It is essential to set yourself apart from the rest of the pack in a world where finance and accounting professionals can practically work in and with any business sector. Obtaining an accounting position or securing new clients can be challenging, especially when many other candidates have the same qualifications.
 
In our modern times, especially with internet businesses taking more and more of the accounting market share, you must find a way to brand your accounting practice to set yourself apart from the rest. So how can you gain a competitive advantage in a flooded accounting job market? Is this even possible in the first place?
 
Luckily, it is possible to make yourself stand out whether you are a recent graduate just entering the workforce or a seasoned professional hoping to gain more experience and clients. To help you do that-- set yourself and your brand as an accounting or finance professional apart from the rest of the individuals in the industry—here are some helpful tips:
 
1. Be Innovative

We get it: being innovative seems way harder to do than to say. But, being innovative doesn't have to be an expensive and timely venture… a lot can be done by some simple road mapping and understanding your values as an accounting professional.
 
Small and medium-sized businesses (yes, this includes start-ups and small companies) can't always afford the big financial services firms. Think of your local mom-and-pop corner shops- these businesses, no matter how small, need accounting professionals too! As an accounting professional or firm, this is an excellent market to tap into to get your feet wet or become your specialty. A good tip from the CSB professionals is to offer free mini-assessments to small businesses and then give them a quote after. Providing this service will help the business owner understand what services you are offering and how working with you can benefit their business in the long run.

2. Get Creative with Using Technology

Are you looking to ditch the millions of apps that don't work together? We recommend using Microsoft 365 Business! Bouncing around from app to app takes time out of your day, and when running an accounting practice, that is valuable time you just don't have to waste. Properly implementing Microsoft 365 Business in your accounting practice will allow you to manage all of the features and tools you need in one place, cutting your time wasted on administrative duties significantly. Using one platform for collaboration, storage, and connectivity makes working with team members and clients more straightforward and more secure. Microsoft 365 Business offers a one-stop solution to access your email, collaboration tools, and so much more.
 
3. Recognize Your Clients and Build a Lasting Client Base

A lot of accounting focuses on data entry and running reports, but to be the most successful, you need to handle your clients respectfully. Surprisingly, being approachable and relating to other people while staying professional and well-mannered is a skill that not everyone in the accounting industry has. Plus, operating on a human level instead of focusing only on business is a nice change of pace during the day for clients and co-workers alike!
 ​
At CSB Creative Business Solutions, we have a team of professionals ready to help your business save more money and overall time, allowing you to spend time on what matters: giving your focus to your clients.
 
Our Microsoft 365 Business For Accountants and Bookkeepers community gives you a powerhouse of resources to increase your business's efficiency and effectiveness. Learn necessary industry skills that are not typically taught, like best practices and practical ways to systematize processes and elevate your business using Microsoft 365 Business.
 
Contact us today at learn@cbs-training.ca to learn about our course and how we can help you streamline your bookkeeping or accounting practice with Microsoft 365 Business.

Let’s face it, no matter what comes at your business, you are always looking for growth that trends upwards. In many cases, growth can come sporadically, leaving you with no clear direction on continuing to attain this goal. A mainstream trend that we often see over here at CSB Creative Business Solutions is that businesses want to maintain growth while still having a conscious grasp over fiscal components to their business. 
 
More often today, businesses are using cloud technology to help automate, integrate, and re-engineer most of their core operational processes and systems. This course of action has led to better-streamlined processes, reduced overall company operation costs, and increased staff production times. When this technology is harnessed correctly, it has the potential to increase your organization's success significantly. 
 
First off… Let’s start with the Basics
 
What is a business growth strategy? 
 
A business growth strategy allows companies to expand their business to a different level than before. Growth can be achieved by critical practices like adding new business locations, investing in customer acquisition, or growing a company’s product line. A company's industry and target market influence which growth strategies it will choose. This can be a big change that leads to even bigger rewards!
 
In today’s blog, our team is looking at 3 ways to use technology in your business growth strategy. 
 
1. Manage Projects More Easily, Effectively, and Efficiently
 
The work world has changed from a once entirely in-person setup to a hybrid model. As of late, we have seen more companies recognize the industry value of a centralized experience for employees, which in the long run, contributes to growth in the company.  Platforms combining the best personal business management tools and department-wide collaborative resources make work available for individuals globally. Microsoft 365 Business is an excellent resource for businesses just starting out to seasoned professionals looking for a change in how they streamline their processes. 
 
