About Mueller dotKonnect: what it is, how it evolved, & what the future looks like

Join Phani Ilapakurty, President, Dave Nissen, CEO, and Amy Chamoun, Partner, for an in-depth discussion on Mueller dotKonnect. In this episode, the team shares insights on what Mueller dotKonnect is, the evolution of the firm, and what the future has in store.

For more information, please contact:

Phani Ilapakurty, FCA, CFE, CMA, EA
President
(630) 715-5486
phani.i@muellerdotkonnect.com

David J. Nissen, CPA/ABV, CVA
CEO
(630) 524-5274
dnissen@pkfmueller.com

Amy M. Chamoun, CPA, MST
Partner
(847) 649-8843
achamoun@pkfmueller.com

Learn more about Mueller dotKonnect:
https://www.muellerdotkonnect.com/

Transcript

[00:00:00] Ashley: Hi, I'm Ashley and you're listening to "Connecting the Dots Across Finance Functions," the Mueller dotKonnect podcast. Today we welcome Phani Ilapakurty, Dave Nissen, and Amy Chamoun for discussion on Mueller dotKonnect. But before we begin, let's find out more about our guests.

[00:00:21] Ashley: Phani the president of Mueller dotKonnect, is a financial process and system specialist with a passion and zeal to transform finance operations of small to large enterprises. He brings over 20 years of consulting industry experience and has served large-global companies across multiple industries while associated with Big 4 firms. 

[00:00:46] Ashley: Dave, the CEO of Mueller dotKonnect, is responsible for communicating and achieving the Firm's vision. His concentration on strategic planning and drive for business development allows him to share the Mueller dotKonnect story in helping clients flourish. 

[00:00:59] Ashley: Amy, Partner of Mueller dotKonnect is an international business consulting partner with over 17 years of experience, specializing in global business affairs and tax issues. As an international tax liaison, she is known for being globally connected and locally available to help clients navigate a wide range of domestic and cross-border operations, business expansion, and other matters.

[00:01:21] Ashley: Well, thank you Phani, Dave, and Amy so much for your time, and thanks for joining the podcast today. It would be great if we could start off by understanding what Mueller dotKonnect is. Could you provide us with a brief overview?

[00:01:31] Dave: Yes, I'd be happy to Ashley. Mueller dotKonnect is a financial and accounting, service that we provide, both in the United States and India. The value proposition is really that we have a two prong attack. We have a very extensive professional team here in the United States, and then they are teamed up with very highly trained individuals in India. Together, we put together a very positive and powerful solution for all of our SMEs within, basically the world.

[00:02:06] Ashley: Now that we have a better understanding of what Mueller dotKonnect is, how did Mueller dotKonnect get started? 

[00:02:12] Phani: Yeah, well, first started with dotKonnect and then Mueller dotKonnect. From my background, I worked with Big 4 accounting firms before starting dotKonnect where we service large enterprise clients using again, team process and technology, and team extending between U.S. and India.

[00:02:30] Phani: So having seen that work, I thought probably the same model. We can extend it to small and medium businesses. So that was the whole idea of how dotKonnect came into picture and dotKonnect is basically connecting the dots of the finance and accounting world for small businesses using tech, process, and people. So we started servicing hundreds of small businesses, and then one of the client, that we service was, of Mueller's and that's how we all connected.

[00:02:58] Ashley: How has Mueller dotKonnect evolved over time?

[00:03:02] Amy: This has been a very exciting journey to begin, and we're just, just getting started at this, but you know, relationships are very important in being close to your clients and involved in their businesses, even more important today. And our longterm client here at PKF Mueller introduced me to Phani. Phani was part of his extended accounting and finance team. And we started collaborating more together, working together, pulling the accounting and finance pieces together with the tax planning, cross border planning that is involved in a business that's doing businesses across various different foreign jurisdictions. 

[00:03:44] Amy: So with that relationship Phani and I became closer, we started working together more closely, and I knew that there was something really interesting with this mix and really had to meet with him in person, find out more about him. And that's how myself and Dave Nissin, began to build a relationship with Phani and his team and the synergies that we bring together with our client base here in the United States and Phani's extended team in India. We came together in cooperation and the synergies that we are able to bring together as a group is really going to help us provide a lot more efficiencies, a lot more productivity in ultimately more profits for our clients with an onshore offshore mix. 

[00:04:37] Dave: You know, Amy that's exactly the point. And when you said relationship, right before we met Phani for the first time we're talking to Martin Moll, who is the CEO of a large accounting firm, uh, previously that I had met and we were going to do something with Martin, as we were talking throughout COVID and the pandemic.

[00:05:00] Dave: When we met with Phani, we really started thinking maybe we could do something with all of us, including Martin and Phani, and his team. And that's kind of what we did. And I think it really started with the relationship that you brought together with Phani and you built with him.

[00:05:18] Ashley: We now know what Mueller dotKonnect is and how it started, but the most important question is why Mueller dotKonnect?

