The cry throughout the profession is loud and getting louder: How do we recruit and retain top talent?

The answer is complex, but here’s a start: Have you looked at your technology?

Two firm partners in Buffalo, N.Y., recently told Wolters Kluwer's Paul Loftus that they’ve been used to attracting “B-plus talent” at best … until they upgraded to cloud technologies, flex schedules, and CCH Axcess, a cloud-based tax solution powered by a central, single-access database. Since then, the partners say, the firm has been attracting the same level of talent as some of the nation’s largest firms.

Like it or not, potential employees — especially younger employees — will pass judgment on your organization based on your technology. If they walk in the door and see outdated technology, they will run right back out again. The prevailing attitude — and with good reason — is this: “I didn’t spend all of that time earning a degree and designation so that I could travel back to the Stone Age.”

Are you using the tools your candidates use? Will your technology advance their careers … or hold them back? These are important questions. Your candidates are deciding who they will work for based, in part, on the answers.

Rest assured, folks — you don’t have to upgrade your technology. You don’t have to be social. You don’t have to embrace the cloud.

You also don’t have to be relevant, or attract top talent, or stay in business.

Yes, you’ll continue making money … until you don’t. At that point, the end will come quickly.

When you put it in those terms, it’s an easy decision to make.