The technology-service binomial that Sage seeks to reinforce through Sage Conecta

Sage Conecta wants to be the largest digital community between SMEs, freelancers and consultancies in Spain. A networking and collaborative work platform to connect clients with professional offices. This is one of the projects that Marc Rius , national director of Professional Firms at Sage , tells us about, with whom we spoke coinciding with his presence at Forinvest . -How is the professional law firm sector? – The sector is in a moment of important change because several aspects coincide; On the one hand, there is no doubt that the pandemic has overloaded the activity of offices; There has been a lot of legal and regulatory change, mandatory guidelines that have put a lot of stress on advisors and their teams, which is why there has been strong wear and tear in the sector, especially if they were not digitally prepared. In turn, this joins a change that was already occurring but that the pandemic has accelerated, I am talking about the role of the Administration as the great digitizing agent of the country. As an example I will focus on the Anti-Fraud Law, which has already been approved. In its regulatory development there is a specific section that specifies that all billing software must be certified and meet certain requirements and standards.

This means that, in the short and medium term, we will have a much more direct relationship with the Administration; so that when we invoice there will be codes that Phone Number List cannot be destroyed or altered, a QR code that identifies each document; and if any change is required, the relevant corrective invoice will have to be made. That is, we are talking about that any device that issues an invoice will have to be communicated with the Administration; It will be something similar to the experience that is already taking place in the Basque Country with   Ticket Bai. Therefore, we are moving to an almost real-time relationship model with the Administration. – There is talk of Big Tax Brother… – It is true that the Treasury will have almost in real time all the billing of SMEs and the self-employed in about two or three years. This will not be a big problem for companies that are already digitalized and used to working with management software because their software will be adapted to work in this way; It will just be an operational change. But it will be a radical change, for a large part of the world of SMEs, micro-SMEs, self-employed people.



with poorly digitized ways of managing. That is where law firms and advisors have the great opportunity. These professionals will go to models that will require much more connectivity with their clients; because these clients will have to be reporting their invoices to the Administration in real time and to do so they will need the support and advice of the firm. – How are the offices approaching this change, are they prepared? – In the office sector itself there is a very important generational change; new generations that are reaching the general management of offices, betting very heavily on digitalization and efficiency. The new generations of businessmen, who are taking on senior management roles in their organizations, are also demanding it. We can safely say that we are facing the most educated and digitalized business generation that has existed to date. Therefore, there is no doubt that we are facing a paradigm shift regarding how an office has been operating; and the role he will have to assume now. -What will you need? – It will need a lot of technology; because today 90% of the average income of an office in Spain corresponds to the commodity services part, such as payroll, accounting or basic taxes; services highly leveraged in price, which require an adequate level of technological efficiency and process automation. And on the other hand, added value through very well-trained people; This will require implementing professional training models, which give rise to more specialized services that provide added value from advice.