Category: financial reporting

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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.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?
J

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Better Platform, Better Data, Better Performance

Information management paradigms are rapidly changing, so businesses seeking to achieve maximum performance and profitability must look at increased efficiency and innovation in their IT platforms. Cloud platforms help business operations to be more effective and agile, supporting the various processes and workflows which make up the operation. From finance to order processing, shipping and customer service, the platform needs to be flexible enough to handle the wide variety of needs of the company.

Today’s technology-enabled flow of business opportunity requires modern infrastructure and IT services. Where many would believe that web-based applications and “cloud” versions of software solve the problem, more often the business finds the solution lacking features and usefulness. Tried and failed plug-ins and extensions may leave the system attached to a spiderweb of connections and services behind the scenes, reducing or eliminating the ability to fully control the flow of data to or from the system.

The real issue to address is the infrastructure and IT foundation, not just the applications. Certainly, the software matters greatly, but too often businesses believe they must migrate to new applications and adopt new processes simply because they wish to have remote access and more flexibility in how and where users and information connect.

Cloud platforms and services enable many things for a business, not the least of which is collaboration and co-working. With centralized access to applications and data, workers can get the information they need regardless of where they are, and the workflows and processes may be improved and expanded because all users can participate as required.

Enabling connectivity for the platform is as essential as for the applications. When applications and processes can connect seamlessly, the data flows through the business better and there’s less chance of it getting damaged or lost. Re-keying data increases the opportunity for errors, and manual import/export processes can fail due to simple mistakes. With the right integration and sync tools and an IT platform that fully supports them, the business can improve the speed and accuracy of data moving throughout the system.

There is a growing need for accounting and business professionals who understand how these data connections can work and assisting businesses with selecting and implementing the right ones. This used to be more in the domain of the CIO, information systems guys and data analysts, but it is falling more to the accounting and finance teams these days.

For many years, accounting and finance were just the final dumping ground for after-the-fact financial data. Operationally, things could be humming along in the business and looking just fine, but the business was losing money, and nobody knew it before it was too late. Now, business owners and managers have come to understand that virtually EVERYTHING in business has a financial impact and leaves an imprint on the business: every action and activity, every relationship and interaction.

When cloud platforms, applications and integrations are in place for the business, business intelligence comes not just from after-the-fact silos of historical data, but from current and real-time information that is the key to unlocking a deeper understanding of business performance.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Finance Department Participation in Supply Chain Management

When most businesses approach Supply Chain Management, the focus is on the item or product – the physical thing that ultimately gets delivered somewhere, somehow. What many businesses do not consider is that the orchestration and timing of “supply chain” activities can have significant impacts on financial performance, reporting and cash flow. The current processes could just be working just “okay”, and not delivering the financial benefit that might be obtained through modernization of technologies and transformations in approaches. The key is to get the right people involved.

One big aspect of seeking to integrate electronic commerce and collaboration with customers, suppliers and payment services is the recognition that supply chain activities involving orders, invoices, payments, and remittances are directly related to finances, revenue recognition and cash management.

For any project to be successful, it should include execs from both the supply chain and finance areas so that all concerns relating to event timing may be addressed to allow proper treatment in the financial statements. After all, the same things that trigger supply chain activities (orders etc) are the same documents which drive finance. When the information is accurate and timely, and when the inefficient manual processes can be replaced with electronic workflows, the business is best positioned to improve cash flow and overall financial performance as well as business value.

Unfortunately, few business owners have a real understanding of the costs associated with manual entry activities and how the direct financial impacts they have. The speed and accuracy of processing orders and invoicing customers means faster cash in, and leveraging the speed of electronic data interchange with suppliers so that “just in time” orders may be placed and logistics processes more fully enabled means cash out when necessary and not ahead of time.

“… using a digital transaction for payments allowed [businesses] to hold on to cash longer and better control the timing of the release of funds, something more difficult to control when mailing a physical check. Check fraud remains rampant across many industries. According to an AFP payment fraud and control survey, 70% of U.S. organizations reported check fraud in 2019, responsible for more than $18 billion in losses.” –

source: What Every CFO Needs to Know About Supply Chains; Study published by DiCentral and Lehigh University; 2012

For example, there are many studies which show that purchase orders that are not sent digitally are most often manually processed, and that this manual processing may be done by any number of departments in the company – but most often the job falls to finance. Rather than looking to eliminate the manual entry of data and the errors and delays that come along with it, businesses execs first looked to where the lowest labor cost rests and had them handle the extra data input.

