Beyond Efficiency: Ravical's Vision for 2026

What a difference a few months make. In 2025 Ravical saw the light of day. We secured funding, launched with a bang, built and deepened partnerships with firms across Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK. Expanded the product, grew the team.

Would I call the past year a rollercoaster? That doesn't even begin to cover it.

More broadly, we watched the profession move faster on AI than many had predicted. And that's a good thing for accounting and business advisors. 

Yet the heart of the matter lies in what hasn't changed. The value of the trusted advisor. The personal relationship that clients rely on. The business partner who understands context, not just numbers. This is what great firms have always provided, and it remains as important as ever.

The question we've been working on all year: how does AI make that relationship better? How does it make the link between an advisor and their clients stronger?

What we learned from working with firms

In conversations throughout 2025, a pattern emerged that, although we suspected as much, still surprised us: the push to AI is often client-led. People are increasingly bringing AI to their accountant: almost two-thirds of businesses consult ChatGPT before asking expert advice. This is a clear signal about where expectations are heading. And a rallying call for firms to take the lead.

2025 also proved to be the year in which it's finally fine to say that most compliance workflows are fairly optimised. Firms have been investing in efficiency for years. Of course, supporting software suites will work on getting  better, but the largest gains will not come from automation on the compliance side.

The more interesting opportunity lies elsewhere: in the revenue buried in client communications, the advisory moments lost in daily noise, the client needs that surface too late to act on. Expertise that stays locked with individual partners instead of flowing across the firm. Trusted-advisor relationships that never scale beyond the founding partners who built them.

This is where we've focused our attention.

The shift: from efficient processes to advisory infrastructure

The default industry narrative around AI is that it's a way to do the same work with fewer people. We see things differently. The real opportunity is doing more for clients. Being more present. More timely. More valuable.

For the first time, firms can extend the quality of their best client relationships across their entire portfolio, without burning out their teams. The constraint that advisory capability scales linearly with headcount, is finally lifted. 

AI is now sufficiently advanced to make in-house expertise reach further and flow across the entire firm as firm-wide intelligence. All that's missing is the advisory infrastructure that triggers outreach before a client even identifies a need...

Where we're going in 2026

We started where client relationships live: the inbox. We built the foundations: connecting AI to firm systems, knowledge, and workflows. Always under the firm's control. Always designed around the same question: how do we help professionals be more present for their clients?

In 2026, we're evolving toward a complete advisory workspace.

The shift is from using AI for drafting and researching, to understanding what each client needs next. From answering questions to anticipating them. From a reactive, client-led approach to growing your firm to a controlled, firm-led and proactive orchestration of services.  From individual expertise to firm-wide intelligence that benefits every client.

This means giving partners clearer visibility into where attention is needed across their portfolio. It means helping managers move from ad-hoc list-building to a living view of client needs. It means showing advisors where to add value next, with the context they need to do it well. And for the clients of our clients, it means feeling genuinely supported in their entrepreneurial journey.

Why build the advisory workspace now?

AI has advanced rapidly, and it continues to accelerate. 2026 is widely considered as 'the last chance to catch up'. AI now works across systems, understands context, and surfaces insights that were previously invisible. The accounting and professional services industry at large is adopting AI fast, and as people, we are learning new skills day by day. 

What hasn't changed is that AI still benefits from professional judgement. Human oversight. The standards your firm has built its reputation on. We're building the advisory workspace as the infrastructure for your growth.

Our commitment

We believe AI has the most to offer firms who already care deeply about their clients. Firms with multiple service lines, trusted relationships, and the ambition to do more.

The accountant's value is knowing what clients need, and being there when it matters. AI makes it possible at scale. 

Thank you

To the firms who trusted us early. To the team who is building all of this. To the investors who believe in this vision - thank you.

The profession is transforming. We're honoured to be part of it.

Here's to a year of growth!

Joris Van Der Gucht
Co-founder & CEO, Ravical