who made them a bold suggestion: "You know SharePoint is the future and this is a good party for that: Documentaal."

The first introduction: document creation and management in the cloud

Documentaal stopped by for a demo at the office of HMB Accountants. In parallel with this demo, the link between the CRM application of then UNIT4 and the SharePoint DMS solution of Documentaal was tested in detail. "What that linkage entails?" Marc asks. "When we create a new customer in CRM, it is immediately created in SharePoint with a corresponding folder structure. In it, all documents are automatically stored. And that works great. Especially since the folders are also linked to Outlook. E-mails and attachments are thus automatically stored in the correct folders. That saves an enormous amount of time."

The switch to Documentaal had only one small counterargument and that was that Documentaal was especially successful in the legal profession. Accountancy was relatively new. Still, the drive and conviction of the Documentaal team ensured that Marc and his colleagues had confidence in working together. "We are quite used to something in terms of automation," Marc explains. "My maxim is that something new is implemented every year. That way we stay on top of the latest developments and make sure we are ahead of the curve. This means that we also switch fairly quickly when it comes to new applications and also rely on our gut feeling."

The benefits of interfacing with SharePoint

The choice of SharePoint was driven by two main reasons:

Cloud-first vision: HMB Accountants likes to be forward-thinking, and working in the cloud is essential to that. Documentaal was one of the few providers that could meet this vision with its software.
Working from anywhere: thanks to the cloud-based solution, it doesn't matter where employees work. "For example, an employee of ours works from Curaçao," Marc explains. "That's perfect, because the system supports remote working effortlessly."

Despite the fact that HMB Accountants sometimes considers itself "a little boring" because of its stable client base and the minimal acquisition it has to do as a result, she knows exactly what work there is and what she has to do. "We are a stable firm. That also means that we have the room to be fully committed to innovation. This really benefits the short lines of communication with our clients."

"I enter a few keywords, and it searches across the entire database, including emails. That saves a tremendous amount of time and frustration."

Integration with ValidSign an added bonus

What really sets Documentaal apart is the user-friendliness and efficiency it offers compared to the previous system. "In the old system, we could only search within a client file if we knew exactly what we were looking for," Marc explains. "But with Documentaal , I enter a few keywords, and it searches across the entire database, including emails. That saves a tremendous amount of time and frustration."

The integration with ValidSign is another example of the increased efficiency. "When I have documents in SharePoint, I simply offer them to the customer for signature," Marc explains. "After sending and receiving a signed document, the file is automatically replaced in SharePoint with the proof document. No more manual actions, and it also looks professional to the client."

Ready for the future: AI and more

While satisfied with the current setup, HMB Accountants is also looking to the future. "We are currently testing co-pilot functions with AI," Marc says. "It's still a bit of spin, but we rely on the expertise of partners such as Documentaal to support us in this."

In addition, HMB Accountants is exploring further integrations, such as a link to Exact's work programs. "Documentaal is pleasantly thinking along with us in this," Marc says. "We can already see all invoices in the file, but even more can be extracted from the process. These are steps we want to take in the future."

With the switch to SharePoint and the support of Documentaal , HMB Accountants has found a stable, future-proof solution that helps us work more efficiently and serve clients even better. "For now, this runs stably and does what it needs to do," Marc concludes with satisfaction. "And that's exactly what we need to continue our stable growth."

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