Isn’t your business worth at least 50 bucks per month?

or: Penny Smart, Pound Foolish

Anytime, Anywhere

There is an age-old problem when it comes to small businesses and technology: small business owners have a hard time finding value in paying for IT services to support their businesses, and they spend a lot of money not addressing the issue.  For a wide variety of reasons, small business owners just seem to have a hard time justifying the costs of outsourced and/or managed IT services.  Strangely, many business owners end up spend more money and time trying NOT to outsource – they just won’t acknowledge this reality.

Let’s consider that a business has been operating for a few years, and maybe has revenues approaching $1M annually. A million dollars in annual revenues isn’t anything to sneeze at.  Now let’s also consider that this small business has a small computer network which supports their operations.  This network is likely made up of older machines, legacy desktop software, and a few random little applications or software constructions they’ve acquired over the years.  Is this business focused in properly securing the network with firewalls and security software, and is this portion of the network monitored regularly?  How about data management and backups?  Does the business frequently back up data offsite, and then test those backups to verify that the data can be properly restored?  Is the system protected from virus or intrusions?  Is it monitored?  Is it tested?  Is someone actually responsible for all of this stuff?  If this business is like most small businesses, the answer to most of these questions is “no” or “not really”.

It’s not unusual for small business owners to fail to fully recognize the real value of their business technology (as opposed to the purchase price), and the necessary costs to manage and maintain it properly.  There’s an old saying in the IT world that there are only two types of business – those who have lost their data and those who will.  The business who has lost their data understands the value of IT management, because they have had to bear the cost of repairs, replacements, lost productivity, and lost revenue.  Once they realize the cost, they understand the value of mitigating that risk.  Unfortunately, it often takes just such an experience to get the small business owner to really recognize that not spending on IT management is actually a decision to spend more later when bad things happen.  And bad things will happen.  Count on it.

Now, let’s talk about the ability for that business to have their IT solutions hosted and delivered to them as a subscription service.  The security, including firewall monitoring and virus protection are part of the service.  Regular data backups are part of the service, as is technical support.  While the business still pays for (and owns) their software license assets, the rest of the system – the engineering and technical labor, the platforms, the network – are all part of the subscription, and are under the care of skilled engineering and technical personnel.   As an example, InsynQ CPAASP QuickBooks hosting solutions are priced at around $50 (ish) per user per month, depending on service, and provide a comprehensive managed IT approach for small businesses.  For a business owner who knows that they will spend (lose) far more if their systems are out of service, or if their paid workers aren’t able to work, that 50 bucks proves to be a pretty small price to pay.

Make sense?

J

Why would a business want to host their QuickBooks in the Cloud?

Anytime, Anywhere

With all the talk today about cloud computing and working online, you’d think that huge numbers of business owners are migrating their entire operations to Internet applications and platforms.  The value statements of “no upfront costs”, “pay as you go”, and “better collaboration” are the marketing speak for these online solutions, but the actual reasons for adoption may be very different from what you’d expect.  And yes, businesses are moving in droves to the “cloud”, but not necessarily to true web-based applications.

One of the primary drivers for “cloud” adoption is the growing complexity of software and services designed to support the business.   Folks usually don’t mind paying for products, but paying for the services to install, implement, and manage those products isn’t something most small businesses businesses like doing.  Even a solution like Intuit QuickBooks, which was once viewed as a very simple to install and maintain product, has become quite complex in terms of its networking and database manager requirements, connected services offerings, and application integration options.  This increasing complexity in the technology is driving businesses to seek outside IT help to implement, support, and manage software products and computing platforms that were once manageable from within the company.  Rather than paying IT personnel or contractors on a regular basis, businesses are finding that it may be far more affordable (and effective) to totally outsource the IT – infrastructure and all.

Mobility is another huge driver for the adoption of cloud computing and online services.  Application hosting was initially a great approach for businesses with multiple locations that needed to work together, but the model has been extended to address the needs of highly mobile individuals as well as the distributed organization.  Just because a business has only one brick and mortar location doesn’t mean it doesn’t wish to do business from other places, too.  With smart phones getting smarter, and pad computing being a reality, business users know they can have way more than just email on their mobile devices.

