Fireside chat: the service-as-software revolution

In April, we hosted another Afterwork event, on all things AI and innovation. New AI products (like TechWolf and pleasefix.ai), new AI devices (like smart glasses). But also entirely new customer propositions. We hosted Tim Vandecasteele, who's disrupting the accountancy business model. The fireside chat was titled: "The Service-as-Software Revolution." We think it's a big deal. Here's why.

For decades, professional service firms (accountants, law firms, brokers, agencies, etc.) have been buying software. Better information management, better tools, better document automation. The work got a little faster, the margins a little better. But the shape of the firm never really changed: billable hours, one client file owned by one human, who is somehow always in a meeting.

The uncomfortable truth Tim Vandecasteele put on stage at our April Afterwork is that this era is ending. AI is not another tool to layer on. It is the moment to question whether the firm should be organised this way at all. Service-as-software means selling the outcome, not the timesheet. It's the biggest reshuffling of white-collar work in a generation.

A quick 101

What is service-as-software?

For a long time, "digital transformation" in service industries meant the same thing: keep the firm mostly as it is, and buy software to make it a bit more efficient. The accountant still owned the client. The lawyer still billed by the hour. The broker still couldn't answer your question on a Sunday. Software was bolted on; the operating model was untouched.

Service-as-software is the opposite move. The customer buys an outcome: clean books, a resolved claim, a closed deal. A small team plus AI delivers it behind the scenes. The system, not a single overworked human, owns the client file. Response times collapse from days to minutes. Pricing detaches from hours. The firm itself gets redesigned around what software now makes possible, instead of dressing up how it always worked.

It is, as Tim puts it, almost too good to be true: efficiency, intimacy, and quality stop being a trade-off.

Who is Tim?

Tim Vandecasteele founded Silverfin (software for accountants) and sold it to Visma in 2024 after scaling it across 15 countries. He has since started 'die van de boekhouding': not a software firm selling to accountants, but an accounting firm run as if it were a software company.

Rewatch the session

Normally, we have this "You just had to be there" mindset about our events. But we love how clearly Tim can explain this change, and how impactful it will be. That's why we are letting you rewatch the entire fireside chat.

Quotes worth pinning to the wall

For clients, it's not about technology. For you, it very much is:

"You don't sell the technology. You sell the outcome."

"In the future, technology companies will stop talking about being technology companies — and start talking about the service they deliver."

"The owner of your client file is the system. That is only possible with AI."

"We don't deliver a personal service. We deliver a very personalised service."

The oppportunity is there, but you have to be willing to make the jump:

"In four or five years everyone will catch up. The gap is right now."

"The only way they can do what we do is to cannibalise themselves. It's the innovator's dilemma."

What it means for your service company

Tim's domains is accounting, but his thesis is general. Every service industry with personal contact and white-collar repetition is in the same crosshairs: law, recruitment, insurance broking, tax advisory, notary work, wealth management.

The uncomfortable question he leaves us with isn't whether to adopt AI. It's whether you'll cannibalise your own model before someone else does it for you.

Want to talk about service-as-software in your industry? Get in touch.

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