FAQs: 7 Commonly Asked Questions About QuickBooks Hosting

Hosting QuickBooks on the cloud brings great promise, but also confusion to the accounting sector. Key questions are answered in this blog.  

Moving QuickBooks to the cloud is a big change for many businesses. Understanding the ins and outs of QuickBooks hosting and how your company can take advantage of the numerous benefits is often a tough task. 

Here are the top 7 questions on QuickBooks hosting with their answers. 

1. What is QuickBooks Hosting? 

QuickBooks hosting is the installation of QuickBooks software on the network server hosted over the internet. Simply put, with hosted QuickBooks, data and files can be accessed via a web browser from any device and anytime through the Internet. There is no need to install QuickBooks on a local machine.  

This and much more than the cloud offers, making it easier for accountants and small business owners to focus on their business growth. QuickBooks hosting allows businesses to maintain a collaborative hub to provide effective business operations. 

2. How is QuickBooks Hosting better than traditional QuickBooks Desktop? 

For accountants, gone are the days of sitting in front of a PC throughout the day crunching numbers. With QuickBooks hosting, they can get all the mobility and flexibility they want. Instead of spending money on purchasing physical servers in-house, firms can rent the QuickBooks data storage space from cloud hosting providers on a pay-per-use basis.  

Here’s why your business needs to move your QuickBooks to the cloud: 

• To meet the growing hosting requirements of the clients (such as anytime, anywhere access) 
• To counter the limitations of traditional on-premise QuickBooks 
• To provide easy solutions for the clients and a more developed hosting environment 

Hosting QuickBooks on the cloud provides a collaboration of resources. Resources that can be delivered quickly and securely, without the requirement of regular upgrades or in-house maintenance. 

3. How is QuickBooks hosting different from QuickBooks Online? 

With the changing workplace culture, the need to access QuickBooks remotely has increased. Most companies have now realized that a traditional setup isn’t the best option for them anymore.  

One of the key benefits of both – QuickBooks online and hosted QuickBooks – is the accessibility of the software from anywhere and anytime. However, QuickBooks online lacks many features which one can get with QuickBooks hosting. For example, QuickBooks online doesn’t allow you to track international sales and expenses in multiple currencies, but QuickBooks hosting allows you to.  

Both QuickBooks hosting and QuickBooks online are both great options, in that they offer functionalities that can help run your business smoother. Ultimately, your business type, size, and needs are the real deciding factor between the two.  

4. What are the requirements to host QuickBooks on the cloud? 

To host QuickBooks on the cloud, you need licensed or subscription-based QB software.  

For the most part, moving your QuickBooks to the cloud is simple and just requires you to have a QuickBooks cloud provider handle the transition. However, network bandwidth is one the biggest things for you to consider as you can only access QuickBooks via the internet. 

5. I’m caught up. Fill me in as to why is hosting QuickBooks on the cloud more secure? 

The days of storing important data on your in-house system are gradually coming to an end. The positives of QuickBooks hosting are many: With hosted QuickBooks, you aren’t forced to carry around a physical device with you – your files are accessible from any location and any device with an internet connection. Even if your system crashes, you can still have access to all your data and files.  

Before we address concerns related to hosting QuickBooks on the cloud, consider an alternative to this – a locally hosted QB desktop. While you may consider that files stored on an in-house server safe and secure, safety will be compromised if there is a man-made or natural disaster. All the important files can be instantly lost. Data stored in-house is also more vulnerable to viruses and ransomware.   

6. How do I know if QuickBooks hosting is right for my business? 

Companies planning to move their QuickBooks to the cloud do so for many reasons. You need to assess if the cloud is right for your business from an operational as well as strategic perspective. Evaluate your existing IT set-up to understand the benefits of moving QuickBooks to the cloud, especially in the following areas:  

• Does your IT demand vary throughout the year? 
• Does your IT cost impact the ability to grow as a business? 
• Are you satisfied with the costs involved with QB Desktop? Are the costs of scaling resources or upgrading and updating in-house systems acceptable? 
• How important are features like security, accessibility, and reliability to your business? 
• Are your requirements being met with a traditional QuickBooks desktop solution? 
• What is the geographical distribution of QuickBooks users? Do they need remote access to the software? 

Answering all these questions would help you decide whether the cloud is the right fit for your business.  

7. How to choose the best QuickBooks hosting provider? 

Moving QuickBooks to the cloud can reduce costs, streamline workflow, and eradicate the need for in-house IT personnel. A good QuickBooks cloud provider is also capable of providing secure access to data and facilitating remote user collaboration online.   

Many business owners tend to decide on cloud providers based on price. However, this may not always be the best option. They may find out later on that the services purchased do not cover all their needs or the provider is a sketchy company that doesn’t rise to industry standards.  

The QB cloud provider is responsible for the security, performance, and availability of your network. With the right cloud provider, your business will see many positive results. Ideally, you should look for customer support availability, data center locations, SLA-backed uptime, and security measures taken by them.  

Conclusion 

These are some of the frequently asked questions about QuickBooks hosting. As daunting as a transition from QuickBooks desktop to the cloud may seem, you don’t need to be intimidated – our team of cloud experts would be happy to assist you and answer any of your questions to help make this transition easier.