While “better collaboration” is also a strong part of the value proposition for a cloud-based or online application approach for the business, the type of collaboration may not be what you’re thinking.  For years there have been tools, solutions, and services which enable “better collaboration” among coworkers and team members (read=document sharing).  However, the online working model potentially enables another type of collaboration – collaboration with outside parties and electronic data exchange with other systems.  Interactions with vendors, customers, even professional service providers, may be more fully enabled through an online working model.  Clearly, public accountants recognize this benefit, and are leveraging it to generate and capitalize on new service opportunities with their clients online.

What’s interesting about the current wave of adoption of online services by small businesses is the realization that some of the fundamental needs of the business – messaging and productivity – are not the drivers for “moving online”.  Certainly, many of these elements were the initial focus for cloud computing vendor offerings – like Google Docs, hosted MS Exchange mail, etc. – but the reality is that businesses are heavily invested in the operational software tools and products currently embedded in the market and are reticent to leave them behind.   Desktop-based solutions, like Intuit QuickBooks for example, are still the cornerstones of many SMB (as well as enterprise) business operations.  Even though there may be web-based alternatives, they often lack the options, flexibility, or usability of these tried-and-true products.  And, sadly, they lack the integrations.

The market wants their familiar software and systems, but they now want them in a new, simple to access and easy to implement manner.  Further, the market demands (continues to demand) that their business solutions integrate, share data and work together… and they want options, lots of options.  This is why businesses want to host their desktop editions of QuickBooks in the cloud, and why so many businesses are electing to use InsynQ CPAASP for their QuickBooks hosting.

Make Sense?

J

Read More About Application Hosting:

What happens when I need one more application?

Taking a holistic approach to outsourced IT

Challenges to the Professional Accountant’s Value

Anytime, Anywhere

Being an accounting or bookkeeping service provider to small businesses today is tougher than it ever has been before.  Sure, there have always been challenges, but today’s accounting and bookkeeping professionals are facing real competition in more areas and in more ways than ever before.  To a large degree, much of this “competitive advantage” is founded in the innovation and use of technology supporting the business.

Unless today’s accounting professionals recognize and leverage these innovations to improve client service levels and differentiate offerings, they risk not only loss of relevance, but loss of revenue and business value.

For many years, technology in finance and accounting was necessarily focused on documents; managing the ever-increasing volume of paper-based information.  This information provided the basis for financial transaction information and had to be collected, information translated and re-entered as data, and summarized for reporting.  The simple fact of the logistical requirements of handling all that paper resulted in a wide variety of approaches and, ultimately, in technology-based tools to designed to make the paper easier to deal with.

The “reality of paper” was so firmly entrenched in business life for so long that accounting and other financial systems continued to focus on enabling better workflows for documents, and resigned themselves to being an after-the-fact recipient of business information.

While many existing accounting and finance solution developers continued to focus on being more effective post-facto reporting tools and facilitating paper-based processes, an entirely new generation of solutions emerged.  This new generation of solutions and services has two very important elements available to them which are and will continue to challenge the old rules of doing business.  And they will be successful.

I. It was always broke, and now we can fix it.  The fact that most business and accounting information was paper-based meant accounting would always be “after the fact”.  It takes time to obtain the document and more time to transform the information to data.  The “new” generation of solutions believes that information should originate as data, and not as a document.

Information is data, and businesses can collect an awful lot of it simply by doing what they do for the business, and using intelligently-applied software and services to support those activities.  Paper isn’t necessary in so many cases, allowing real time data capture to occur.

