For small and medium-sized businesses, there are several real advantages to moving your accounting to the Cloud. While it seems like everyone is talking about Cloud computing, you may be wondering if it’s the right solution for your company. In this article we’ll summarize the benefits of Cloud computing for your business.
The following information was taken from this webinar from Accounting Today which was sponsored by Gravity Software. Moderator Danielle Lee and presenter John Silvani, Business Application Expert at Gravity Software, discuss how Cloud computing benefits your accounting processes.
What Is the Cloud?
When people talk about the Cloud, they’re referring to remote servers and computing infrastructure running in a public or private data center. Instead of hosting information on a server that is located inside of your office building, your software is now hosted on a server in a remote location.
Old World Accounting Software
Before the emergence of Cloud computing, purchasing new accounting software was an extremely complicated process. Installing new software of any type could take several months. Accounting software was always a very large purchase and often required business owners to set up financing in order to pay for it.
In order to install new accounting software, a business had to determine ahead of time how many users it would need. New hardware was often required in order to set up the software. In fact, setting up everything required for effective accounting could take weeks. Even a simple upgrade would result in significant downtime as well as additional consulting charges for the company.
New World Accounting Software
Cloud computing has made purchasing new accounting software very different from what it used to be. In fact, new software programs can be provisioned on the same day. Other advantages include not having to pay large upfront fees, avoiding the need to purchase new hardware, and the benefits of scalability. In fact, it’s now quite easy to add or delete users as needed.
Can you imagine what happens when you have to upgrade new accounting software that utilizes Cloud computing? It’s a non-event. You probably won’t even notice that the upgrade is taking place, because you won’t experience any downtime, and you won’t have to pay any consulting fees. In fact, another benefit of Cloud computing is that you will always have the most current version of your program.
Disaster Recovery and Cloud Computing
Most companies cannot afford to pay for disaster recovery when something goes wrong. But if you’re taking advantage of the Cloud, then you have more intrinsic disaster recovery than you can ever pay for. Cloud services have redundancy built in.
Here are some examples of how you’re protected by the Cloud:
- Redundant power grids and generators
- Redundant internet providers
- Redundant servers
- 24/7 firewall and malware monitoring
- 24/7 intrusion detection
- 24/7 virus/malware detection
All in all, your information is much safer in the Cloud than on your servers. Now you don’t have to worry about stolen servers or malicious employees because the Cloud can help you better control who is granted access to your software.
Pay As You Go
The best part about using the Cloud and Software-as-a-Service is that your company is only paying for the resources you’re actually using. Servers are sized for peak needs, and you only pay for what you use. And since you’re sharing the pool of resources through the Cloud, you benefit by paying reasonable fees instead of large upfront costs.
Paying on a monthly basis makes it easy to upgrade, downgrade, cancel, or switch whenever your business needs to do so. It’s convenient and scalable.
Cloud Storage for Your Data
Your files and information are just as important as your accounting software. Therefore, it makes sense to store your files in the Cloud instead of on your servers. Storing your information in the Cloud keeps your data safe, secure, and backed up at all times.
Here are a few other advantages of utilizing the Cloud for your online storage needs:
- Easy to use.
- Accessible on mobile devices.
- Paired with specific user permissions.
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