Be it a law firm, medical institution or construction business; the accounts department is an essential cog in the company wheel. The accountants keep track of every transaction, invoice, and payment concerning the company.
Hence, it is fair that the job of accountants is made less stressful by giving them the appropriate tools and comfortable environment to work. In the time before digitalization, the client’s accounts were managed on large ledgers. As the time progressed, and digitalization took over, accounting software like QuickBooks and Sage took the place of the written form.
Although these tools are quite versatile and perform all the functions related to accounting and others, some aspects longed for further optimization.
It is where the cloud technology came into the picture and made a significant impact on the way CPAs used to function. It enabled them to access all the useful tools in one place and streamline the process. It eliminated the tedious tasks like hardware maintenance and improved performance.
The impact of cloud technology on the accounting industry has been enormous. However, there are some aspects of cloud technology that just cannot be ignored. Let us discuss these in detail.
1. The Freedom of Mobility!
The cloud technology gives CPAs the ability to access their operations from any part of the world. All they need is a portable device and an internet connection. These devices could be smartphones, laptops, and tablets among others.
The accounting software such as QuickBooks is hosted on remote data centers that can be accessed on your portable devices using any compatible remote access software.
The accountants can manage the books and keep track of payments while traveling or out of the station. They can attend seminars and client meetings and still monitor the process. It helps in performance enhancement of professionals.
2. High Availability
Availability is the ability to keep the accounting process accessible to the accountants at all times. A number of factors affect the availability of a process.
The server that hosts the process might malfunction. The Internet connection can be disrupted. There can be any number of problems with the network equipment. Or the location could be the subject of a natural disaster.
The cloud hosting providers like Cloudways managed cloud hosting keep all these factors into consideration and offer the customers with reliable and robust solutions. Most renowned cloud providers guarantee 99.999 percent uptime that implies the constant functioning of services.
Moreover, the data is backed up on redundant servers to prevent loss of data. Some providers also offer automatic backup at several off-sites.
A disaster recovery plan is implemented to safeguard the process from any disaster, natural or artificial. The data is stored in multiple geographical locations to ensure that itis restored even if the entire site is disrupted.
As the cloud technology involves multiple servers functioning together, disturbance with one server means the accounting process is shifted to another server.
3. Cost
One of the critical factors of any business process is the cost assessment. The cost of the process should be in sync with the resource requirements and the desired performance.
Cloud Technology offers cost-effective solutions for the accounting industry. Instead of owning a physical server for their operations, they can avail the customized resources from the cloud hosting providers. It results in cost optimization as the pricing is on a pay-per-usage policy.
4. Scalability
Being in the accounting industry, CPAs are bound to handle critical data in the form of balance sheets, invoices, transactions, and tax statements. These files require a substantial amount of disk space in the local server.
Given the limitations of the physical hardware, the local server must be upgraded time and again. It is a headache for accounting businesses as hardware replacement demands loads of time and effort.
In the cloud environment, there are no hardware-related limitations. The accountants can practically store as much data as they want in the cloud. The hosting providers that offer cloud services can upgrade the pricing plan as per the process requirement.
5. Seamless operation
The one thing you are guaranteed from the cloud is a smooth operation. Hosting accounting business on the cloud gives accountants the ability to integrate various processes that lead to better collaboration.
Automated Process – Cloud technology enables CPAs to automate the accounting processes. They can automate payments to the clients.
Multi-user Collaboration – Multiple users can access the accounting process at the same time. When several employees are working on the same process, it becomes complicated to share the files with each other. Cloud enables users to work collectively by accessing the common server.
App Integration–Numerous apps work in tandem with the accounting software. These software products could be related to billing, payroll, etc. Cloud offers an integrated environment where these apps can be integrated into a streamlined process.
Accounting Optimization by Cloud
Cloud provides the accounting industry with the comfort of hardware independence. The CPAs can spend less time worrying about their system and focus on the customer’s balance sheets. The freedom to access the accounting software from any part of the world is a welcome change for accountants.
The cloud environment encourages the integration of supported apps with the accounting software and offers a scalable solution for your process. The company can pay as per usage and reduce the costs related to hardware maintenance and replacement.
All in all, integrating cloud technology with the accounting process can only lead to high growth for your firm.
Author Bio:
Nishant Kadian is an editor at Ace Cloud Hosting, a leading provider of QuickBooks Enterprise Hosting. He likes to cover cloud computing and tech trends that influence the accounting and business world. He has been writing about SaaS products, application hosting, and IT security since 2014.