Consider the case where a small business owner operates a web store where customers can purchase products online.  Using software and services readily available today, the business owner can build this capability in minutes, simply and affordably.  The impact to the business is a paper-free ability to interact with customers, record sales, receive payments, and inform fulfillment – all in real time.  Each and every element of these transactions is financially relevant, and the data is immediately available for direct import or integration into the financial reporting system. There are also a number of new solutions available on the market which can gather activity data from 3^rd parties, such as vendor/suppliers, financial institutions, and others, eliminating the effects of time and distance and turning information into useful data.

By providing comprehensive business process support, and through the enabling of real time communication of business data, accounting and finance can become much more than simply the final dumping ground for business financial data.  It can become an integral participant in providing the necessary actionable intelligence and decision support needed TODAY.

II. The new tools available to professionals are also being introduced directly to the consumer.  This diminishes the perceived value of the professional and fundamental, mechanical, services they provide.

Today’s “Do It Yourself” is Service through Software.  It’s kind of the same thing as “software as a service”, which is a model where you subscribe to your software and computing resources together rather than buying and installing them in the traditional manner.  Service through Software is where you subscribe to a supporting business service, and it’s delivered through a software-based interface.  These services can deliver highly valuable front- and back-office supporting functions, and quite a lot of specific operational support.  They enable the business without requiring a specific in-house capability.  This form of technology-assisted outsourcing can deliver much more than simply labor arbitrage.  It can deliver process support along with best practices in implementation and use, which could extend far beyond the reasonable ability of the business personnel alone.

Online payroll services, where processed payrolls and tax reports become the result of personnel-entered online timesheets are an example of a “service through software” approach.  A few other examples of this approach include online customer billing solutions, merchant services and payment processing, online bill pay, and online personal tax preparation.

Where small business do-it-yourself tools once assured that the user would ultimately seek professional help, that’s not the case any longer.  The DIY services ARE professional help, and in many cases are the tools the pros use, too.

Accounting and bookkeeping service providers have difficult decisions to make regarding how they will address these very immediate challenges to their value.  I would suggest that the professionals who learn to understand and appropriately select and apply this new generation of technology-supported service will find that their competency, which differentiates them, makes them as valuable to their own enterprises as those of their clients.

Make Sense?

J

Should You Take Your Practice To The Cloud? You’re Still Asking?

Anytime, Anywhere

I’ve seen a lot of articles lately (and written a few myself) directed towards accounting professionals “taking your practice online” or “taking your practice to the cloud”.  At this point, when a professional asks me the question “should I take my practice to the cloud”, my response generally comes in the form of two return questions:

The first is “what leads you to believe you have a choice?”  The second is “what makes you think you haven’t already?”

You may question the glib response, but there are a few realities about doing business today that can’t (or shouldn’t) be ignored.  Professionals can recognize these realities and work with them, or fight the changing tide and lose out to more relevant providers.

To address the question of choice, let’s consider the fact that many of today’s entrepreneurs and small business owners have been exposed to Internet services and online technologies for quite a long time, and use of these services has become an ingrained element in daily life.  Not using online technologies seems “old school” to these folks, and is often perceived to be due to some deficiency in the ability to understand or use new tools.  If professional service providers aren’t able to leverage these tools to provide the access, collaboration, and higher level of service which business owners demand, they won’t work with those business owners for very long.

In addressing the “what makes you think you aren’t already?” question, let’s consider the fact that almost all of the accounting software offered today has incorporated cloud-service or Internet-based functionality in some manner.  Even the tried and true desktop editions of QuickBooks financial software  have quite a lot of web service functionality designed in to the product.  Where credit card processing was once an offline (or telephonic) process, it’s now an instantaneous service delivered via the net.  Payroll?  Tax tables aren’t just downloaded to the software where you perform the processing and calculations.  Payroll is a service, delivered via Internet connectivity to Intuit’s payroll service bureaus (or ADP, Paychex, etc.).  Even banking is less traveling to the establishment and more Internet access and data exchange.   We don’t think twice about downloading transactions from the bank computers instead of working from the paper bank statement. Internet/web/cloud service and functionality has become a pervasive element to almost every aspect of software and computerized business support systems, and it’s a pretty good bet that your firm is already using it.