A digital strategy that transforms inefficient manual process into efficient electronic workflows is the better solution. While many companies have approached streamlining of activities by exchanging manual entry operations for data file formatting and imports, they still have not solved the problem as would be with an integration that takes even less human time and effort.

The real goal of any business improvement effort is to improve overall business value. By bringing in finance along with supply chain execs to the “digital transformation” discussion, the business is much better positioned to make real progress in areas that directly impact cash performance as well as long-term business value. It comes down to having all the information and being able to weigh the risks against the potential rewards to be gained from the contemplated changes.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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QuickBooks changes and enhancements for 2020: My 2 Favorite Fixes and Let’s Talk Cloud Hosting

Accounting professionals and small businesses worldwide use QuickBooks software to manage business finances. Launching Basic and Pro versions in 2000 and increasing market share from 74% in 2004 to boasting more than 94% in 2008, Intuit continues to successfully serve the needs of small and growing businesses.

Over the past few years, Intuit has focused quite a bit on SaaS and online services, promoting QuickBooks Online Edition, mobile payments and full service payroll as solutions that can meet specific business needs and which drive new customer adoption of the products. While customers may initially attach to QuickBooks because of one of these capabilities, it is the richer functionality found in Pro, Premier and Enterprise which often causes the business to run the desktop editions.

Intuit knows that the desktop editions remain hugely popular, which is why they continue to be updated and supported. And this is also why payments, payroll and other functions supported by the product are handled as integrated service rather than software; It’s a great way to make sure customers upgrade their QuickBooks software regularly, even when it sits on the desktop.

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The changes in QuickBooks for 2020 aren’t amazing… it seems like they are more tweaks and adjustments than real feature releases. I’ll list a few of the changes below, but first I’d like to point out the 2 changes that I think might make a big difference.

These are my 2 favorite changes with QB 2020

1. QuickBooks Enterprise 2020:  Landed cost

How did you get along without this before? Manual calculation, that’s how. Landed cost capability gives visibility to actual, complete product costs because it adds freight, duties, insurance and whatever other expenses relate to the purchase. Allocate the costs to item bills and you now have a complete view and tracking of the real cost of bringing in the product.

2. It is Now Easier to Reset the Admin Password

Yay! No more 20 questions! The Admin password for a company file may now be reset without having to enter a bunch of information and answer a lot of questions to verify identity.  The process now asks that the user pick their email address from a drop down list of emails registered with the QuickBooks license. A token is emailed to the address to use in resetting the Admin password.  The key here is to make sure your QuickBooks registration information remains up to date so that an email you can get to is used for this process.

Here’s the list of changes in QB 2020.

You can see more on Intuit’s website.

QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, and Accountant

  • Automated Payment Reminders
  • Automatically add customer PO# to Invoice emails
  • Combine all invoices meant for a single customer into one email
  • Find and open your company files with the addition of a file search option
  • Enhanced Accessibility to improve usability for vision-challenged users
  • Collapse columns in reports
  • View detailed status of direct deposit payroll
  • Smart Help: Press F1 for improved content and search experience

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 20.0

Here are the changes specific to QB Enterprise

  • Complete picking and packing operations as part of single workflow
  • Track product landed cost
  • Manage product vendors with primary and alternate vendor selections

Intuit continues to do a fine job of making QuickBooks desktop the most useful and easy-to-use solution for small business finance, and we make it run best in the cloud.

Where QBO (the online edition) might work for very small businesses and those with very limited requirements, the real work gets done in the desktop editions. My team helps make running the QuickBooks desktop editions easier and even more useful in the cloud.

A quality cloud hosting approach can deliver anytime/anywhere access, greater IT resiliency and faster disaster recovery, but only if done properly (note my favor for private tenant hosting rather than multi-tenant or shared hosting). The wrong platform introduces poor performance, limitations on applications and breaks in processes and workflows, and may even compromise security and complicate recovery when something does go wrong.

QuickBooks desktop solutions are the right fit for many small businesses, and these businesses demand mobility, security and flexibility in their IT systems. Providing this is our way of helping make QuickBooks desktop a little bit better.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Are You Prepared for SQL Server 2008 End of Support?

 

Everything gets old eventually, and now it is official for SQL Server 2008.

03-2012sean-phone-328-e1377042261105On July 9, 2019, support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 will end. That means the end of regular security updates and general support for the product. Are you ready?

It took more than 10 years for Microsoft to end support for our beloved SQL 2005 and version 2008 has enjoyed a similarly long reign. But it’s over and you need to get used to the idea. Even more, you need to get upgraded to a new version of SQL so your systems can still be patched, updated and supported. With all the nasty exploits out there, letting your software get out of date is more of a business risk than ever.

