By Aditi Tyagi
First of all, let’s take a quick look at what QuickBooks cloud hosting is about.
This service utilizes the cloud hosting platform to virtualize the resources of the Quickbooks infrastructure so that end users can undertake the Quickbooks functionality-cum-service at a non-variable cost.
Broadly, it is your whole back-office business setup amalgamated at a single place. In the cloud.
How Do CPAs Benefit?
Here are 5 things CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) should know about how they can benefit from QuickBooks cloud hosting:
#1: Anytime Anywhere
When it comes to QuickBooks hosting, “Anytime Anywhere” is the magic phrase. End users can access their valuable information any time of the day or night from any place in the world – from their workplace or their homes or their favorite coffee shop to different cities or states or even continents. If ever a different world came into existence, and that world had internet connectivity to this world, this service would still hold its purpose. You just need one thing and one thing only and it goes by the name of “the Internet”. Well, that and a browser.
This helps in bringing the whole staff together – where ever they may be – by implementing cohesive collaboration. Through this multi-user facility, each individual member of the staff of a company can work on the company’s information through simultaneous access. This characteristic is very beneficial for companies and organizations that make 100% use of this pseudo-portability of their businesses.
There is only one limitation-you can access your QuickBooks server 24/7 for only 365 days a year, which doesn’t seem to be nearly enough time in today’s frantic work culture. 🙂
#2: Selective Access
When it comes to your data and who all have access to it, ask yourself this question – has data privacy become a forgotten privilege? In this era of out-sourcing, independent freelancing consultants and contractors are often the go-to people when it comes to doing your company book-keeping.
This is where QuickBooks online hosting enters the picture. It promotes selective access. This is done through setting up access privileges. Logging on in tandem with your consultant/accountant/client is only one of its highlighted features.
You can keep tabs on the numerous people that have access to your data through an activity log which notifies you of any user login, logout, and so on. It also presents a virtual timeline of every transaction, i.e., straight from its download to its deletion.
You may feel that looking over your users’ shoulders like this makes you a micro-manager or a stalker. Don’t worry, as in this case, it is a healthy habit to have.
3. Backups, Updates, and Strength in Security
Not having data backups can be the final nail in your company’s coffin if you suffer from a catastrophic system crash or failure. And those possibilities should be considered as inevitable. Period!
With QuickBooks hosting, however, when you suffer from a failure, the silver lining lies in the fact that it provides you with your very own automated data backups. And if that wasn’t enough, you are kept updated with all the latest product features and bug resolutions for free. Such features are added automatically without any effort on your part. You’ll really need to see it to believe it. It’s almost too good to be true!
So wave your goodbyes to downloading complex software patches and tedious periodical updates.
Further cementing this, apart from local backups, a dual backup feature has been incorporated involving various locations which are provided to ensure the utmost security in the war against data loss. Any doubts that still remain in the minds of the harshest of critics are nullified by encryption, password protection, and firewalls.
4. Cost Cutting
The QuickBooks hosting process is like a sharp, cost-cutting knife. It effectively cuts down expenses in ways more than one.
- There is no need to pay for new software updates or for the various backup and recovery schemes.
- It promotes lean IT infrastructure. There is the need of only providing local application support which can be accomplished through minimal infrastructure.
- QuickBooks erases the need for an IT support team by providing a 24/7 service desk that covers a wide range of troubleshooting, which otherwise might not be affordable, especially by smaller companies and organizations.
- There is no need to pay for client access as the service automatically provides the pathway to all client-hosted QuickBooks files using a single portal.
- There is no incurring of unforeseen additional charges for the services that you utilize on the web. Pay-As-You-Go is the mantra.
5. QuickBooks Versions & Add-Ons
Multiple editions/versions of QuickBooks are supported on the servers. This not only allows hosting of more than one version, it also ensures compatibility between them to enhance functionality. Multi-user mode is switched on between the CPAs and the end users and there is uninterrupted and concurrent access of files, which is a crucial element. Example: Your CPA is using the QuickBooks Pro version, whereas the user has chosen the Enterprise version. Flexibility of versions is one of the key factors that makes QuickBooks hosting seems like a well-worth-it option.
Add-ons are third party software used to fulfill industry-specific needs, in turn broadening the functionality of QuickBooks. QuickBooks hosting permits clients to host the latest and greatest add-ons, so they can be directly integrated with any QuickBooks version they want. Data input occurs as per your particular industry’s requirement, removing any additional hassle like time usage and costs of input.
A Concluding Note
No matter how swiftly your company grows both in stature and in size, at the end of the day your most critical business data is sitting right in there in your own highly accessible Quickbooks cloud, yet as safe as an encrypted firewall-enabled bank vault. Those 1.3 million paying QuickBooks Online users worldwide must have gotten something right, don’t you think?
Aditi Tyagi, Editor-in-chief at MyRealData, loves to write about QuickBooks Hosting. Her keyboard spends most of the time describing how cloud hosting is changing the way accountants and other business professionals work. When she is not writing about the cloud, she spends her leisure time reading novels.
