Category: Cloud Computing

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Intuit Makes Moves to Push Low-End QuickBooks Users to Online Edition

QuickBooks Pro and Premier Subscriptions No Longer Available After July, and It’s Bye Bye for QuickBooks for Mac

 

Final sale date for QuickBooks Pro and Premier

On November 30 of this year, Intuit notified its partners and customers that the final date for new sales of QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Desktop Premier, Mac, and Desktop Enhanced Payroll is July 31, 2024. Starting in August, QuickBooks Pro and Premier subscriptions, along with Mac versions and desktop payroll services, will no longer be available for purchase. QuickBooks Enterprise, which is a desktop edition, is the only QuickBooks version that will remain available for new subscriptions. 

For several years, Intuit has been improving their online version of the product while migrating as many customers as possible to that platform. Now, businesses that have invested years of user training and business process development are forced to decide if the online version of QuickBooks will meet the needs that the desktop editions have for years, and they must look at the realities of potentially re-training users and re-developing workflows and processes. 

QuickBooks Enterprise is a viable alternative 

The alternative is that businesses adopt QuickBooks Enterprise edition and retain the value of user knowledge and process support by remaining in desktop QuickBooks. For businesses that manage multiple company files, QuickBooks Enterprise provides the same multi-company capabilities that Pro and Premier do, something the online edition does not currently support. 

There is no change to QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise subscriptions. All QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise subscriptions (Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond) will continue to be available for purchase for new customers. QuickBooks Enterprise Gold, Platinum, and Diamond subscriptions include integrated payroll. 

Flexibility of Desktop Applications on the Cloud 

With the announcement, many accounting professionals and their clients are not sure what the best path forward is. While there is momentum behind the online application, there are options for staying with QuickBooks Desktop and still take advantage of the cloud. 

For businesses that want the flexibility of using the cloud but that need the features and functionality of desktop QuickBooks, Noobeh cloud offers QuickBooks on Azure services. This empowers businesses to use their QuickBooks Desktop software – Pro, Premier, or Enterprise – along with all their add-ons and integrations, and to run it all securely on the Microsoft cloud. Note that Noobeh’s hosting service also works with Mac devices, so even Mac and iOS users can work in hosted Windows versions of QuickBooks. 

QuickBooks Desktop is Not Dead 

The retirement of QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, Mac and Payroll products currently impacts only new customers looking for those solutions, or existing customers that do not have current subscription licenses. If a business has an existing QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus, Mac Plus, or Enhanced Payroll subscription, they can continue to renew their subscription after July 31, 2024. Intuit will continue to provide security updates, product updates, and support for existing subscribers. 

Intuit will also allow accountants to continue purchasing QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Solutions, including ProAdvisor bundles, directly through the QuickBooks Accountant Sales team. 

What to Do 

To avoid losing access to QuickBooks desktop, businesses should purchase a QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus, or Mac Plus subscription through the QuickBooks Accountant Sales team before July 31, 2024. Businesses that need a desktop payroll solution should consider purchasing a QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll subscription before July 31, 2024, or upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise Gold, Platinum, or Diamond, all of which include integrated payroll and can still be purchased after July 31, 2024.  

Mendelson Consulting, Intuit’s first solution provider and the go-to experts on QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, are perfectly positioned to provide businesses with the help they need to decide which path to take with their QuickBooks software. Recognized as specialists in working with larger businesses using QuickBooks Enterprise and as top performer with QuickBooks Online, Mendelson Consulting’s team has the depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise to make sure your business makes the best possible choice for its financial systems. 

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MISys Manufacturing Leverages Microsoft Azure Cloud with MISys on Azure

MISys Manufacturing software is designed for small to medium sized manufacturers, providing low cost of ownership and a flexible, modular design. When a business needs to add inventory management, purchasing, MRP, forecasting and scheduling, MISys is the solution that delivers the functionality. Noobeh cloud services has always provided hosting and managed services for MISys and MISys EXT on the Microsoft Azure cloud. Now, MISys Manufacturing has new options to take even more advantage of the power and flexibility of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform:

MISys on Azure

The new cloud deployment options for MISys Manufacturing provide direct support for Microsoft Azure databases and app services. Customers can use their own self-managed Azure subscriptions and the MISys installer can provision the app and database to get it all going. Noobeh helps businesses get started with the Azure cloud, assisting with the setup and deployment of services on the most secure, scalable, and agile platform available. Noobeh services delivered on Microsoft Azure take full advantage of the Microsoft cloud platform and all it has to offer.

