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(Analysis and MIS)
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Friday, 25 November 2011 01:17 |
The “cloud” has become the latest catchword for doing business online. Mostly aimed at consumers and Small to Medium Sized Businesses, the “cloud” has been around for at least the last decade in the form of SaaS (Software as a Service); allowing companies to access their accounting/ERP software remotely from a hosting company.
Enterprise-sized businesses have also been using a ‘cloud’ type environment by locating their ‘data centres’ off site, and having every location access the data remotely. Banks have been doing this for several decades.
Using Accounting/ERP Software Before the Cloud
Traditionally, companies tend to keep all of their accounting and business data on-site. It’s secure, local and ‘protected.’ However, what if something happens ‘locally’ that compromises the application and data?
A Back-up Regimen
At the very least, your clients have to have a robust back regimen for their data; off-site and remotely. We explored that in a previous article: How Safe Is Your Client’s Accounting Data?
Okay, but finally into the “cloud”
More and more Small to Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) are looking at taking all of their accounting/ERP activities off-site, to a ‘hosted’ solution. Below is a list of choices of how to best take your clients’ business data ‘into the cloud.’
1. Self-Host at an ISP/Data Centre
This is exactly like having your systems housed locally, except that all of your client’s servers, applications and data are ‘hosted’ at a secure, 24/7 monitored, facility with UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) – usually a diesel-powered generator for back up. The client still retains physical ownership of the servers and applications. You can also arrange to have your entire array of servers backed up for redundancy. Your ISP can help you determine the best solution/configuration.
2. ISP/Data Centre Operated Business Software
In this scenario, your ISP runs a data centre, owns all of the physical equipment/servers, and simply ‘hosts’ the client’s applications and data. The facility is secure, with 24/7 monitoring, and a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) – usually a diesel-powered generator for back up. In this scenario, ISPs almost always back everything up for redundancy. Ask the ISP for more details.
3. SaaS (Software as a Service); now we’re in the ‘cloud’
In this scenario, everything, except the data is owned and operated by the hosting company. The client just supplies the data. Macros, 3rd party applications and templates can be used to get the data into their system initially, and after that, it’s just updates in real-time. Some examples of companies that offer SaaS, or ‘business in the cloud’ are:
Salesforce.com for CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
OPEN ERP for full ERP/accounting/business management
Accpac ONLINE for ERP/accounting/business management
SageCRM.com for CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Microsoft Cloud
With secure services, security measures and an equality of functionality, more and more business are considering (and actually changing to) cloud-based solutions for managing their accounting/ERP/CRM/business management software systems. The main considerations that will inform a purchasing decision will be comfort (of having their data off-site), ease of use and cost. Although the total cost of ownership can be 10 - 25% more expensive, the convenience can be with the investment. And yes, the cost can be applied as an investment if the accounting makes sense.
Help your clients’ consider the benefits of business software solutions in ‘cloud’ solutions.
They might just thank you for it!
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(Analysis and MIS)
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Thursday, 18 August 2011 00:00 |
Do all of your clients' different software applications work well together? Are they integrated through a single database? Are they manually moving data back and forth between their operational software (manufaturing, warehousing, job cost accounting)? Read on and learn how integrating their operational softwarewith their accounting system can improve performance.
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(Analysis and MIS)
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Thursday, 11 August 2011 00:00 |
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Managing Fixed Assets fun? Are we out of our minds. Well, read on and end the drudgery of spreadsheets, and focus on the fun part of managing fiexed assets...
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(Analysis and MIS)
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Thursday, 04 August 2011 00:00 |
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Go beyond the basic financial analysis ratios to help your clients' get more out of their accounting data.
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(Analysis and MIS)
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Thursday, 21 July 2011 00:00 |
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Collecting your money! Next to providing excellent customer service, collecting AR is probably one of the most important business activities that your clients engage in. Read on to discover a great way of improving AR collections by using Improving AR collections using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Software.
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