Founded in the 1920s, Carpenter Box has grown into an award-winning firm of chartered accountants and business advisers based in the South of England. What sets them apart is their genuine commitment to building strong, lasting relationships with their clients. Their specialist teams don’t just crunch numbers – they actively help clients grow their businesses in profitable, sustainable, and tax-efficient ways.
Carpenter Box believes in working hand-in-hand with clients, offering a collaborative and proactive service that goes beyond mere compliance. To further this mission, they teamed up with Summa Tech to tackle some specific operational challenges, aiming to create the best possible experience for their clients.
Together, they introduced a range of innovative services, including a user-friendly client portal and smooth onboarding processes.
Paula Nurse, Client Service Director, at Carpenter Box, said, “We’ve been using Summa Tech’s onboarding software for a few years now. It’s been a lifesaver for how we operate. Before using this technology, we would have to manually onboard clients, which could be quite a task. You’d have various paper documents that were stored in different areas and need multiple checklists to make sure everything was done.”
The onboarding tool has provided a solution for better team communication by allowing employees to see how the process is progressing.
“Knowing where the team are with putting the onboarding documents together and the information that they’re waiting for and where they’ve got to, just makes it a whole lot easier with this software.”
The software has been a massive time saving for both the firm and its clients, helping to boost efficiency.
“Because everything is in one place, it speeds up our processes a lot, it can save me alone up to 2 hours of work per client”, said Paula.
“Multiple people can access the documents at one time and with greater visibility I can see what stage of the process we are at and who it’s currently sitting with so I know who to follow up, which can be particularly useful for when we have people on holiday.”
The client portal has also been a useful platform to enhance Carpenter Box’s operations. Paula highlighted how the straightforwardness of the platform makes using it so easy.
“The portal is easy to use and understand and links to our own document management system.
“If we want to upload a document to the portal for a client to approve or vice versa if a client wants to send us information, it can be done through the portal. So, it’s all just stored in that one centralised place. It’s been the beneficial solution for files that are too big to send over email and on the security side of things as well.”
The portal has made significant advancements in the GDPR compliance of its customers.
“I think having a portal in place is very important. It’s alleviated the risk of sending private documents over email to ensure compliance with GDPR. To have that comfort blanket that is as secure as it can be for that information is really important.”
With modern technology, everyone wants instant access to everything, so having a solution that supports this has been crucial to keeping clients happy.
“If clients want a document, or their accounts are ready and they want them, they haven’t got to wait however long for the post to arrive or come in and collect them or risk that an email has gone to their junk, it’s all there on the portal ready and waiting for them.”
Carpenter Box values Summa Tech’s willingness to tailor their service and their ambition to constantly find ways to improve their software for a better client experience.
“Summa Tech listens to any feedback we provide them with and finds the right solutions to implement, like adding invoices to the portal, which wasn’t originally available”, said Paula.
“What’s really key is that it’s constantly being evolved into an even more useful tool, not just a document sharing tool, both internally and externally, and I think there is a lot of opportunity out there to grow even further.”
Paula believes that Summa Tech’s background in accountancy is what makes their services so successful.
“The creators of Summa Tech’s background in accountancy are really useful as they know both sides of the coin. Being from an accounting practice they knew what the frustrations were, and I think that’s why this software works so well.
The collaboration between Carpenter Box and Summa Tech showcases how digital solutions can transform and elevate the accounting industry.