While the primary focus of MISys releases starting with v6.4.5.0 have been to have an installer-assisted deployment with Microsoft Azure, the complexity of Microsoft and Azure account and subscription setup can be daunting for even experienced technicians. Noobeh simplifies these processes by assisting businesses with the creation of the accounts and the provisioning and preparation of the services necessary to support a MISys on Azure installation.

Each Noobeh MISys on Azure customer gets their own absolutely private Azure tenant account, which ensures that there is no co-mingling of resources and no possibility of interactions between customer accounts. And Noobeh deploys services with the resources necessary to deliver the right solution for each business client, knowing that adjustments can always be made as business needs change.

MISys Manufacturing can be implemented in a variety of configurations, allowing each deployment to meet the specific needs of the client. Noobeh helps companies deploy MISys Manufacturing software in all its forms, handling the installation and technical configuration whether on-premises, exclusively cloud-based, or hybrid.

Cloud Server | Cloud Database | Cloud Desktops | Cloud Everything

With Noobeh and MISys, you can choose from configurations that keep the desktop/client software local or cloud, have your database on your cloud server or just have a cloud database, or combine the benefits of managed desktops and data by putting the entire system in the cloud.

No matter what accounting solution you use with MISys, Noobeh has an answer for that, too. We’re specialists at hosting QuickBooks and Sage desktop products, and work with businesses using QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct and other web-based solutions. You need your MISys installation and your accounting software to work together? We’ve got that delivery model.

With MISys on Azure and Noobeh, business owners have the assurance that their software can be deployed in a model that meets with their specific needs and budget, and with the flexibility to change and grow along with the business.

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Business Data Loss is a Growing Problem

The portable computer was the secret business weapon of yesterday and is today’s essential business tool. The processing power, portability, storage, and connectivity available with laptops, tablets and smartphones has created a seamless extension to the office. Business users can work with their applications and data from just about anywhere. While mobile devices are valuable when it comes to conducting business, they also pose additional security risks. Increased efficiency, mobility, and accessibility can also mean an increased potential for a data breach or business data loss.

The workforce of today is mobile enabled. Business users, owners and managers, accounting advisors and business consultants can access all the information and analytical capability they need to perform their jobs and make informed business decisions, capturing and collecting important information while keeping productivity at the highest levels no matter where they are.

“87% of businesses rely on their employees to use their personal mobile devices to access company apps”, according to a post by Perillon. Some studies have estimated that as much as 80% of the data a company has (like customer files, contracts, financial data, product specifications) might be stored on portable devices. This means that mobility comes with risk, which is why Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh cloud services utilize cloud-based platforms and services to keep data safe and secure.

According to business data loss statistics compiled by Businessdit.com, the two most common causes of data loss are hardware failure (40%) and human error (29%). Overall, malware causes 35% of all data loss, taking advantage of the 21% of files that businesses are not protecting at all.

The stats show that it takes approximately 206 days on average to even detect a data breach, the costs of downtime and losses average around $1,410 per minute for small businesses, and 22% of SMBs close after a ransomware attack.

Data loss or theft can create big business and legal problems, too. Customer or client privacy may be compromised, sensitive information may be exposed, and confidential plans may be made public if a business doesn’t take steps to secure mobile data.

“The average cost of a data breach in 2021 was $4.24 million. That’s a huge increase from the $3.86 million cost in 2020. And it’s only going to get more expensive in the future. Companies need to be prepared to deal with the fallout from a data breach, which can include everything from legal costs to damage to their reputation.”

Businessdit.com

There’s an old saying that there are only two types of businesses: those who have lost their data and those who will. Imagine the potential chaos, risk exposure, reputation damage and the expense of losing your valuable business data or having it exposed to unauthorized parties.

