Meet The Winner of Canopy's Innovation Award

We asked our customers to show us how they innovated their firms this year for a chance to compete for Canopy's 2021 Innovation Award and they delivered. With nearly 100 entries, it was a difficult decision, but one we feel confident in. The winner is ... 🥁 drum roll please 🥁 ... OGC Associates P.A.! Read more about them here. 

OGC Associates P.A.

Based in Florida, OGC Associates P.A. specializes in accounting and tax preparation services with a focus on the Brazilian community in the area. They also work with clients internationally. Over the last 15 years, the firm has grown to a staff of 10 professionals and opened an Orlando location. The firm is the winner of Canopy’s 2021 Innovation Award for their work to introduce new ideas into the industry. We spoke with Nico Cardoso, the sales and marketing representative at OGC to find out what areas of their firm they have been able to improve through Canopy.

Revenue has increased 30% in the last year

OGC increased profits by 30% once they changed how they organized the structure of their clients. They decided to only give access to Canopy’s Client Portal to their monthly paying clients, or their VIP clients. This drove their revenue up by increasing the number of monthly subscribers they serviced. The firm found that clients were willing to invest in their accountants knowing they would be getting the support they needed to thrive. “It’s been pretty incredible to see that our customers are willing to invest in a company that is implementing not only technology, but also great customer service and great accounting and fiscal support,” Nico said. 

The firm’s clients are now more eager to adopt the VIP packages, knowing they will have access to the Canopy Portal and the firm’s quality customer service. Since adopting this new strategy and implementing Canopy software, the firm has seen a 60% jump in monthly paying clients in under one year.

Time spent on the phone with clients was cut 95%

Mirian De Souza, payroll manager at OGC, used to spend hours every week answering phone calls from clients with questions—under those circumstances, it was difficult to stay on top of other tasks. Once they implemented Canopy, they were able to send customers to the client portal, where clients could put in their questions and expect to receive an answer within one day. Mirian estimates this process has cut the time spent on the phone with clients by 95%—time she can now spend working on other projects.

The team is wasting less time answering emails and phone calls now that the communication is concentrated in the portal. “The phone doesn’t ring as much anymore. All the communication is centralized,” she said. One of the biggest bottlenecks for the firm was receiving client tax documentation. But thanks to client requests on Canopy, it went from an issue to a strength. The biggest improvement this past year was their resiliency as a company, according to the firm.

International work made easy

Since OGC works with clients all over the globe and employs staff in other countries as well, remote work is crucial to how the firm functions. Thanks to Canopy’s cloud technology, working with clients and coworkers across the world is not an issue.

“This flexibility has proven to be crucial at this time in order for us to retain the exceptional talent that makes up our firm. We have employees working remotely from Brazil, England, and different cities in Florida,” Nico said.

A large percentage of the firm’s clients are located in Brazil, and the firm was able to work with Canopy to get the mobile app available in Brazil’s app store. Now, 100% of the firm’s Brazil-based customers have downloaded the app and use it frequently. “It doesn’t matter where they are in the world, they always will have access to whatever information is important for them regarding their business in the palm of their hands, on their cellphones through the Canopy app,” Nico said. 

Congratulations to OGC! Keep up the great work and keep innovating this year. You can watch their video, which was highlighted at Canopy's Innovation Summit, below.