CASE STUDY
How document automation saved BDO Canada $1.65 million in one year
“People didn’t have to change the way they work—they just got a better way to do it.”
Brion Hendry
Partner and Assurance Innovation Leader, BDO Canada
INDUSTRY
Accounting
OFFICE LOCATIONS
80+ offices in Canada
EMPLOYEES
4,500+
Tackling complexity with the right technology
BDO Canada is one of the country’s leading professional services firms, spanning 80+ offices and 470 partners. But their size came with a major challenge—each team had its own way of creating documents, managing branding, and ensuring compliance.
Without a single source of truth, employees were wasting time searching for templates, struggling with outdated tools, and manually fixing formatting errors. Maintaining consistency across business lines was nearly impossible.
We spoke with Brion Hendry, Partner and Assurance Innovation Leader at BDO Canada, about how Templafy helped them simplify their document creation process, cut out inefficiencies, and save more than $1.65 million in just one year.
The results
- Saved $1.65m in one year by reducing time spent on manual document creation
- Reduced the number of templates for engagement letters from 24 to 4, simplifying maintenance
- Built a centralized library of 600+ templates that automatically update, ensuring accuracy and compliance
The challenges
- Scattered assets made it hard to locate the right information, leading to wasted time and errors in documents
- Outdated technology was difficult to maintain and prone to outages
- Inconsistent templates and processes made quality and brand control impossible
What challenges did you face when creating documents?
Our biggest challenge was inconsistency. With so many offices and partners, we had a million different ways of doing things. Every business line had its own way of creating documents, managing branding, and handling operations. Standardization was always a struggle. Any time we talked about streamlining things, the response was always, ‘That’s great—just make sure you use my template.’
On top of that, our technology was outdated. We had systems that only a handful of people knew how to maintain. If those people left, we’d be in trouble.
With so many different templates, how did you manage storage and versioning?
Not very well! Before Templafy, our content was scattered everywhere. We had different SharePoint sites, multiple versions of the same document, and people creating their own templates. If someone needed the latest version of a document, they had to search through emails, shared drives, or ask a colleague. It was inefficient, and people wasted a lot of time just trying to find the right file.
You started with a Templafy pilot program. How did that go?
We took a bold approach with our pilot—1,000 users right out of the gate. Typically, we test with 50-100 users, but interest was high. We had people across different teams raising their hands to participate, which was a great sign.
One of the smartest things we did was set up a network of ‘change agents.’ These were mid-level managers and engaged employees who became the go-to experts within their teams. With so many offices, we couldn’t monitor everything ourselves, so these change agents helped us gather feedback, drive adoption, and ensure people were actually using the tool.
“Last year, we generated over 120,000 documents through Templafy, saving us about $1.65 million.”
Brion Hendry
Partner and Assurance Innovation Leader, BDO Canada
How have your different user groups responded to Templafy as a new technology?
People find Templafy very natural to use. Now, everything is in one place, and people know exactly where to go to find what they need. The integration with Microsoft Office was also a game-changer. If you introduce a tool that forces people to leave the platforms they’re used to, adoption becomes a struggle. Keeping everything within the Microsoft ecosystem made it a smooth transition. People didn’t have to change the way they work—they just got a better way to do it.
Where did you see the biggest change with Templafy?
Engagement letters were the first big win for us. These are essentially contracts between us and our clients, and they’re long, complicated documents filled with variables. Each of Canada’s ten provinces and three territories has different legal requirements. On top of that, we operate in two languages, so every engagement letter had to be translated.
Just for one service line, we had 24 different versions of these letters. Across four business lines, the complexity was overwhelming. With Templafy, we were able to consolidate those 24 templates into four. Automated gating questions determine the right legal language, industry requirements, and client details, so the document is customized automatically.
Today, every engagement letter across BDO Canada is created using Templafy. What started as a pilot quickly became essential to our workflow.
“Today, every engagement letter across BDO Canada is created using Templafy. What started as a pilot quickly became essential to our workflow.”
Brion Hendry
Partner and Assurance Innovation Leader, BDO Canada
What has the financial impact been since introducing Templafy?
Last year, we generated over 120,000 documents through Templafy, saving us about $1.65 million.
We’re accountants, so we track every minute of our day. When we roll out a new tool, we survey our teams to understand how much time they used to spend on a task versus how much time they spend now. Our team takes that data, does the calculations, and presents real numbers to leadership.
So when they ask, “Is Templafy worth the investment?” I don’t have to guess. I can show them exactly how much time and money we’re saving.
How easy is it to maintain Templafy?
When we started looking for new document tools, we went straight to the people maintaining our current systems and asked, ‘Which would you rather manage—our existing system or Templafy?’ Their answer was immediate: ‘Templafy, and it’s not even close.’
That was huge. We didn’t just need a system that worked, we needed one that could scale. I didn’t want my team to be responsible for maintaining every single document template across the firm. Templafy allowed us to empower different departments to manage their own content while still keeping everything controlled and consistent.
How has Templafy improved your overall employee experience?
For us, accuracy is critical. Every document we produce goes through multiple rounds of review, which often involves a significant amount of time spent correcting formatting errors, branding inconsistencies, and wording issues. This led to a lot of frustration.
Templafy transformed our workflow. By standardizing branding, automating formatting, and ensuring content accuracy, we significantly reduced the amount of manual work required. This not only saved us time but also eliminated the recurring frustration associated with fixing errors and inconsistencies.
“Templafy allowed us to empower different departments to manage their own content while still keeping everything controlled and consistent.”
Brion Hendry
Partner and Assurance Innovation Leader, BDO Canada
What kinds of documents are you creating with Templafy now?
Templafy started as a solution for our business lines, including assurance, tax, and advisory, but what we’ve seen over time is that internal teams are adopting it too.
Now, groups like IT and our project management office are using Templafy for status update decks, business requirements documents, and project templates. It’s no longer just about external-facing documents—it’s about making internal processes smoother, too. It’s become an essential tool across BDO Canada.
The solution
Scalable across teams and locations
Different departments can manage their own content while maintaining firm-wide consistency.
Seamless automation within familiar workflows
All assets available directly within Word and PowerPoint, building on tools people already know how to use.
Centralized asset management
Company-approved templates, messages, and visual elements all updated in real-time.
More efficient reviews and approvals
Centralized libraries generate more accurate documents, requiring fewer manual checks.
documents generated last year
saved last year on document generation
About BDO Canada
BDO Canada LLP is a leading provider of professional services to clients across a variety of sectors and segments. For over 100 years, our team has served communities across Canada through an integrated service offering including accounting, assurance, tax, and consulting services. This is complemented by deep industry knowledge and positions BDO to advise clients with both domestic and global needs.
BDO Canada LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms.
BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO Member Firms