Crowe Spark achieves strong growth ambitions thanks to focus on digitalisation

Don't just say 'accounting firm' or 'law firm' to Crowe Spark. 'Crowe's entrepreneurial advisers have experience with companies of all sizes and from all sectors. From accountancy over taxation to advice in HR and/or legal. The organisation is also part of a global accountancy network 'Crowe Global'. With some 220 companies and 42,000 employees across 130 countries in this group.

Strong growth ambitions

The sector in which Crowe Spark operates has been undergoing an accelerated wave of consolidation for several years. The main drivers for this are the need for specialists, the tight labour market and the importance of ongoing digitalisation. Crowe Spark also resolutely pulled out the acquisition card. Recently, for example, Agio Antwerpen Centrum (Berchem), Accountancy Noëth (Bornem) and Boekhoudkantoor Unnu (Aartselaar) were successfully integrated. "Takeovers enable us to acquire specific knowledge and grow faster," says Managing Partner Bart Apers.

The multidisciplinary service provider for business has experienced substantial growth in recent years. "In barely three years, we have integrated some 50 new employees," Bart Apers tells us. "Thanks to the structure we are now building, we will be able to sustain our further growth in a stable way in the coming years as well."

Focus on advanced digitisation

‘The future is digital' reads the Crowe Spark website. "For years, we have been pioneering digital accounting. Scan in, email (or upload) and done! Digital accounting brings a lot of benefits, with the main advantage being time and efficiency gains for both our clients and employees."

To manage this digitalisation within the company, Crowe Spark found an ideal partner in VanRoey.be. "In a sector where digital contact is increasingly the norm and a fast response time is required, a flawless functioning of the IT environment is a must. We are committed to responding to our customers within 48 hours" it sounds.

Microsoft technology as catalyst

In its mission to be a 'one stop shop' for entrepreneurs, Crowe Spark chose to migrate to Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform. "Our systems had to be modified so that everyone can work from anywhere and always be available." For the latter, VanRoey.be set up a far-reaching integration with Microsoft Teams. This allows employees - regardless of their location - to communicate and share documents with each other efficiently and securely.

All meeting rooms are now also equipped with the same technology, so that meetings anywhere can be held in the same good conditions. Finally, the physical telephone exchange will soon be replaced by Microsoft Teams.

Secure sensitive data

A second important aspect, of course, is the safety. "When employees work very flexibly and from very different locations, cybersecurity must also be fully remembered" indicates Maarten Huijskens, Account Manager at VanRoey.be. Bart Apers confirms the importance: "Our employees handle quite a lot of sensitive data. Thanks to the introduction of multifactor authentication (MFA) and continuous backups, among other things, our customers can rest assured that this data is more than adequately secured."

In addition, there was also a strong commitment to a improved internal communication. Maarten Huijskens: "With many new employees being recruited, smooth (digital) onboarding and good internal communication is more important than ever. To this end - based on SharePoint Online - built a fully customised intranet. Should Crowe Spark make an acquisition tomorrow that suddenly adds 20 employees, they can be seamlessly integrated into the existing organisation."

Bart Apers shows himself particularly satisfied with the current cooperation: "Today, we can unpack a rapidly scalable IT environment, tailored to our growing company and our particularly flexible business environment. As an organisation, we are now ready to move quickly with new integrations, which obviously gives us a competitive advantage."