2. Leverage the Power of Cloud Computing for your Business 
 
In the past, businesses would use applications through software downloaded on their computers or servers to complete tasks. This is not meant to say that it was inefficient. For the better part, this worked just fine, but processes were not streamlined, which meant that things could get a bit confusing sometimes. Cloud Technology from Microsoft 365 Business takes things a notch higher for your business. So, if you want to deploy powerful business growth strategies, cloud technology should be a top consideration. Microsoft 365 Business offers a comprehensive set of tools and features that most people don't utilize or even know to exist to streamline their business processes to perfection. Many businesses don’t realize that deleting the apps your business doesn't need increases the overall efficiency, and all Microsoft 365 Business applications integrate seamlessly, making your user experience hassle-free. Ensure that your employees are on the same page, even when they are working remotely! With increased security, you can work on projects from anywhere in the world, helping streamline your processes. 

3. Don’t Forget to Track your Overall Progress
 
During the end of each work period, review your businesses’ performance and your staff performance and determine what’s working and what’s not in your growth plan. There are many different tools that you can use to analyze your growth metrics in real-time and make changes where necessary!
 
At CSB Creative Business Solutions, we have a team of professionals ready to help your business save more money and overall time, allowing you to spend time on what matters: giving your focus to your team. Our Microsoft 365 Business For Accountants and Bookkeepers course gives you a powerhouse of resources to increase your business’s efficiency and effectiveness. Learn necessary industry skills that are not typically taught, like the best practices and practical ways to systematize processes and elevate your business using Microsoft 365 Business. 
 
Contact us today at learn@cbs-training.ca to learn about our course and how we can help you streamline your bookkeeping or accounting practice with Microsoft 365 Business.

Are you looking to improve your bottom line and streamline your company's communications? The team here at CSB Creative Business Solutions understands that in today's COVID-19 pandemic era, more and more people are working from home and having the option to return to work in a hybrid format. This flexible work environment means that your employees may be working from a wide variety of work environments. From the beaches in Mexico to your administrative assistant's home office, many different organizations and businesses are working extra hard to ensure that their employees are fully equipped with the right tools to enable them to stay productive and deliver quality work for their company even while working remotely.
 
This blog talks about some of our age-old tips and tricks that can help set you and your team up for success.
 
1. Use the Smart Lookup Feature. 

Need to quickly verify a word or phrase, check a fact, or search for context during your work hours? Stay focused on your work and avoid wasting company time by using Smart Lookup in Microsoft 365 Excel, Word or Outlook.

Smart Lookup allows you to instantly find the info you need, by connecting you to multiple resources, which is an excellent feature for anyone in your business.

First, enable the Smart Lookup feature:
Click Tell me at the top of the screen and type in Smart Lookup.
Now you can select a word or phrase, right-click, and choose Smart Lookup.
 
2. Keyboard Shortcuts are Here to Stay! 

Did you know that Microsoft has keyboard shortcuts that extend beyond the classic apps like Word and Excel? Microsoft 365 for Business offers dozens of keyboard shortcuts in Windows to make your work life easier. While we can guarantee that you won't be able to remember all of them, review Microsoft's keyboard shortcuts and jot down a few that you can start implementing in your business life right away. Trust us; a handy cheat sheet never goes out of style.
 
3. Lost Your Work? No Problem!

Have you ever worked for hours on a spreadsheet, presentation or document, only to accidentally delete it all? This issue is one of our biggest "hit the head against the wall" moments. Microsoft 365 for Business enables you to restore your last saved copy (and up to 25 previous copies), saving precious time and effort. View and restore files in SharePoint or OneDrive by clicking File > Info and selecting View. You can see previous versions and restore prior content as needed.
​
At CSB Creative Business Solutions, we have a team of professionals to help you save more money and overall time, allowing you to spend time on what matters: giving your focus to your team.
 
Our Microsoft 365 Business For Business Owners course gives a powerhouse of resources to increase your business's efficiency and effectiveness. Learn essential industry skills that are not typically taught, like the best practices and practical ways to systematize processes and elevate your business using Microsoft 365 for Business.
 
Contact us today at info@cb-solutions.ca to learn about our course and how we can help you streamline your business or accounting practice with Microsoft 365 for Business.

​It is hard to believe that 2021 has been left in the dust, and 2022 is taking center stage. Throughout the pandemic, workplaces have had to make hard decisions, forcing them to adapt to new universal changes fast for their business to continue as usual in a time that was so uncertain. From employees working from home to businesses having to brace the change of social media platforms and different internet applications, making sure that your staff are comfortable with the technology your business is using is imperative for your company's success.
 