So, let’s not spend our time asking a silly question about whether or not it makes sense to “take the practice to the cloud”.  The obvious answer is “yes”, and the time is now.

Make sense?

J

Technology and Accounting: Building a Smarter Business

Anytime, Anywhere

You’ve seen the IBM advertisements lately, about how IBM wants to build a smarter planet by “infusing intelligence into the systems and processes that make the world work”.  It makes sense, what they’re saying.  By analyzing systems and recognizing patterns, it’s easier to predict behavior.  It’s done every day, from Amazon letting you know that “others who purchased this item also purchased xxx”, to the merchandising systems at large store chains who know when and where to stock the umbrellas or presto logs.

Technology has reached a point where huge amounts of business intelligence is being gathered every day – even from the smallest of businesses – simply through the technology-supported enabling of business processes.  Where systems were initially focused on automation of processes to reduce labor and streamline workflows, the goal now is to turn the data captured by the system into actionable information.  Data is just data, but information is power.

I spent a lot of time over the past few weeks, deciding what path I would take with the Bookkeeping in Bunny Slippers Blog and other publications this year.  It seems that that past few years have been a consistent mantra of “using technology to work smarter, not harder” and “using the Internet to work closer with clients” – rehashing the same value propositions about how technology can make you more efficient.  But I think we’re moving beyond that now, and it’s time to talk about what comes next.  It’s really quite simple: the paradigm is shifting now, and we either shift our thinking along with it and use it to our advantage, or lose relevance.

In the coming months, I’ll be talking more about this paradigm shift – this sea change in how we think about business automation and information – and how it is impacting each and every player in the business value chain.  Accounting professionals in particular need to pay attention to what’s happening with technology.  You thought you had competition before?  Say hello to zero data entry, smarter OCR, intelligent dashboards and interconnected systems that know what’s going on before you do.  Now more than ever before, it’s up the accounting and finance professional to bridge the gap between operational performance and financial reporting – to move from reconciliation to forecasting and predictive analysis.

Is the CPA losing out to the MBA in today’s business world?  Perhaps in some circles.  But if you remember that each and every action in a business means money, you ultimately conclude that accounting and finance is where the action is and always has been.  Follow along with our newsletter, the Practice Development News, and the blogs Bookkeeping in Bunny Slippers, Running QuickBooks in the Cloud, and Cloud Accounting 4 Canada to keep on top of the issues, technologies, and solutions impacting today’s rapidly-changing business environments.  We’ll continue to deliver the information and intelligence you need to help make your business, and your client businesses, smarter.  Maybe we’ll even beat IBM at making the world smarter… one small business at a time.

Make Sense?

J

Remembering what matters during the holidays

As we reach the end of this year and begin looking towards the new one ahead, it’s important to remember why we do what we do… why we work.

Because, you see, it doesn’t really matter where we work…

And it doesn’t really matter how we work…

What matters is WHY we work.

Happy Holidays and To All The Best from Bookkeeping in Bunny Slippers

Special thanks to:

The incredibly hard working and innovative team at SmartVault (“Hey” to Claire, Allie, Dania, Lisa, Maureen, Eric and crew),

Claire – this is just for you… J

The great and powerful Oz, er, I mean, Doug Sleeter, and the wonderful members of the SGCN,

The entire crew at Bill.com, a real game-changer solution and a great bunch of people,

The fabulous Joe Woodard and the NAN (hey Nanu!),

My new friend Linda Hunt and The Bookkeeper’s Club,

The lovely social butterfly that is Michelle Long,

Rob Chandler of Cloud9, Phil & John from Right Networks, and Bob Babcock of Uni-Data, for helping to fight the good fight and move the mountain that is Intuit,

Fearless leader, John Gorst, and the entire InsynQ crew – my family of this past 14 years (special shout-out to Errol Allahverdi, the Appgen magician),

And, last but certainly not least, my family – Sean, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary – for being the reasons I get up each morning.

Happy Holidays to All.