While computing mobility delivers a host of advantages to the business and the user, care must be taken to ensure security, privacy, and confidentiality of the business information and protecting against business data loss.

Increased exposure to liability is a reality for any mobile business, and the risk is only multiplied by the number of systems a company has in the field. Smart businesses reduce risk by deploying secure yet versatile platforms for their workers that allow data to be stored and protected in centralized environments rather than on individual computing devices.

Via the cloud, businesses of all kinds are reaping the benefits of new and innovative service delivery, achieving the freedom and functionality a mobile working model demands. Mendelson Consulting and Noobeh cloud services have the cloud solutions and managed IT services that provide the mobile capability businesses need, but with the additional protection, additional security, and ongoing management that the value of the data demands.

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When a Business Outgrows QuickBooks Enterprise

Small and midsized businesses use QuickBooks software to manage finance and operations. Since growing past 90% market share in 2008, Intuit QuickBooks proved over the years that businesses adopt accounting and finance software if it is affordable and easy to use. While Intuit’s focus today may be on gaining market share with the web-browser-based QuickBooks Online edition, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise continues to serve the needs of companies requiring more robust functionality than QuickBooks Desktop Pro/Premier or QuickBooks Online editions offer.

Over the years the QuickBooks product line has grown to support larger businesses, with the Enterprise edition scaling to 40 users and boasting a load of features that fully support operational processes. Inventory management, order processing workflows, construction management, and other features give encouragement to businesses needing support for more complex processes. QuickBooks Enterprise allows the flow-through of product use knowledge, stored data and integration with other business solutions to be seamless and consistent when moving up from QuickBooks Desktop Pro or Premier editions.

When a business finds that it may be outgrowing the capabilities of QuickBooks, it does not necessarily have to abandon the product line in lieu of a larger framework such as with alternative ERP systems. While the larger web-based systems may boast greater capabilities, they often come with much greater cost of service and implementation.

For businesses invested in QuickBooks Enterprise, it makes sense to look at alternative technical or platform solutions to address certain operational needs rather than shifting to different finance and operations software. The cost and complexity of an entirely new ERP software implementation is often more burdensome and costly than is needed to meet the real business demand. Also, the value found in business data can be lost when converting from one solution to another, and the cost of change is often so burdensome that many businesses simply abandon their projects if they even get started.

When using QuickBooks, at times it is the platform — the local network, computers and server — that is not geared to handle more users, processes and applications working with QuickBooks and a more robust and agile situation is required. Businesses should also explore integrations or extensions that can address the functional requirements, supporting advanced and complex workflows with greater agility while retaining the full value of the historic data.

Some challenges with QuickBooks may indicate a business needs a more robust and scalable solution, but that does not necessarily indicate that the business has truly outgrown QuickBooks. Instead, it may be a situation best handled by extending QuickBooks through application integration with a more robust subsystem to address specific business needs, to add scalability, and to build on the existing history and business intelligence previously developed in the enterprise.

Large transaction volume, extensive inventory management, or performance issues can easily create the impression that a business has outgrown QuickBooks Enterprise. In most cases, these conditions are overcome by extending QuickBooks with solutions geared specifically to handle the complexities and volume of heavy inventory management processes. These solutions not only address the in-depth functionality required, but also tend to utilize more agile and robust database structures that can scale far beyond the capacity of any QuickBooks edition alone.

Some businesses wishing to provide more advanced reporting and analytics, along with delivering realtime insights, may initially consider QuickBooks reporting to be insufficient for their needs. Yet there are integrations available which make QuickBooks financial and operations data as accessible and usable as the most robust enterprise applications. Satisfying the need for highly customized reporting and analytics far beyond QuickBooks standard reporting, these solutions create visibility and give meaning to QuickBooks data in ways that cannot be accomplished within the application alone.

Mendelson Consulting understands how businesses can outgrow the core functionality of QuickBooks and provides the tools and solutions to address growth in practical ways that do not diminish the value of data, training and operational intelligence that has been so costly for the business to acquire. We help businesses expand their capabilities and improve efficiency without losing their investment in QuickBooks, addressing the needs of growing and complex businesses without forcing the change to more extensive and expensive solutions.

