James M. Harte, CPA.CITP, MCP — 37

Professional Associations/Memberships: AICPA, NJSCPA, ISACA

Civic Involvement: Involved in community civic association as well as fundraising captain for LiveStrong challenge team, which has raised nearly $20,000 so far this year for Lance Armstrong Foundation. Frequently rides and fundraises for various charities including American Red Cross, and ALS Express to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) research and programs. Serves on the board of local Civic Association, and coaches youth soccer for Marlton Recreation Council.

Hobbies: cycling & music

Cell phone: Motorola Droid X

Favorite app: Google Maps built into Android. It’s useful to find client meeting locations as well as a tool to map by bike routes and track my road and mountain biking expeditions.

 

What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? My Droid X has become an indispensable device I rely heavily on.

How many hours of the day are you plugged in and responsive to client needs? And what tools/products make it possible for you to have flexibility? We need to be responsive to our clients 24/7. Our technology practice supports many different industries that run on various schedules in several countries. We handle this by providing comprehensive mobile technologies to our staff as well as a comprehensive managed service platform to automate many solutions to routine issues.

Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook) as a marketing tool for your practice/business … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Have you gained any clients or seen other demonstrable benefits from the use of social networking? We use social media mostly for personal use, with the exception of LinkedIn. We are, however, in the process of redesigning our Internet presence to take advantage of many aspects of social media for client and prospect interactions. We encourage the use of social media technologies and support appropriate use through very clear policies and guidance to employees.

What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social networking etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? I am not a big fan of people who use social networks to push out a link to every article or story they read. I am interested when someone offers their point of view, however. Tell me what you think about a topic or why you agree or disagree. Are you trying to engage me in a conversation about a topic or simply letting me know how much time you are spending reading Internet articles? The latter reminds me of a quote from my sixth grade teacher Sister Kevin, IHM who frequently said: “Empty barrels make the most noise.”

Do you listen to podcasts? I listen to a variety of podcasts on a regular basis. I like just about anything from Revision3 Networks, especially Tekzilla and Diggnation. Tekzilla provides a wide variety of technical tricks tips and “how-tos” on the latest technologies, and Diggnation makes me laugh.

Do you embrace cloud computing? We embrace cloud computing and are trying to take advantage of cloud computing opportunities where possible. I wish the technology we use in our firm was readily available in a cloud model. It is coming, but not quite ready for prime time just yet. We do however encourage our smaller and mid-sized clients to use cloud offerings for maintenance intensive applications such as hosted exchange or hosted backup.

How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? We are very concerned with security in all aspects of our practice. Cloud computing forces us to rely heavily on trusted business partners and understand for ourselves what safeguards are in place. We demand SAS 70 reports from business partners who operate in the cloud and read them carefully to verify the controls that are tested are relevant to our use of their services.

Do you foresee the majority of firms still implementing servers for the majority of their computing in their offices five years from now or do you think they will be outsourcing this component to vendors who specialize in this area? I predict that firms will continue to use a mixture of cloud and on-premise technologies. Licensing and cost is a critical factor. We are more likely to use cloud offerings that support concurrent use licensing models due to the fact that we have many systems or applications that are used very frequently by the firm, but perhaps infrequently on an individual basis. Although we are still “Server Centric” in many ways, we are not bound by physical servers. We embrace virtual technologies that allow us the flexibility to maintain multiple operating system varieties and also maintain flexibility to maintain our hardware at peak performance. We rely heavily on the fact that we can continuously balance physical resources to virtual resource demand. It would not be practical to open up servers and move memory, disk space or processing power from one server to another. It is extremely simple, however, to do so in a virtualized world.

Do you subscribe to a magazine and/or local newspaper? I subscribe to the Philadelphia Business Journal and several other regional business publications such as SNJ Business People. I get the rest of my news and current events from websites, RSS feeds or news reading software.

What are some ways your firm/business has gone “paperless” and/or “green” in the last two years? We have eliminated nearly all print subscriptions for professional materials as well as conduct “less paper” audits. Our tax practice has embraced portal technology and exchanges data with clients via our client portal instead of paper.

How many monitors do you have on your desk? Two — one portrait, one landscape.

What operating system and version of Microsoft Office is installed on your work computer? Windows 7 and Ubuntu (Dual boots)

What are some of your favorite books, movies, music, websites, and TV shows?

Fiction Books: Daniel Suarez’s “Daemon”, Cory Doctorow’s “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”

Business Books: “Good to Great”, “Getting Things Done”, “The Art of Profitability”

Authors: Malcolm Gladwell

I enjoy reading just about anything on my kindle.

I am a bit of a closet Discovery Channel junkie. I don’t watch a lot of TV but enjoy “Deadliest Catch” & “Mythbusters.” Not so proud moment: Watching several episodes of “Jersey Shore” to see what the fuss was all about.

What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I am a fan of all Philadelphia sports teams. I am a Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder.