In an industry being reshaped by automation and AI, the real competitive edge isn’t just technical expertise — it’s communication. How well can you explain the ‘why’ behind the numbers? How closely are you aligned with your client’s goals? And how do you stay relevant in a world that’s changing fast?

In this episode, we speak with Stuart Grosvenor, Partner and Director at HB&O, about why good communication might just be the most important skill for the modern accountant — and how it opens the door to deeper client relationships, better advisory work, and long-term success.

• • Software: Xenon
  • Podcast: Football podcasts!
  • Valuable lesson learned about building a business: Do it with people you like. You’ve got to get on with the people you work with. You’ve got to have the same goals and outlook on life. If you don’t like them, it’s a long journey.
  • Key takeaway: Your focus should be on your relationship with your clients. If you get that right, you’ll get a lot of other things right. You’ve got to enjoy your clients and that gives you motivation to help them succeed.
    

In today’s fast-paced business environment, data is everywhere – but turning that data into actionable insights is where the real value lies. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), being able to see their business clearly through well-designed visualizations and reports isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a powerful driver of growth. It’s not about pretty charts; it’s about making smarter, faster decisions that lead to long-term success.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to understand your cash flow at a glance, or an accountant helping clients move beyond static spreadsheets, visual reporting helps bridge the gap between raw data and real strategy.

To unpack how SMEs – and the advisors who support them – can harness the power of visual tools to unlock opportunities and enhance performance, we’re joined by Keith Barrett, an accounting and technology specialist with over 25 years of experience in financial management and software support.

Rapid-fire recommendations:

• Best book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

• The most valuable lesson learned about starting a business: Don't give up. Tenacity is key. Grit and perseverance will get you where you need to go.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of analyzing KPIs for your business. KPIs are Key Performance Indicators - quantifiable measures of performance over time for a specific objective. They help provide targets for teams to aim for, milestones to measure progress, and insights to assist members of the organization in making better decisions. So, what KPIs should you be considering for your business and why?

To assist us in considering this topic, we are speaking with Laurika Steenekamp, a CA(SA) and our Head of Customer Experience at Syft. Laurika is our resident expert on creating KPI Scorecards on Syft, tools that help you to analyse and interpret your KPIs, and she’s helped many Syft users with this process.

What's the deal with cloud technology? How does it actually work, what do people get wrong about cloud strategy and optimization, and why should we be treating cloud as a business model, rather than a technology project?

In this episode, we break down the costs, consider optimization in practice, chat about the role of culture and accountability, and look towards the future.

We are joined by Karind Ori, a tech entrepreneur and cloud strategist who believes cloud isn’t just tech – it’s a business model.

Rapid-fire questions

• • Software: My banking app
  • Book: The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley
  • The most valuable lesson learned about building a business: You can’t build a business alone. You need a team of likeminded individuals to help you build and scale your business successfully.
  • Key takeaway: Form your own opinions. There’s a sense of anxiety of what GenAI and the future of AI holds. Through all the hype, there’s a lot of fiction, there’s a lot of information you’ve got to sift through, and it’s very easy to act on what someone else says or what the crowd does or what your competitors do. But, if you just take some time to apply yourself, you can form your own opinion. This will force you to do your own research, ask the right questions, and network with likeminded people and experts. Your own opinion matters and taking the time to form your own opinion can significantly reduce the risks involved in making technological decisions.

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What really drives revenue? How can you improve your sales, no matter what industry you're in? That's what we cover in this episode with our guest, Doug C. Brown, the CEO of CEO Sales Strategies.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The common sales problem that most companies experience - unpredictable revenue - and how to solve this.

• How to overcome the idea of sales as an undesirable profession and why we should change our perspective.

• The importance of understanding the business of client acquisition, rather than simply considering your product or service deliverables.

• The key ingredients for creating a predictable and scalable sales system.

• What top performers do differently from the rest of us.

• When to put together a sales team for your organization.

• The importance of measuring the metrics.

• The importance of perspective in sales - looking from the outside in vs. inside out.

  
  

Rapid-fire recommendations

• Book: The Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill

• Piece of advice: When you improve yourself, you improve your business.

• Key takeaways:

• 1. No matter where you are, start today, take a little step forward, and keep stepping forward. It will likely take you 3 times longer and cost you 3 times more than you expect. Just keeping going!
  2. Ask yourself what is within your control and take action on that today.
  3. All the failures you’ve experienced are building blocks for the rest of the way.
  4. Don’t let anybody talk you out of what you really want to do.
     

In this episode, we discuss a topic that's on every business leader's mind: creating high-performing revenue teams. We don't just talking about hitting targets, but about building sustainable, thriving teams that deliver consistent results without burning out. Some of the topics we cover include:Building a successful teamTreating your revenue team like a sports teamThe importance of attitudeAnd to help us in this discussion, we have Matt Lowry, the Chief Revenue Officer at ApprovalMax.

Rapid-fire recommendations

• Software: Spotify
• Book: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
• Podcast: The Revenue Leadership Podcast with Kyle Norton
• Piece of advice: Treat your revenue team/s like a sports team
• Key takeaway: It's all about customer centricity. Review your CI calls and review your processes, asking yourself if they are truly customer-centric.

We've all felt the pervasive hype around AI. Now that the initial excitement has settled, it's time to tackle more critical questions, such as AI's exponential growth means for us as individuals, communities, and society? In this episode, we’ll investigate some of these questions alongside an expert in AI and machine learning - Prof. Benjamin Rosman from the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand.

In this episode we consider the following topics:

• • The evolution of AI

• • How we can make the most of AI from a business perspective

• • The broader implications of AI

  
  

• Rapid-fire recommendations

• • Authors: Yuval Noah Harari & Terry Pratchett

• • Software: ChatGPT for general purposeness

  • Key takeaway: There are a few values that are more important now than they have ever been - Curiosity & Who you want to be as a person that is not tied to your work

  
  

In this episode, we explore a critical shift in the business world. While data is abundant, the real power lies in transforming raw numbers into compelling narratives and clear strategic direction. We're witnessing the rise of a new kind of leader: the 'Data Whisperer.' These are the individuals who can take complex financial figures and make them speak, guiding businesses toward smarter decisions and sustained growth.

Join us as we chat with Gavin Simpson, CEO and Founder of Cloud Finance & Accounting in Edinburgh, UK. We'll delve into how forward-thinking finance leaders are becoming "data whisperers," equipped with the tools and mindset to understand complex financial information and communicate its story clearly across the organization.

Rapid-fire recommendations

• Software: Fireflies Notetaker

• Book: The Almanac of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness

• Podcast: The Tim Ferriss Show

• Key takeaway: How can I get the numbers of my business to tell me a story of the past, but, more importantly, of the future?