[00:05:25] Phani: So the key differentiator, there are so many outsourcing and you, you see a lot of talk about outsourcing and especially offshoring and stuff. The key differentiation that we bring in the value prop and it's not that we are saying it it's, it's proven because of the clients are saying this.

[00:05:42] Phani: One is people. Okay. So the balance of the blend of U.S. India is a key differentiator. The people being exposed to that culture and as well as the businesses. 

[00:05:51] Phani: Second is the approach. See our mantra is transform manage and empower. So we don't take as is. Even though we are an extended office of the existing plane, we try to make the optimal use of technology. Technology is part of the solution that we bring to table. 

[00:06:09] Phani: Third is experience. And PKF Mueller, which is a top ranked, uh, firm has the experience that can blend this model much more effectively. The compliance piece, the assurance piece, uh, complex accounting. There is always that Brainware along with the outsourcing solution. 

[00:06:27] Phani: The next point is scale. We have seen in many cases where startups getting funded and they immediately need to pump up their accounting staff by five or four, they, we can scale as fast as the growth for these companies, which is very different from building a team exclusively in the U.S.

[00:06:47] Phani: Next is flexibility. So we have many client examples where we started with finance and accounting, but suddenly they needed help with expense management. They needed help with pricing. So the flexibility of the team and expanding that outside of little expanded services, more than finance and accounting, we are very good at that 

[00:07:07] Phani: Last, but not the least I think the cost aspect, profitability to the client, as well as our cost model cost model is flat fee. So it's just like payroll they're extended office, but we, we blend it in such a fashion that it is cost-effective as well as it adds up to that.

[00:07:25] Dave: So we were talking about why Mueller dotKonnect. Outsourcing is not new. Why do we do it? Because, really right now, why not have the specialist work on the finance and accounting piece? And basically, it's proven to work. During the pandemic, we've realized that we can effectively work remote and so this model does work. That outsourcing is possible and remote working is efficient. So why not provide the solution from an organization like Mueller dotKonnect where we have the right people. We have a systemized approach. We have experience in finance and accounting. We can scale it to any organization. We have the flexibility for any organization and we're efficient. And so I think that's why Mueller dotKonnect is so important and can be a proven solution for a lot of small and medium-sized businesses.

[00:08:25] Ashley: What does the future look like for Mueller dotKonnect? 

[00:08:29] Dave: I think the future of Mueller dotKonnect is unbelievable and there's no end to the growth and the development that we can have. And that's mainly because right now the days are so uncertain in terms of, talent. Talent is probably the commodity that is needed for most businesses around the world.

[00:08:51] Dave: It seems like the talent that's in India is very passionate and they're committed and there's a big incentive to develop into, the ultimate professionals. And I think that's going to be really powerful for Mueller dotKonnect in the services that we provide to those small and medium businesses around the world.

[00:09:14] Amy: I'd like to add another comment to that as well. Very well said, Dave. Knowing India more today than I have in the past and actually just getting back from India, it's clear in Hyderabad that it's very technologically driven and you combine that with the direction that we're going into the future, everything is being done through technology in this, this is only getting faster and faster. So teaming up with the team in India and having that silicone valley of India involvement, we're really going to be able to use technology to drive, the future with our clients to improve our processes, cause everything today is getting a lot more complex.

[00:09:59] Amy: The increased legislation and regulations. Has really, put a lot more transparency and obligations on service providers to be able to report the increased legislation and regulations. And combining that with technology is going to allow us to do things more efficiently. 

[00:10:16] Phani: It's absolutely Amy, so to add one more, see good or bad COVID happened and that transformed the world and it has proven that remote work also is as efficient as people working in the office. Why that is important is again, Mueller dotKonnect's model is we are an extended office. We are an outsourced office to existing businesses. It automatically prove because again, technology was up there so it was very easy for finance and accounting to be done from anywhere outside of the office.

[00:10:50] Phani: Yes, because of that being proven. Now it doesn't matter whether it is done in Chicago, Plano, Hyderabad, India, wherever it is. So now the future looks all the more good for this type of model in the sense that the clients are very much open to going down this path. Yes, outsourcing is not new, but it is new to finance in accounting, and it is all the more new to small and medium businesses.

[00:11:13] Phani: So the future is, as Dave mentioned, it's bright. And, uh, I think we are solidly placed to provide value to our clients. 

[00:11:21] Ashley: Well, I think this was a really great overview and thank you for your time today to explain Mueller dotKonnect, what it is, the evolution, and what the future looks like. 

[00:11:30] Ashley: And thank you to our listeners. Don't forget to visit us at www.muellerdotkonnect.com to learn more about our firm's services. You can also follow us on LinkedIn at Mueller dotKonnect for more updates. 

[00:11:40] Ashley: Mueller dotKonnect is a related entity of PKF Mueller, an award-winning certified public accounting and business advisory firm based in Chicago.

[00:11:48] Ashley: Mueller dotKonnect is not a CPA firm. Assurance services are performed by an independent external firm.