When accounting systems first became popular, the business would require a server, someone to manage the server and all related IT and infrastructure functions, backups and end user support.

This was very costly and often businesses would lose months of work because the backups were failing and no one had noticed, or they had forgotten to take a backup offsite for safe keeping and the last successful backup was overwritten. Sound familiar?

What does ‘the cloud’ mean I hear you ask! You have to forgive me, as these acronyms and words roll off my tongue with ease, as it has been my life for a good twenty plus years!

In simple terms, what cloud technology allows you to do is to take advantage of someone else’s servers and someone else’s IT manager, and to have access to your information anywhere, anytime and on any device and saves you a lot of money by not having to have all the staff and infrastructure in house.

The cloud is fun and opens up numerous possibilities to help you provide the best service to your customers.

Here are some common problems with traditional desktop applications

Accounting information is only fully up-to-date on one machine (server)

Software must be upgraded regularly, often at a cost

The software is often licensed for use on one computer or per user

Using a USB drive to move data is inconvenient, unreliable and not secure – often small business do this to get their accounts over to the accountants

It can be difficult and slow to access financial data and customer details remotely

The software can be expensive to buy

Adding more users can cost a lot of money

The pricing may not be transparent, with hidden fees for updates or extra features

Now for the benefits of the cloud accounting software

Financial data flows automatically into the software from bank accounts and other sources

You can access accounts through any device with an internet connection

You have instant review of customer data and information, such as cash flow

There are many powerful tools and applications to help process accounting data

It’s easy for all the team to use

It grows with your business, no need to upgrade to the next version – expansion is not an issue

There are no more worries about outdated software, IT costs or server outages

You pay on a simple subscription basis, paying only for the services you need and services can be added and removed at any time

Basically, cloud accounting will give you fast access to the information you need to make smart business decisions from anywhere at any time.

The cloud really is the safest place for your accounts data. I have to also add that the cloud is not just for accounting data. You can use cloud software for all your documents, such as word, excel, PowerPoint and more, and you can save your documents to the cloud, once again allowing you access anytime anywhere and on any device, provided there is internet connection.

Business moves really fast these days and having real time information is not only productive and efficient, your customers will love it and therefore you are likely to get repeat business due to an excellent service being provided.