When Accountancy Age surveyed digital leaders among the UK Top 100 firms, they found practices with 75% or more of their tech stack integrated are 63% more likely to achieve significant revenue growth.
The lesson? Growth follows integration. But integration no longer means being locked into a single vendor's suite. Today's most successful firms build composable architectures where best-of-breed tools connect seamlessly through platforms like Microsoft Azure, with unified identity via Entra ID and natural Office 365 workflows.
Why CIOs Are Rethinking “One-Stop Practice Management”
“All-in-one" platforms offer convenience, but they aren't built for specialised tasks. Purpose-built tools designed specifically for tax workflows, ESG reporting, resource management, or CRM deliver superior functionality for this work. A composable architecture connects these specialist tools through modern APIs to get the best of both worlds.
1. Depth over breadth
In an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing industry, the growing gap between functionality in “all-in-one" platforms and best-of-breed software is holding firms back. For example, firms approach Beeye for scheduling to use that instead of the practice management scheduling functionality (integrated with their practice management).
2. AI needs open data
2025 ICAEW research shows 72 % of mid-tier UK firms are budgeting for AI over the next three years. Best-of-breed tools with open APIs expose clean, well-labelled data straight to models.
3. Lower risk integrations
80% of UK mid-tier firms surveyed by ICAEW view integration and automation investments as a high priority. Modern Integration as a Service (iPaaS) tools knit together APIs faster, and often cheaper, than a single suite upgrade that drags training, migration, and downtime costs with it.
4. Security & Resilience
Modular stacks isolate vulnerabilities and avoid single-vendor risk. If one tool is compromised, the rest stays online.
5. Talent retention
Best-of-breed software ship updates constantly. This means your specialist work is always benefitting from the latest best practices, automation workflows, and UI. Especially true for Gen Z workers, an efficient, modern environment means they can upskill and certify faster as time isn’t lost on menial work or outdated processes.
Resource Management: The Glue Layer That Pays for Itself
Compared to workflow or other tools that help staff perform tasks more effectively and efficiently, when resource management is reduced to ‘scheduling’, it is dismissed as having less of a firm-wide usage or impact.
This perception couldn’t be more wrong. Resource management is the ultimate best-of-breed tool to connect to your firm management stack. It is the lever for profitable engagements while keeping staff and clients happy and engaged.
In addition to firm-wide visibility of staff availability and capacity, integrated best-of-breed resource management software multiplies the impact of your other tools:
Client and CRM: accurate work requests without re-keying project data
Talent platforms: project demand matched to skills and training paths
Time & billing: live margin forecasts against budgets and schedules
BI dashboards: utilisation and financials by client, team, and location
People are at the heart of every accounting firm. So it follows that resource data cuts across everything – proof that composability drives profit as well as productivity.
Integrating Resource Management
Getting scheduling integration right requires the right approach from day one. Here's how to ensure your resource management platform becomes the strategic connector it should be:
1. Select API-first vendors. Demand fully documented, version-controlled APIs. Ask about endpoint stability and webhook availability before committing.
2. Use an integration hub. A low-code iPaaS, such as Power Automate can map resource-management data to ERP objects (projects, cost centres) and to HRIS records (employees, contractors).
3. Instrument everything. Track sync latency, API error rates, and downstream data freshness. Visibility builds confidence among partners who worry about “too many moving parts.”
4. Change Management. Surface quick wins - such as time saved double-keying project data into schedules - before moving on to the next integration phase e.g syncing skills from HCM to auto-match work to people.
5. Measure business KPIs, not just technical ones. Report improved realisation or increased utilisation.
As you build the FY26 roadmap, position resource management as a core layer in a best-of-breed ecosystem and start liberating your essential practice management from rigid suites. The impact is immediate and evolves over time, giving Partners a living example of composability in action.