Summit Accounting Replaced 6 SaaS Tools in 7 Days, Saving $134K/Year
The Challenge
Summit Accounting, a growing CPA firm with 30 staff across tax, audit, and advisory services, was drowning in SaaS subscriptions. Each accountant toggled between 6+ tools daily: QuickBooks Practice Manager for workflow, Karbon for project tracking, Calendly for client scheduling, Loom for internal walkthroughs, Slack for team chat, and Dropbox for document storage. Total SaaS spend: $14,200/month. The bigger problem wasn't cost. It was fragmentation. Client documents lived in Dropbox, client communications in Slack, engagement letters in Karbon, and tax files in QuickBooks. During busy season, accountants spent 30% of their day hunting for information across tools.
The Platform We Built
A unified custom solution tailored to Summit Accounting's exact workflow.
The Solution
AltStack built a single-pane-of-glass accounting practice management platform. Key features: a client portal with secure document upload and e-signature, workflow automation engine for tax returns and audits (with deadline tracking and team assignments), integrated video messaging (replacing Loom), built-in team chat organized by client engagement (replacing Slack), cloud document management with version control (replacing Dropbox), and a scheduling module with client self-booking (replacing Calendly). The system integrates directly with QuickBooks Online for financial data, the firm kept QBO for actual bookkeeping but eliminated the expensive Practice Manager addon.
The Results
Summit cut monthly SaaS spending from $14,200 to $1,200 (AltStack maintenance plan), saving $156,000/year gross and $134,000 net after the one-time build cost. During their first busy season with the new platform, average engagement completion time dropped 22%, partner review bottlenecks decreased by 40%, and zero client documents were misfiled (down from 3-4 per week with the old system). The managing partner noted that the single biggest productivity win was eliminating the "tool switching tax", accountants now work in one interface all day.
Tools Replaced
“The idea of custom software used to mean 6 months and $500K. AltStack built and deployed our entire client management system in 7 days, with better features than the 4 SaaS tools it replaced.”
7 days to working demo, 10 days of refinement, full firm rollout in 3 weeks
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Summit Accounting's custom software project.
Summit Accounting was spending $14,200/month ($170,400/year) across 6 SaaS tools for a 30-person team. That's roughly $5,680 per employee per year in software costs alone, consistent with industry averages of $8,400/employee.
Yes. Summit's custom AltStack platform integrates directly with QuickBooks Online via API for all financial data. The firm eliminated the expensive QuickBooks Practice Manager addon while keeping QBO for core bookkeeping.
Get Results Like Summit Accounting
Tell us what SaaS tools you want to replace. We'll build a custom solution and deliver a working demo in 7 days.