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Data Are Just Data Until You Do Something With It

The business and economic environment isn’t easy. Competition is getting more aggressive, and customers demand more and different options while margins are shrinking, and the cost of operations just seems to go up. Business owners and their CFOs are recognizing the need to change the way they operate, and that they must innovate and adapt with new technology. A more modern approach to business captures data from every aspect of the operation to reveal information not otherwise available, and that information leads to better decision making and deeper insight. Data are just data until it can be transformed into information that matters.

It is possible to change the way critical business decisions are made and to radically improve how the business serves customers, empowers the workforce, and keeps mobile workers working. The key is in leveraging cloud platforms and technologies to enable the collection of data that comes from every business activity.

What if you could identify trends and patterns in sales and customer data, informing your marketing and sales strategies to make them more effective? How about monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) related to revenues and expenses to improve financial management? Maybe you would like to analyze supply chain and inventory management metrics to find way to optimize those areas of operation.

From software and systems that facilitate field service and mobile work to logistics and supply chain management, business intelligence is developed when the data is available to be combined with other information and reported on in meaningful ways.

Business intelligence comes from all aspects of the business, not just accounting and finance. Particularly in a volatile economy where uncertainty weighs heavily on each and every business owner, it is essential that businesses make the best possible use of their information assets, including finding the best way to identify and capture opportunities which will propel the business forward.

Data is just data, but information is power. We can’t say that often enough.

It takes skill and experience to turn raw data into instant insight, and this is where Mendelson Consulting can help. With a wise and intelligent approach to “enabling” the businesses with tools to help streamline and improve process effectiveness, and structuring systems to capture and integrate data throughout the operation, Mendelson Consulting assists their clients in turning operational and accounting systems into solutions which deliver the data needed to produce actionable information supporting better decision-making.

Cloud platforms enable businesses to take advantage of enterprise technologies without the commitment and spend, and web-based services can solve file sharing and data collection challenges regardless of location. Products like Clearify’s QQube can even transform QuickBooks desktop data for data warehousing or advanced reporting with Microsoft Power BI and more.

Data are just data until you do something with it. Your business should be collecting, analyzing and using all the valuable information it produces.

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QBonAzure: QuickBooks on Microsoft Azure Delivers Great Success for Small Business


For any business, the resilience and agility of IT systems can mean the difference between performing adequately and performing with great success. When a business elects to run their QuickBooks applications and data on the Microsoft Azure cloud via QuickBooks on Azure (QBonAzure) from Noobeh, they gain numerous advantages not available with locally installed IT.

Microsoft Azure is a highly available platform, meaning that it has built-in redundancy to ensure that applications and data are always accessible, even in the event of a hardware failure. Businesses running on the platform never have to worry about whether or not their server is aging and may fail due to hardware issues.

The platform also allows Noobeh to easily scale each client’s system up or down as needed, without the need for additional installation work. This allows each client business to quickly respond to changes in demand and grow their operations as needed.

With Microsoft Azure, Noobeh can provide from a broad range of security features that are built-in as well as enhancing protection with advanced features and services from Azure, Microsoft 365 and more. This all goes to help protect against data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Azure has a global footprint, with data centers in multiple regions around the world. Noobeh provides services from all US-based Microsoft Azure regions, allowing businesses to host their QuickBooks in the location closest to their users, reducing latency and improving performance.

Azure also offers a wide range of services that may be integrated with QuickBooks or other business data, such as analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. This allows businesses to gain deeper insights into their financial data and make more informed decisions.

For businesses focused on compliance, Azure meets a wide range of industry standards and regulations, such as HIPAA, SOC 2, and PCI DSS. This can help businesses meet their compliance requirements and avoid penalties.

Overall, hosting QuickBooks on the Microsoft Azure platform can provide businesses with high availability, scalability, security, global reach, integration, and compliance advantages that can help them run their operations more efficiently and effectively.

Noobeh cloud services and QuickBooks on Azure utilize only the Microsoft cloud for their client deployments so that each business client has the benefits of big enterprise technology without the big enterprise price.

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