We have seen companies from big to small facing the same problem in this digital era: introduce and integrate new technologies into your business effectively, or possibly face getting left behind by your other competitors. If you run a business, there is a high chance that you have already considered streamlining your processes and moving your business to an online productivity suite.
 
By using Microsoft 365 for Business, you are helping create an integral and strategic direction within your business. Besides unique features such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online or Teams Online, Microsoft Office 365 enables multiple security functions, data analyses, project work, real-time communication, social networks and much more. With automatic updates, your company always uses the latest version of Microsoft 365 without the need to implement significant migration projects or to provide substantial resources to the issue, helping you focus on what matters most; your company.
 
According to Microsoft, "Office 365 is designed to meet enterprise security requirements through strong governance and security-aware engineering at every step. Our industry-leading Security Development Life Cycle ensures that security best practices are followed at every stage of service development and delivery. We proactively monitor our services to protect from both known and unknown threats, and we approach security with enterprise businesses top of mind. Office 365 is hosted in Microsoft's network of highly available data centers, built and operated with a defence-in-depth approach to people, processes, and technology. Microsoft Forefront™ Online Protection for Exchange, included with Office 365, protects organizations against viruses and spam and is highly configurable to meet business needs. User connections to the service are protected with 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) encryption."
 
Sometimes, the biggest challenge is taking the first step to streamline your company processes better. ​Suppose you and your employees utilize all of the features of Microsoft 365. In that case, you can have peace of mind knowing that you took the proper steps within our personalized and reliable community to streamline your business, create more time, and spend less money. With seamless integration into the processes that work best for you, our courses help increase overall efficiency, making life easier for you and your business.
 
Are you looking for a more in-depth crash course in all things Microsoft 365 for Business? Join our 12-week intensive Microsoft 365 Business Course For Accounting Professionals. We would love to have you!

As the work world is transitioning into a new hybrid era, more companies recognize the industry value of a centralized experience for employees.  Platforms combining the best personal business management tools and department-wide collaborative resources make work available for individuals globally. Introduced initially as Skype's replacement application, Microsoft Teams has rapidly come into its own as a hub for collaboration and productivity that easily scales alongside your business through Microsoft Business 365.

Microsoft Teams is a next-generation calling and meeting experience built on Office 365's hyper-scale, enterprise-grade cloud. The platform combines workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments for an intuitive work experience. These features translate to:

• A faster, overall more efficient user experience for your employees
• Content archiving and retention for easy discovery and recovery
• Interactive meetings featuring real-time communication, files, and project boards, making online meetings interesting and fun
  

The Microsoft Teams interface makes it easy for businesses working both in the physical office or a hybrid model to create projects, invite team members, and share files seamlessly. Employees can keep track of deadlines, provide real-time feedback to other team members or clients, and use the "command box" for a unique smart search tool. Higher-ups in your business can use the convenient scheduling and shift management features to delegate responsibility and monitor employee progress as it happens easily. Microsoft Teams also integrates with your Outlook calendar, which gives you the option to view existing meetings with team members or clients and schedule new ones in seconds. At the same time, the practical "Activity" tab tracks unread messages, mentions, and replies. 

Because  Microsoft Teams is part of the Office 365 suite, it delivers the latest in advanced security for employees and clients. With two-factor authentication on both group and organization-wide levels, Microsoft Teams features single sign-on through Azure Active Directory, which provides staff access and identity management for users of cloud-based applications. 

If we haven’t already convinced you to make the switch to Microsoft Teams, there are so many other benefits that this blog has not touched on yet. As a component of the Office 365 suite, Microsoft Teams has built-in applications for Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive, which allow your employees to collaborate through familiar and streamlined mediums instead of going from different, not compatible apps. With other exclusive app features like curated recommendations for Productivity, Sales and Support, Project Management, Analytics and Business Intelligence, Teams truly sets themselves apart from other competitors like the G-Suite. 

At Creative Business Solutions, we have a team of professionals ready to help your business save more money and overall time, allowing you to spend time on what matters: giving your focus to your team. We understand that new platforms like Microsoft can be confusing on your own.  Our Microsoft 365 Business For Business Owners course gives a powerhouse of resources to increase your business’ efficiency and effectiveness. Learn necessary industry skills that are not typically taught, like the best practices and practical ways to systematize processes and elevate your business using Microsoft 365 Business. Contact us today at info@cb-solutions.ca to learn about our course and how we can help you streamline your business or accounting practice with Microsoft 365 Business.