How KDA Inc. eliminated technology chaos, reclaimed hundreds of thousands in margin, and transformed their team's day-to-day experience — across two years of focused, methodical change.
The Client
KDA Inc. is a 40+ person tax and accounting firm that has grown significantly since 2020. Led by Karla Dennis, the firm had built strong revenue and a growing client base — but rapid growth had left the firm's operational infrastructure struggling to keep up. What worked at a smaller scale was no longer serving a firm of this size.
By 2024, the symptoms were hard to ignore: bloated technology spend, constant rework, team frustration, and a firm owner who knew they were leaving significant margin on the table — but couldn't see exactly where.
What Had Already Been Tried
KDA had already made serious attempts to address the problems. A VP of Operations was hired, but couldn't adapt to the firm's culture or think creatively enough to move things forward. The IT provider was swapped out — but the new provider inherited an environment they hadn't built, leaving them reactive rather than strategic.
A move to AWS, built out by a third-party developer, had created a Thomson Reuters environment that was slow, unreliable, and expensive. Tools kept getting added to address symptoms. The root causes stayed buried.
The Challenge
KDA's issues weren't a single problem — they were a compounding set of unresolved ones. Technology had been added reactively for years, creating overlap, redundancy, and a team that had learned to work around broken systems rather than through them. There was no security plan. No documented processes. No one to audit what was actually happening at the infrastructure level.
"We still didn't have a well documented security plan in place, and were unaware of our blind spots. We kept adding tools to put bandages on the issues but never really solved the root of our problems — because we never really identified the root of the issues."
The Approach
The engagement began with Joe embedding himself inside the firm — meeting with department heads, building an issues list, and prioritizing what needed to be addressed first. Rather than prescribing solutions from the outside, he listened to the people doing the work every day. The S.T.O.P. Review gave the whole team a voice, including a firm-wide staff survey that revealed not just what tools existed — but which ones the team actually wanted gone.
How It Unfolded
The Standout Moment
After the post-busy-season staff survey, Joe presented the full list of software in use across the firm. Forty-plus applications — many of which a significant portion of the team actively wanted eliminated.
It wasn't just an audit. It was the first time leadership had a clear, honest view of what the team was actually dealing with every day. And it made every subsequent technology decision significantly easier.
Results & Impact
The results at KDA aren't a single win — they're the compounding effect of two years of sequenced, deliberate change. Every initiative built on the last one. Every dollar recovered was reinvested in the next phase. By the end of the engagement, the firm had transformed its technology stack, its client experience, and its operational culture.
By the Numbers
"Joe came in and embedded himself within the firm. He spent time learning what we did, researched solutions that made sense, and implemented services to address our specific needs. It was fun having him around. He can be a little bit of a 'hot mess' at times but that makes him even more endearing. Our team loved having him with us and we are happy to have partnered with him for the last 2 years."
Key Takeaways
The first call is 15 minutes. No pitch deck. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about your firm — and whether there's a real fit.
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No disruption. No unnecessary change. We work around your calendar and your firm's reality. I'm here with you, not making decisions for you.