training your staff in R&D tax relief software

7 ways to successfully embed R&D software into your firm

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So, your company has taken the plunge and signed up to trial WhisperClaims to prepare your R&D tax claims, and you’re raring to go! 

Your next step is to get the rest of your firm onboard. Well, while we won’t pretend to be experts on change management, we’ve pulled together this quick guide to help make your job easier. 

1. Mind the gap

How does your company currently handle the preparation of R&D claims?  Is there a defined process? Do you use a third party provider?

The first step to successful adoption of WhisperClaims is to work out how and where it can add value. Spend time really pulling apart how things are currently done, and look for gaps, bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Once you’ve identified these, you can look at how WhisperClaims could help. If, for example, you’ve been turning down opportunities because the claims are too small to be economically viable, think about how WhisperClaims could be used to remove costs from the process. On the other hand, if you currently outsource everything, think about how and when this can be brought back in house. 

2. Find your champion

Ok, you’ve worked out how WhisperClaims can actually help your team. Now it’s time to find yourself a hero! It might have to be you, or you might have to persuade someone from the team to join you, but having a champion could be key to the whole endeavour. They’ll need to have good rapport with the team, be excited about WhisperClaims, and, for maximum success, be generally skeptical about change. If you can persuade the most cynical member of your team to be your champion, you’re half-way there!

3. Education, education, education

Right, it’s time to start training! Make sure you pitch the training at the right level – experienced teams won’t need a primer on the R&D scheme, for example, whereas if the team have never directly done an R&D claim, then diving straight into the software might leave them confused and more resistant than ever.

Make sure that you, and your champion, are clear on what pace your team will need in order to build their confidence. Some members of your team may find change overwhelming, so this will be your chance to show that you understand their needs and to get people on board.

4. All aboard!

Hopefully the training will have gone a long way towards getting the team’s buy-in for WhisperClaims, but you’ll probably still want to continue to work on this. Take the time to sense-check your plans with the team, and ask how they think WhisperClaims could be best used. Don’t let them override your plans, but do be prepared to make adjustments to include the team’s input and ideas.

5. Testing, testing

Ok, your plan has been optimised and the team are onboard – it’s time to get going! At this point, it’s a good idea to identify a particular subset of claimants to trial the software with. This might be new claimants only, or just smaller claims, but the key thing is to make sure that enough claims are put through WhisperClaims to give you enough data to analyse the effects of using the software. 

6. Results and rewards

Once the trial is complete, it’s time to look at the results. How much time or money was saved? Were your clients satisfied with the process and output? How did the team feel about using it? Make sure to celebrate the success of the trial, and reward the team members that engaged with WhisperClaims. Show a league table, publish stats on profitability, give out chocolate – whatever it takes to get the final buy-in from your team!

7. Roll-out

So, you’ve convinced the team, tested the tool and refined the process. All you need to do now is roll it out far and wide. Work with your team to identify potential claimants, market R&D tax relief services to your client base and start putting as many claims as possible through the system!

How to write an R&D tax relief technical narrative

With HMRC’s new mandatory requirement for project descriptions on all submissions, we wanted to share our experiences to help others to write their best possible technical narratives.

Available to download here.

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