More than a few accounting professionals have had the experience of a client triggering an avalanche of paper onto their desk. You’ve seen it before… the wadded receipts, the coffee-stained records, the hand-written notes… While not exactly life threatening, this paper deluge is overwhelming. And perhaps the most dispiriting part is that it’s completely unnecessary.
There is a rescue cord. Cloud-enabling your accounting solution means that you’re bringing your software out of the traditional, “on-premise” configuration on your office computer or server and into the cloud where it resides in an environment managed by experts.
Right Networks’ customers rely on us to bring their accounting-based desktop and legacy applications into the cloud – and out of the avalanche. Here are the top 5 benefits that our clients realize when they cloud-enable their QuickBooks Desktop:
1 – Security
Each week it seems like another cyber-security threat hits the news. It can be easy, even tempting, to tune this out or to think that your personal data isn’t at risk or isn’t “important” enough to be the target of a security breach. It’s unlikely that your clients would agree about the importance of their own data, however, and protection is paramount when so much personal information is online.
Reputable cloud providers encrypt communications, and have sophisticated firewalls and backup systems in place that most smaller firms and organizations can’t achieve on their own.
2 – Backups
Cloud solutions don’t just protect you from outside intruders or events. They also bring you security through backups by providing protection against a natural disaster, like a hurricane or fire, or even an electrical outage that brings your local servers offline.
Disasters can also hit on a smaller, though no less devastating scale. An employee spilling water on their laptop – or perhaps having it stolen out of their rental car – is no longer a major problem when a business is running in the cloud.
3 – Simplicity
Running the traditional, local instance of accounting software is a lot of responsibility. And it might not feel that way until there is a problem. But when there is a problem, your entire business is at risk. IT burdens like network maintenance, security patches and upgrades, and application upgrades all take time and energy. With a managed cloud environment, you get away from playing IT consultant (or paying IT consultants) and get back to helping your clients.
4 – Collaboration
Helping your clients, of course, means working with them. And while sorting through their paper-based documents by-hand might be the form of collaboration that some clients are used to, increasingly more expect service in real time. And in a time when you can lower your thermostat at home while you’re in a plane heading in the opposite direction, why shouldn’t they?
With a cloud-enabled solution, a client gains the ability to login and access their financial data from any device or location, and so do you.
5 – Productivity
When you’re cloud-enabled, the entire book of business that you manage is visible to you – and to those that you designate – in one computing environment. This doesn’t just make it easier to run your business, it makes it far more scalable. Full access to client files means that you can standardize your offerings. No more worrying about supporting different QuickBooks Desktop versions or missing client information.
And when you’re not maintaining IT systems, running backups, or chasing down client files – productivity is sure to rise. With your newfound time, you can be more strategic in your service offerings and take on an advisory role.
Being cloud-enabled means you may have finally suffered your last paper avalanche.
This article was provided by Right Networks. Our preferred partner for Desktop Application Hosting Services. Also, Click here to experience a live and fully functional cloud-hosted demo of QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant Edition via Right Networks