Much Love, J

Data files, filing systems, and ownership: Whose data is it anyway?

Anytime, Anywhere

The online working model addresses quite a number of problems faced when remote and mobile team members need real time access to business applications and data.  Further, collaboration with outside professionals, like accountants and lawyers, is easier when the information is centrally stored and managed online.  However, this “subscription-based” working model can introduce other challenges that neither the business owner nor the outsourced professionals might have considered.  One of these challenges is the division of information assets when the professional engagement is dissolved.  Somewhat like a divorce, this dissolution can take on an unfriendly tone if there isn’t a clear plan for distribution of relevant data to all parties involved.  The problem often stems from the orientation of online subscriptions and services, and the question of who actually controls the service.

The general rule of thumb for subscription services is “he who pays the bill owns the data”.  This may seem like a simple approach, but it’s the most logical one.  Whoever subscribes the service and is financially obligated for it is the controlling authority.  It’s kind of like having the authorization to use a credit card… you can use yours, but you don’t have the right to use someone else’s.  In a subscription service, like an application hosting service, the rule is similarly applied.

When this becomes a problem or issue is when two or more businesses utilize the service, yet only one pays for it.  This is a scenario quite common in the online accounting models, where accountants may be purchasing subscription services to facilitate their processing for the client. But accountants don’t just subscribe to process-support systems, they also subscribe to hosting and data management solutions.  This is where things get a little dicey.

Consider an accounting firm utilizing Bill.com, for example, to assist with vendor bill processing and approvals for the client.  While the Bill.com system may store certain copies of documents or files, the transaction information is integrated to the financial system (QuickBooks perhaps).  Source documents or images may be stored in the Bill.com portal, but the actual transaction information ends up in the financial system.  If the accountant and the client wish to part ways, the client can generally get all their accounting system data, such as QB data files, from the accountant.  Whether or not they can get the documents stored in the Bill.com system is another issue, and that would be up to the accountant, because they were the holders of the subscription.  Now, this issue becomes a non-issue when the client is subscribed to the Bill.com solution, and the accounting firm is invited to participate.  In this case, the client actually owns the data, even though the accountants are allowed to work with it online.

Taking the discussion a bit further, let’s consider document management solutions, such as SmartVault or eFileCabinet.  These solutions do not store just source data for financial transactions, they are designed to be complete document and content management solutions.  In the past few years, we have seen a number of these online document systems introduce themselves to the professional accounting and bookkeeping communities as a means to facilitate a better workflow, and to help accounting professionals and their clients work closer together.  Truly, these solutions are critical to the enabling model, but concerns relating to data ownership and control appear more frequently as neither the business owners nor their outsourced professionals considered what would happen when the engagement is over.  It can be very frustrating for a business owner to have to go through a lot of gyrations in order to obtain their data, and accountants need to protect and preserve their value and the value of the work performed on behalf of the client.  Both parties have data possession and retention requirements, which may be many and varied depending on the type of business and regulatory issues involved.

Where this gets really muddy is when the accounting professional or outsourcer uses a tool to facilitate their own processes and business, but also use the same tool (and subscription) to service client needs… and maybe even allows the client to interact directly with the solution.  In the event of an end to the relationship, it may or may not be easy or even possible to extract just the client data from the system.  And what happens to it after that can be variable.  If you provide your client with document management services, for example, you could maybe give your client their documents when they leave you, but you wouldn’t generally allow them to continue to use your subscription service.  At this point, the client would have to make their own arrangements for document management, and would have to find a way to bring the data from you into that system.  This can be a very complicated process, particularly if there are a lot of data types and the organization of the data is complex.  Simply getting the copy of the data could be a challenge, depending on the system in use.  And, once you receive your data, does the professional retain copies of that information?

In the spirit of making things a little easier, I’d like to propose that we all think of it this way:

If you subscribe to a service which is integral to your delivery of service to your client, then it is part of YOUR process and you should own/control the solution.  This would apply, possibly, to payroll services, application hosting services, Bill.com-type solutions, and other services which assist you in the performance of your work.  The work product is for the client, but you’re doing the back office work and using tools to make that more efficient.

