As much as we like to view ourselves as thoroughly modern, there’s a certain appeal to business as usual. It’s familiar, it’s proven (most of the time) and it seems low-risk.
While it’s undeniable that old habits die hard, some habits do indeed need to be put to rest. And that applies in spades to accounting firms, whose practices are frequently entrenched and whose strategic importance to clients can’t be overstated. Caution, even a little inertia, tends to be part of the DNA, often for seemingly good reasons. But not always.
What does “business as usual” look like? Consider the movement of client data, the financials upon which customer businesses depend. This is a world characterized by emailed Excel files, QuickBooks reports zapped by email or deposited in Dropbox, GoToMyPC sessions, even stacks of scribbled Post-It Notes, stuffed in a FedEx envelope. Each approach is archaic, unproductive, and risky (this is, after all, confidential data). And, by the way, completely unnecessary.
But this is the way it has been. Even high-touch practices, where a bookkeeper or member of the accounting team makes house calls — visiting computer hardware that is almost certainly past its prime – ought to rethink their approach. And if this is how you’re still doing business, there is a better way.
Here’s that better way: host QuickBooks for your clients. Not just the data – the full application, in the Cloud. If you’re not doing so, you’re almost certainly leaving revenue on the table, even as you increase the burden on your practice and on your client. Rather than adding complexity to your business life with administrative minutiae, you could be generating additional billable hours and developing a reliable revenue stream.
It’s not simply a matter of where an application sits – it’s how that application can be leveraged to grow your practice with minimal investment. The Cloud makes it feasible to expand your workforce without adding headcount, by enabling you to enlist contract bookkeepers anywhere in the country. With everyone accessing the same version of Quickbooks, the learning curve is virtually zero. Where the movement of vital client data was once subject to all manner of risk, the potential for loss or corruption in the Cloud is likewise almost nil. But that’s just the beginning.
Cloud-hosted QuickBooks can be both a money-saver and a money-maker. Hosting is an efficient value-add that simultaneously justifies a modest increase in your basic monthly fee while making your service more convenient and less complex for your clients. The frosting is the opportunity cost of not wasting time on that “business as usual” routine.
Done right, you can more than cover any initial costs.
Indeed, a smart application hosting strategy can quickly become a competitive advantage. While some Cloud service providers (CSPs) are wedded to steep per-user hosting fees – which tends to put the kibosh on QuickBooks hosting by CPA firms — other CSPs can host for as little as $25 a month, offering software licenses that can be rented, bought or even resold to clients, as business opportunities dictate.
Want to really seem ahead of the curve? Try QuickBooks hosting with your newer clients, and watch how much ROI there is to go around.
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Adam Stern is founder and CEO of Infinitely Virtual (www.infinitelyvirtual.com – @iv_cloudhosting) in Los Angeles.
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Tags: Cloud Technology, Firm Management
