Why You Should Be In The Cloud
You should be in the cloud because you deserve to be happy and if your happiness is in any part defined by how efficiently you are able to get things done then I think you will agree with me when I say that working in the cloud such that all of your documents and applications are accessible anywhere anytime will help at least in part to bring about that happiness and Cloud9 Real Time is one example of a small business technology solution that will help you do this. I have recorded a short video showing you how this program works.
Why does working in the cloud help make me happy?
Your documents easily accessible, shareable, and backed up!
If you’re anything like me (and hopefully you aren’t) then you hate wasting time trying to figure out where something is! Bottom line is that when I am looking for something and especially if I want to share that something with people then I want to find the most efficient possible way to do this. If I have to stop and e-mail an attachment to someone every time they ask for it then this slows me down. So if I can provide a portal for my clients such that I can make documents available to them then I only have to e-mail them once to explain that they now have access to any/all files that I have made available to them.
Perhaps more importantly you want a place and a system that makes it easy for you to retrieve what you need when you need it in 30 seonds or less. You have a great e-dashboard that lets you manage the workflow and all of the documents separated by client.
Cloud9 also has some options for accounting professionals such has a client login portal that you can add to your own website and it looks like it’s your own built in system.
Hosting For Your Accounting Software?
This is a no brainer. If I can host my clients’ accounting files I can even run them in multi-user mode so that I can my clients can access the same file from anywhere all the time. No conflicting copies, no accountant copies, and no headahces.
Cost Benefit
What would it be worth to you to eliminate substantially all of your IT costs? How about never having to worry about another backup ever again? When you host all of your documents and applications in the cloud you no longer have to worry about these things. You also don’t have to worry about staying with the latest versions.
What about security?
I can assure you that cloud hosting companies are spending a great deal more on security than you or I can ever afford to spend. Furthermore you are already trusting your most sensitive financial information to “the cloud” if you are using online banking. These guys have big server rooms with armed guards and finger print only access. Your files are as secure as secure can be!
Got questions?
Post your questions, comments, or share your experience below!
Edited (2012-08-05)
Here is a live broadcast I hosted called “Why The Cloud Is The Future” I thought it was appropriate in the context of this post:
Category: Expert's Corner, For Consultants/Accountants, For Small Business Owners, Seth's Video Blog, Success Tips, Technology/Trends
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I started Nerd Enterprises, Inc. in 2003 and continue to work with individuals and companies to cure their financial headaches. Training, writing, blogging, social media and generally building communities around these areas as well as technology has become another passion of mine.Subscribe
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As CPAs and accountants, everyone reading this article knows that a true assessment includes the negatives. Like the post above. What about downtime for maintenance? How much warning is given? What upload and download speed is minimal for no delay entry? Is DSL enough? Will it work over dial up? Does it work over a cellphone tether? Please answer these questions.
These are questions that are best addressed directly with the company and of course they are definitely questions that should be asked of any Cloud hosting service before you go in. My understanding is that Cloud9 does have an agreement about up time. Robert Chandler explained in the LA road show that they run many redundant backup servers so that if one goes down while you happen to be working what you will likely see is a brief flash on your screen and then all of your data will be there same as it was a moment ago. I am guessing that you might lose any unsaved changes of (for example) you are working on a word doc or excel spreadsheet. Saving often to prevent that from happening is just a good practice whether you are working in the cloud or in a cave
In the video you see on this very post I was using a demo server connected with ADSL on a wireless connection and the response was seamless. I have no idea about dial up, however it seems to me that if you are going to adopt this kind of technology it follows logically that one would be way past dial up.
I’ll agree with Seth that “dial up” isn’t going to be a technology I’m going to rely on for any of the “cloud” services of any sort.
I have worked with Cloud9 with one particular client. This client had been set up by another accounting professional and I was brought in to do some special work with a custom program.
Initially the client was having some difficulty with the Cloud9 installation, but in my opinion that was because the wrong kind of setup was selected. They were using the shared server arrangement, and having problems. It wasn’t what they needed, because (1) they had users logging in from other countries (Canada and Colombia), (2) they had a large number of users who weren’t really familiar with this kind of arrangement, and (3) they needed custom software arrangements.
To complicate this, their accounting adviser really wasn’t familiar with QuickBooks itself.
Eventually they were changed over to a dedicated server setup, and all of the problems seem to have been resolved. I didn’t have a lot of interaction with Cloud9 support until this particular change was made – when the changeover was done I found Cloud9 support very responsive and easy to work with.
The issues up front had more to do with the inadequate job that the accounting advisor did in analyzing the client needs.
“You should be in the cloud because you deserve to be happy” cracked me up.
Would you recommend hosting QuickBooks, or using QuickBooks Online more? I guess it’s different for everyone…
To me, it depends on a number of things. You have to look at what features you need. QuickBooks Online has different features than QuickBooks Desktop. Evaluate each, decide what you need, and then go with the one that provides what you need. If, for example, you need inventory assembly items, you probably would go with QB Desktop Hosted (unless you want to use a QBO add-on to handle that).
And Amber, I like your Pro vs Online evaluator at http://www.proongo.com/blog/quickbooks-pro-vs-qb-online/, although it is very, very simplistic.
Charlie, thanks for mentioning the calculator. Yes, I agree it’s very simplistic. When we went to design that calculator, we literally filled a whiteboard with dozens of factors that folks should consider when deciding between QBO vs QB Pro, and we finally got to a point where we said… lets start with some of the more quantifiable factors.
More improvements coming in the future (either an update to that calculator, or an additional one that is more about feature set than price).