How Hosted Desktop Can Increase Efficiency of Tax Professionals in Tax Season 2023

Hosted Desktop is the new norm of functioning for offices all over the globe. Especially in the era of global business, every company wants to work on a platform that can enhance their business operations.

Hosted desktops are one of the many offerings of cloud technology. Hosted desktops are similar to your physical computer systems. However, the difference is that they are virtual and hosted on the cloud. Hence, you get all the perks that cloud technology offers. You can get hosted desktops from various third-party providers in the market that offer Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) to the customers.

Since all the major industries are gradually adopting hosted virtual desktops, why should the tax industry be left behind? Especially, with the arrival of the 2021 tax season, they need agility and efficiency in the tax filing than never before.

So, the question arises that why should you, as a tax preparer, opt for hosted desktops in the tax season? Here are some aspects of cloud hosted desktops that will help you decide.

1. Agility

Time is of the essence for tax professionals. You need to do everything you can to cut down the time spent on menial tasks. One of the things that you might have experienced is the time to commute to the office or attending those meetings. Moreover, for any personal commitments you hold off until the end of the tax season, there is always some unavoidable errands that you have to run.

Hosted desktops empower you to file returns on your smartphones, tablets, and laptops. As the desktops are created on remote cloud servers, all you need to do is login with your devices. Hence, you can file returns on the move, while traveling or from distant locations.

2. Security

As it is, the tax professionals have a lot on their plate to worry about, be it preparing tax documents or filing them. The last thing they should have on their mind is worrying about the data breaches and cyber threats. The client’s information is confidential to the point where any compromise of the data can lead to catastrophic effects for both the client and the tax firm.

However, in the case of virtual desktop hosting, all the hardware is situated in state-of-the-art data centers. These data centers maintain the highest security standards when it comes to infrastructural security. Moreover, the hosting provider ensures the security of tax data at every level – physical, network, and admin. The same is achieved by deployment of security safeguards like data encryption, multi-factor authentication, hardware and software firewalls, DDoS protection, Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDS/ IPS), among others.

3. Work-Life Balance

Tax season is a tussle. As a tax professional, it takes a lot out of you. Hence, it is vital for you to maintain a work-life balance during this stressful period. Although it is easier said than done, you need to spend time with family and friends to take some of the load off.

A sustainable work-life balance can be achieved with the help of hosted desktops. This is because as the virtual desktops can be accessed from anywhere, you do not need to sit behind a desk daily to file returns. You can work from your home and spend time with your family simultaneously. Getting these breaks will help you enhance your efficiency and reduce mental and physical stress.

4. Time Management

In the tax season, time is a commodity that the preparers just can’t get enough of. Everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day, which they have to utilize to the fullest. Since you cannot compromise on filing the clients’ taxes, you need to find time from somewhere else. One area where you can minimize the time spent is the recurring IT issues on your premises.

By opting for DaaS, the entire IT operation is the responsibility of the hosted desktop provider. Everything from setup, upgrade, and maintenance of hosted desktops is taken care of by them. You can forget about the IT issues and make more time for your clients during the busy tax season.

5. Backup

During the entire duration of the tax season, your desktop keeps getting filled with all the necessary client documents. Since the physical desktops are vulnerable to the external environment and have a lifecycle, any minor issue such as corruption of the operating system can cause data loss. Data loss is unacceptable during any time of the year. However, during the tax season, it is catastrophic.

The DaaS providers address this issue by providing you the backup of tax data on the cloud. The good ones even have automated backup solutions so that no critical information gets lost.

6. Customer Support

One of the most critical factors to ensure a smooth tax season is to resolve the IT issues in time. Your local IT workforce might be competent enough to resolve all your issues, but how much time does it take for them to come to your desk and diagnose them.

In the case of hosted desktops, the entire cloud infrastructure is under continuous monitoring by experts to identify any disruptions in the hardware. Moreover, the competent hosting providers offer round-the-clock support by phone, call, and chat, ensuring a low response and resolution time.

7. Uptime

Filing taxes with upmost productivity depends on the total period in which you are able to access the tax process on the cloud. However, even a glitch in your local IT infrastructure, like a hardware crash or network issues, can make your tax software unavailable.

On the other hand, the competent hosted desktop providers guarantee you an uptime of 99.99% or more. Moreover, as the hosted desktops can be accessed from multiple end-point devices like smartphones, laptops, and tablets, if a device malfunctions, you just need to pick up another to file returns.

Be Away From Stress This Tax Season

Hosted desktops can prove to be a valuable asset this tax season. Apart from all the aspects discussed above, opting for DaaS can also help you reduce capital and operational expenses. Moreover, if you want to integrate your tax software with useful applications like CRM and office suite, the cloud offers you the flexibility to do so without upgrading your on-premise hardware. However, keep in mind that choosing the best hosted desktop provider is also vital as it will define the level of services you get.

Want to know more about hosted desktops? Call our Solutions Consultant at 855-264-8722.