If the client leaves you, then it’s up to them to “tool up” to handle their processes.

You may find that, with clients having more complicated requirements, it makes sense for the client to subscribe to the solution and simply invite you to participate.  In these situations, it becomes extremely clear where the lines are drawn in terms of data access and ownership.  It’s theirs to control.  If the professional needs to retain copies of data or perform other work, it’s done on their own subscribed systems, and not on the clients.

Make sense?

J

Running Errands and Payrolls: Hosted QuickBooks from InsynQ and an iPad makes it possible

From a LinkedIn Group Discussion: Help in comparing hosting companies.

“Just go with InsynQ they are the best! They treat you like you are their only client and the service is great! I ran payroll last night on my I PAD at Comp USA while waiting for my desktop to get fixed. Not one hiccup. THEY ARE AWESOME!!!!!! “
Posted by Kimberly

 

Anytime, Anywhere

When I saw the above comment, naturally I was very happy to see the plug for InsynQ.  But what really caught my attention was the actual message… Kim living the “bunny slipper” dream and having the ability to get her work done from just about anywhere – securely – including from the local computer shop.  So I called Kim (Kimberly Noh of Noh Hassle Bookkeeping – what a great business name!) and got the whole story:

While on the phone with (of all people!) her InsynQ account representative, Kim Noh bumped her coffee cup and spilled coffee all over her laptop computer.  The timing for something like this is never good, but this time it was really bad, as there were several client payrolls needing to be processed right away.  Without the laptop, it could be a challenge.  There is also a lot of work to be done this time of year for all clients, so being without the laptop for any period of time just wasn’t an option.   So, Kim bundled up her dead laptop, her iPad and accessories, and trotted off to the computer store.

At the store, while the technicians were working on repairing the coffee-infused portable computer, Kim sat at a counter with her trusty iPad, her keyboard and stylus combo connected to it, and ran the client payrolls.  She was able to do this simply by connecting to her InsynQ virtual desktop, where she accessed the programs and the data necessary to get the job done quickly and efficiently.  By the time the tech was done fixing the laptop, Kim was done working, client payrolls completed and all

**side note: While at the counter in the computer store, Kim apparently ended up helping to sell numerous packages of the keyboard/stylus bundles for the iPad.  The store manager asked her if she would mind working at their store everyday – it was apparently great for sales.

Anytime, anwhere, baby.  You just gotta love the bunnies!

J

Intuit Hosted QuickBooks

Our hosted QuickBooks service lets you access your financial information from anywhere. Now you can work on QuickBooks from home, office, or the road and not miss a beat. Free yourself from IT hassles so you can free up time to focus on growing your business. Anytime, anywhere access Connect with just a web browser Connect multiple offices without the hassles of WANs or VPNS Easy remote access when you’re on the road Protect your business Continuous automatic data backups Secure connections protect your privacy Off-site data storage helps prevent data loss Save on technology hassles Save money on IT with no server or infrastructure costs Save time—we maintain the network for you

Let us install your QuickBooks software in the cloud—Call today.

InsynQ CPAASP Jim Torpey 866-206-1781 Request a quote and get more information from the first authorized hosting provider for QuickBooks. InsynQ CPAASP

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Hosted Applications: Public, Private and Shared Services

Anytime, Anywhere

When managers and owners begin to look at managed services, application hosting, and cloud solutions for the business, how do they know which “flavor” will best suit their needs?  If they don’t really understand what the terms mean, they may not end up with the delivery they intended.  Because there are so many and varied definitions of what “cloud” is, even the terms like public, private, and shared may take on various meanings.  So, in order to try to be as clear as possible, I’ll focus on the application hosting model, and the approaches taken by the community of providers recognized by Sage and Intuit as Commercial Hosts for those respective solutions.

Read the rest of the article on Running QuickBooks in the Cloud