Understanding the Cloud and What it Means to Your CPA Service
"Cloud computing" is a very popular business term of late and referrs to a change in the way software is delivered to your company. Rather than being distributed by disc or download and getting stored and operated on your local rigs, cloud software is stored and operated somewhere else and accessed over the net.
Are you considering "cloud computing"? If so, give yourself a pat on the back! The not-to-distant future is unquestionably about to be dominated by cloud computing.
Keep in mind, however, that there are probable dangers with this change.
We frequently take our business software for granted, but it's taken the majority of us numerous years to incorporate our office systems. Have you ever actually thought about the number of computer programs you take advantage of each day to run your business? From word processing programs to accounting software to your calendar - your time is normally dispersed across a range of different systems. Ideally all of them could communicate with each other.
Specifically:
Wouldn't it be great to be able to do this without using your mobile minutes?
You and a friend go out to dinner. Twenty minutes in to an engaging discussion, your friend says, "Keep going! I need to go out to my car. Gotta feed the meter." The conversation continues even as your friend is a few blocks away.
Of course this is a nice little story, but not many of us have the good fortune of making our fortunes dining out with friends. But this kind of communication is also vital professionally.
Now in a conventional software environment it's unlikely that two people will have compatable messaging software, but in the cloud it's easy.
Respect the Value of Efficiency
Although cloud computing may be a weighty resource and a significant time saver, that potential suffers if applications in the cloud can't talk with the programs on your computer.
Existing accounting programs are, for the most part, already pretty good at this. They are carefully built with an intrinsic ability to communicate with each other. It improves efficiency. For example:
Client records are updated when Tax talks to Engagement and Practice.
Work papers are linked when Engagement talks to Microsoft Office.
All applications to Document Management - and so on.
What if Tax and Practice couldn't talk? What if Engagement and Excel couldn't communicate with each other? The amount of data entry you'd need to do would be staggering.
There Are Risks to Mixing Apps
Old school office apps like Word, Excel, and Quickbooks don't usually play nice with web based ones like Google Docks and Quickbooks Online. The coding glitches are enough to cripple interactivity between them. For example, using the cloud for your tax software and then turning to a practice program installed on the local network creates difficulties with dialogue.
If you decide to go with the cloud, it's best to assess the integrity of the links to make sure they stay intact. A partial move will put these links in danger. It may be best to make a more dramatic transition.
Mind Your Data
If you don't have an on-staff IT professional a cloud service is likely to provide much better internet security than you can provide for yourself. Most have security experts that can protect your data from accidental loss to hackers or viruses.
Unfortunately this doesn't protect you from some man-made disasters. Formost of these is data storage. Many cloud applications will let you store client data online. It's a lot quicker to store data in this manner than it is to upload and download files each time you work on them. This leaves vital client data stored off-site. Can you imagine restructuring your business to rely on a cloud service only to find out it's been bought out or closed? Likewise if a cloud service finds itself with a need to raise some quick capital what's stopping them from changing the rules on you? Never allow your vital business files to be stored exclusively off site. Always backup your files to a local machine daily.
Proceed with Caution - But Proceed!
Within the next 10 years CPAs can anticipate all or most of their industry applications to be web based (or at least web integrated) if present-day trends carry on.
About The Author
Brian O'Connell is the President and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country's most successful website design firms dedicated entirely to accounting website design. His company presently provides websites for more than 4000 CPA, accounting, and bookkeeping firms.