Benefits of Cloud Services for Accounting
Advancements in technology and the pandemic have turned the way business is conducted upside down. The accounting department is the heartbeat of every company. However, being tied down to one physical location is no longer feasible. To receive payments from clients, make payments to vendors, and stay on top of payroll, versatility is needed. Cloud services for accounting are the way of the future and provide the flexibility that accounting entities need for their organization’s long-term success. This is your guide to the benefits cloud accounting offers your business!
What is Cloud Accounting?
Before we dive into the myriad of benefits, let’s take a quick look at what cloud accounting is. Traditional desktop accounting software is downloaded to local hard drives and can only be accessed from these physical locations. On the other hand, cloud services for accounting are hosted on remote servers and are accessed via the internet.
Access From Anywhere in the World
Workly remotely is more popular than ever before. Whether your accounting team is working from home or on a business trip halfway around the world, they can access all data and applications from anywhere in the world. For instance, during COVID-19, many businesses were forced to close their doors, and employees had to work from home. For companies that had already adopted cloud accounting services, this was feasible. Staff was able to send, receive, process invoices, and carry out other accounting tasks with minimal disruption. However, for those who were still using desktop accounting software, the ability to pivot was challenging, if not impossible.
The ability to operate businesses remotely is a popular trend that does not seem to be going away anytime soon. Remote access to every part of your business, including, accounting is vital if you want to stay at the forefront of your industry.
Improve Communication
Effective communication with clients and internally is one of the keys to long-term success. Clients today demand a more hands-on approach to communication than just phone calls and emails. Cloud accounting services open the door to new and different ways to communicate with clients and amongst each other. Client account portals, online dashboards, and chat rooms are just a few of the available communication avenues with a cloud-based accounting solution.
Integrated cloud calendars, email, and data make it easy for team members to stay on the same page, which reduces redundancies and human errors.
Save Money and Time
The time and resources it takes your IT team to maintain a traditional accounting software system can quickly add up. Let’s not forget about the additional upfront investment in the software. Cloud-based accounting means that there is no IT infrastructure to maintain or costly software and hardware investments. Pay an affordable monthly or annual fee for the service and let the cloud-accounting software provider handle the rest. It is hassle-free and saves your company a significant amount of time and money at the same time.
Top-Level Security
Your accounting data contains sensitive information such as consumer contact information, bank account numbers, credit cards, etc. Although a hack into any part of your company is not good, your accounting software is one of the last places you would want to be compromised. Cloud-based accounting software provides military encryption levels with regularly scheduled backups and automatic saving to ensure that information is secure. Not to mention, you can rest assured that you are always working with the most up-to-date version of the software, including any patches that have been deployed.
Easily Collaborate
Collaborating with fellow team members has never been easier than it is with a cloud-based accounting system. All authorized users can access the same information and share data securely through integrated email, chat boards, and other applications. Quickly get expense requests approved, issues resolved and much more from one central location no matter how many miles are between you and your colleagues.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Going paperless means that you are helping the environment by reducing your company’s carbon footprint. It also means that you will save money by:
- Not having to pay the postage to send out physical invoices
- Not having to pay storage fees to keep paper documents
- Not having to pay for the materials (e.g., file folders) to keep physical paperwork.
With cloud accounting, all files are saved and backed up on the cloud.
Platform Versatility
Do you prefer a PC while your colleague prefers a Mac? Is your favorite browser Chrome while your colleague prefers Internet Explorer? With cloud accounting, it doesn’t matter which type of device or internet browser you use. Since most browsers and operating systems are supported, they can use what they are most comfortable with.
Do you prefer a Windows PC or Mac? What’s your choice, Chrome, Internet Explorer or Firefox? In the world of cloud accounting, it simply doesn’t matter. Cloud accounting applications are delivered via a web browser and typically support all popular platforms.
State-of-the-Art Cloud Services for Accounting
You have a million things on your plate when running your business; accounting software shouldn’t be one of them. MATHE understands the needs of your business and offers hassle-free, performance-driven cloud-based solutions to streamline accounting processes. The future of accounting is in the cloud. Schedule your free consultation today!
With over 35 years in the business of supporting and implementing technology for the SME market, and 6 years previously in Corporate IT and Voice. I have seen a great deal of change. The only common thread is I have always focused on the Business Wise application of Technology. We always try to look 5 years ahead of the current technology to make sure our clients are on the right track to meet current and future needs.
