easily enforced. He stressed that threats to IT
security are more prevalent at smaller firms,
since they often do not have the most updated
systems or security tools in place.
“Big firms can absorb a big [security]
breach, small firms would be put out of business, and small businesses and firms are being targeted because they are not employing
best practices,” said Yoss, a CPA and partner
in his own family CPA practice. “We see small
firms using older versions of software. They
say, ‘ What I have works great; why spend the
money?’ But the newest versions of QuickBooks or Windows versus older versions are
exponentially more secure.”
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LOOKING TO THE CLOUD
“We have approximately 1,500 tax clients and
500 business clients in a 10-person firm and
for us, IT security is a major consideration,”
Yoss said. “I tell all CPAs that if you don’t
know something, hire someone to give you
the right advice. Whatever you pay them an
CPA firms,” said Roy Keely, director of mar-
keting for Xcentric, a company that focuses
on IT support for the accounting profession
from its headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. “In
small firms, the benefit is in not having to
spend critical administrative time fooling
around with software patches and servers.
Mid-range firms also gain from a reduction
of administrative time spent on IT problems.
Honestly, mid-range firms seldom do well on
I T by themselves, and use of cloud resources
allows the administrative and management
teams to focus more of their time on generat-
ing revenues.”
“Large CPA firms are better able to take
a long-term view, and to leverage the cloud
resources for higher productivity and greater
revenues,” he said. “Those productivity gains
may seem intangible, but they are real, and
they do accrue to the firm’s bottom line.”
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER
Cloud computing is not without its baggage
and problems that accounting firms and
their clients are wise to bear in mind. Here
are some of the most critical:
It relies on an Internet connection. For
many rural areas, this makes cloud computing a non-starter. If the Internet connectivity
is not secure and reliable, cloud computing
will bring massive headaches for data recovery
and for simply keeping the firm in operation.
hour is better than spending hours learning
it or putting yourself at risk by not knowing
something or doing it wrong.”
For firms transporting client data — be
it tax or financial documents or bookkeep-
ing functions — the most secure place is the
cloud, say experts. More firms are becom-
ing attuned to the fact that their data is far
safer on a server farm or hosted nearby than
in their own offices, and many are moving
their files and data off-premises.
Nixa, Mo.-based Kinzey & Arndt began
moving data to the cloud approximately four
years ago, beginning with its tax work on
Ultra Tax, which at the time offered a hosted
virtual office encrypted with Citrix. The firm
also moved its write-up work to the cloud-based Accountants World’s Accounting Relief
application, and more recently engaged eFile-Cabinet to store all client documents. Scott
Kinzey, managing partner of the six-person
firm, said it is about halfway to being entirely
paperless, and feels his office is “more secure
than ever” since moving to the cloud.
“I still meet some small-firm CPAs that
feel their desktop is the safest place for their
Security is an issue. In a cloud services
industry that still does not have a code of conduct, there is little outside of a legal contract
to ensure that client data is secure from hacking and other probing eyes. Interestingly, for
companies outside of the U.S., the major concern is not hackers but the U.S. government.
Under the Patriot Act, data housed on a U.S.
server — where most global companies prefer to have their data warehoused — can be
accessed or even seized by the government
without a warning or a warrant. The government has issued a statement that such concerns are unwarranted, but many companies
remain wary.
Size matters. Seeing value from the
cloud is all about optimization of resources.
If yours is a large enterprise firm, the value of
using the cloud may be diminished because
your IT is already optimized. Conversely,
small firms with only one or two servers and
a good external backup service may see value
in using Software-as-a-Service and online
portals, but not necessarily a full shift to the
cloud for the IT needs. As always, careful
planning is critical.
What happens if ... Cloud computing
has been around for a while, and many of the
players are familiar names. But others are
not. What happens if the company housing
your data goes bankrupt and departs in the
middle of the night?
BUILDING A CLOUD STRATEGY
While cloud computing has become a major
data,” said Kinzey. “Can you imagine there are
still small firms having to patch their firewalls
constantly? You have to be connected with a
bigger company that does it 24/7 and knows
what’s going on. I’m doing taxes, I don’t have
time to figure it all out. These days we keep
very little on the other side of our firewall.”
Harshman Phillips & Co., a 12-person firm
from Atlanta, is in the process of getting rid
of its servers entirely, opting to outsource all
of its file storage and operations programs
to run the firm. Currently all of the firm’s tax
data is on the Web and all copies of returns
are scanned and stored in SmartVault.
VARbriefs
TRIBRIDGE ACQUIRES
DYNAMICS VAR EPARTNERS
TAMPA, FLA. — Microsoft Dynamics Master
VAR Tribridge has purchased the U.S.-based Dynamics enterprise resource
planning and customer relationship
management software business of ePartners, creating one of the largest Dynamics value-added resellers and business
consultancies in the U.S. The purchase
includes most of ePartners’ U.S. assets
— the British firm, ePartners UK Ltd., was
acquired earlier this year by a European
Microsoft partner.
The transaction involves the integration of over a half-dozen ePartners offices and approximately 85 staff members, adding to Tribridge’s existing staff
of over 300 and 13 U.S. offices. All of
those offices geographically overlap with
Tribridge, with the exception of ePartners’ Nashville, Tenn., operation. The
deal will also result in a total client base
of approximately 3,500.
SAGE VET ELLERTSON
JOINS NET@WORK
NEW YORK — Top Sage North America
partner Net@Work has hired recently
departed Sage CRM sales executive Seth
Ellertson as its new director of client care
and inside sales. In his new role, Ellertson
will manage Net@Work’s client care team
to help ensure that clients have timely
access to the company’s technology solutions and services portfolio.
Ellertson will succeed Mike Fitzgerald,
who has held that position since
Net@Work acquired his company,
The Fitzgerald Group, in April 2010.
Fitzgerald planned to work with Ellertson
and aid his transition, after which
Fitzgerald will work as an outside
consultant for Net@Work.
AQURUS SOLUTIONS JOINS
ACUMATICA CHANNEL
BETHESDA, MD. — Calgary, Alberta-based
business and technology consultant
Aqurus Solutions has joined the Acumatica channel to represent the cloud-based
ERP software maker throughout Western
Canada. Aqurus brings over 20 years of
financial software solutions expertise to
Acumatica.
Acumatica is the only ERP product
that Aqurus carries, although president
Murray Quibell was a Microsoft Dynamics VAR from 1995 to 2007, representing
Dynamics SL, GP, AX and CRM.
