Why Should Accounting Businesses Invest in Cloud?

The success of every accounting business depends upon the quality of its services. However, the last decade brought significant changes in the industry with multiple new tax regulations and recent technological advancements. This has changed the way modern-day accounting businesses operate, handle their finances, and offer their services.
As per Cash Flow, 82% of small businesses fail because of poor cash-flow management. The same goes for accounting firms as well. They need a solution that helps manage their finances better, process the data faster with enhanced security, and is cost-efficient. The answer to all these problems is simple – cloud technology.

There are two options by which you can invest in the cloud – build an in-house cloud environment or opt for cloud services from a service provider. However, rest assured, investing in the cloud will surely benefit your accounting business.
Below are some of the benefits of investing in cloud technology:

Accessibility

Accounting businesses catering to international clients often need to work during non-business hours. This means that they need to be present in the office to assist their clients if using legacy systems. For instance, if you’re on vacation and a client calls you for immediate help, there is no way for you to offer your services. However, investing in the cloud completely changes that.
When you move to the cloud, you can access your data from any place on the device of your choice. Your data is also available around the clock, which means that you do not need to be present in the office to access your data and assist your clients.
Recommended Reading – How Can Accounting Firms Manage Their Remote Work?

Easy Collaboration

Multiple accountants need to work as a team and share data between them and clients. When the data or files are shared via email, it creates confusion as multiple copies of the same file are created. It decreases the productivity of your employees as they have to spend time finding the correct files.
Investing in cloud technology solves this problem for every stakeholder. Everyone can access the data simultaneously from their devices, and the changes made are reflected in real-time. This means that everyone gets access to the updated information, avoiding any confusion, resulting in better collaboration.

Cost-Effective Solution

For desktop-based systems or in-house IT infrastructure, you need to make a substantial investment. You need to purchase expensive hardware plus look after its maintenance as well. Additionally, you need to hire an IT team to maintain the infrastructure, leading to overhead expenses.
If you decide to opt for cloud services, it reduces your capital expenses and saves a lot of finances. Your entire business operations move to the cloud, eliminating the need to purchase or maintain IT infrastructure. It also results in decreased workload for your IT team, and there is no need to hire dedicated IT personnel for hardware maintenance, further increasing your savings.

World-Class Security

If you own accounting business, you must always worry about storing your data in the cloud. However, the cloud is one of the most secure ways to keep your data. For instance, if you lose your laptop, there is no way for anyone to access your data unless they have the login credentials to the cloud portal. It is much safer than storing your information on any local device.
Moreover, cloud service providers ensure proper data security. This is done with features like end-to-end encryption, the latest firewalls and antivirus, multi-factor authentication, and more. The service providers also deploy a dedicated IT team that looks for any suspicious activity in your data.

Integration With Other Platforms

Accounting firms need to use multiple applications to manage their business. They also need to integrate these applications with the accounting software to ensure the free flow of organizational data. For instance, companies often integrate their accounting applications such as QuickBooks with a CRM to get clear visibility of the business. Such integrations are often suited to the cloud as your local machine may experience performance lag due to increased loads.
Cloud providers host your data and business applications on high-performance servers. This means that you can integrate multiple applications without experiencing any lag. Faster processing saves a lot of time for firms, which can increase productivity.

Scalability

Accounting businesses need to change rapidly in today’s times. They need to scale up when the workload increases and scale down during lesser workloads. However, when you use physical servers, the purchase and setup of new IT hardware take a lot of time. Also, there is no way for you to scale down if you purchase IT hardware.
However, when you invest in the cloud, you are not bound to physical servers. The cloud allows you to add IT resources as per your needs and scale down when you do not need them. For instance, firms need extra storage during the tax season and need to scale down during other months of the year. You just need to contact your cloud service provider and explain your needs. The provider makes the necessary adjustments within no time.

Always Available

Time is money for accounting businesses. However, downtime can occur due to multiple reasons such as IT issues, hardware glitches, power issues, and the like. Downtime of a few seconds can result in a loss of thousands of dollars. Such repeated incidents spoil your firm’s reputation in the market, making it difficult for you to expand your business.
When you move to the cloud, this issue is completely resolved. Most reputed cloud service providers offer at least 99.99% uptime, which means that there will be a downtime of a few minutes per year. Hence, you can access your data round the clock without any hassle from anywhere in the world.

Conclusion

Do you see how investing in the cloud can prove to be a game-changer for your accounting firm? If you are currently using traditional legacy systems and storing data in local devices, now is the time to invest in the cloud and revolutionize your business operations.
Wish to know how the cloud can benefit your accounting business? Get in touch with our Solutions Consultant at +1-855-223-4887 or press the button below.