With cyberattacks becoming more sophisticated and frequent, running apps and data on unsupported versions can create significant security and compliance risks. The 2008 family of products was great for its time, but we highly recommend upgrading to the most current versions for better performance, efficiency, and regular security updates.

Now is a Good Time to Consider Azure

Microsoft is giving a present to businesses that want to migrate their workloads to Azure. For those customers that elect to take this as an opportunity to move to the Azure cloud, extended security updates will be available for free in Azure for 2008 and 2008 R2 versions of SQL Server and Windows Server to help secure workloads for three more years after the end of support deadline. Moving existing systems to the Azure cloud is a natural step in modernizing the business infrastructure and makes the next step of upgrading to managed database services and/or migrating to new Azure servers a lot easier.

Upgrading isn’t simply a matter of maintaining status quo, either.

Moving to new versions can be a foundation for new strategic capability and increasing overall business potential, powering new decision-making processes fueled by analytics and business intelligence.

The Microsoft Lifecycle Policy offers 10 years of support (5 years of regular support and another 5 years of extended support) for the 2008 and 2008 R2 versions of SQL Server and Windows Server. When the extended support period ends, there will be no patches or security updates, which always creates security risk.

If your business is going to remain competitive, you can’t rely on outdated systems.

Your business is tough enough to manage without having your systems work against you.  Software that prevents you from keeping up with demand, creates risk in compliance and security, and reduces operational performance is not what you need. Collecting, storing and rationalizing data takes power and speed, and securing your growing information warehouse requires vigilance in security and update management.

Use this opportunity to review your platforms and applications, and consider moving your on-premises or co-located systems to the cloud. The upcoming milestone is a great opportunity to transform applications and infrastructure to take advantage of cloud computing and the latest versions of SQL Server and Windows Server.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Countdown to End of Life for QuickBooks 2016

Every year Intuit releases a new version of QuickBooks desktop software, enhancing functionality and adding features to keep the product useful in the modern world. As the program continues to move forward, keeping pace with newer operating systems and software conventions, the older technology and application models eventually expire. Without support and updates, key service features or service integrations, the end-of-life versions of QuickBooks become not only less functional, they become less secure and have a much greater potential for problems.

QuickBooks-Hosting-WordCloud

The QuickBooks Desktop Discontinuation: May 31st is the sunset date for 2016 Versions

While Intuit frequently communicates with license holders via various mailings and in-product notifications, including notices about the discontinuation of the version, the message is often lost amid the annoying messages customers receive via email or as disrupting popups in the program. It is very important that users not miss this notification because it really means more than just a need to update the software. Most businesses have more invested than than just a software purchase, they also have their data and operation to consider.

The real investments a business makes when it adopts QuickBooks desktop are the business processes the software supports, the transaction, customer, vendor, job and product information kept in the system, and the financial and performance data that comes from all of that. People, processes and information are the building blocks of the business and losing any of it can be far costlier to the business than the cost of an annual software upgrade.

When do services for QuickBooks 2016 stop?

May 31, 2019 marks the end of access to all services for QuickBooks 2016 Desktop editions. This includes QuickBooks Desktop 2016 Pro, Premier, Enterprise Solutions and Accountant editions for Windows, and the 2016 Mac edition. The software will continue to function at an basic level after that date, but technical support will end and all integrated services will stop working with the software.

What does it means when Intuit says services for QuickBooks 2016 will stop?

Software updates, online support and certain other added functionality within QuickBooks is provided as service integrated with the desktop software. When support and integrated services are discontinued, it means that subscription or added service functionality is no longer available. Payroll services, online banking, online backup and live support are some of the integrated services that will stop working on May 31, 2019.

Businesses that don’t need payroll, online banking or other services with QuickBooks should still upgrade the software.

While the basic functionality of QuickBooks 2016 will continue to work beyond the discontinuation date, the security and compatibility of the system should remain as top considerations. A major aspect of product discontinuation is the loss of software updates and security updates in particular. When users of 2016 QuickBooks versions stop receiving critical security updates, it could leave the installation vulnerable in a variety of ways. Weaknesses in security protocols or password storage, or failure to update software to remain compatible with new versions of Office or Windows (or Mac OS) could not just render the software unworkable but can also lead to potential data corruption or leave private information visible to hackers.

Upgrade to a newer version of QuickBooks Desktop to continue use of payroll, online banking, online backup, support and updates. For Windows users, 2017, 2018 and 2019 versions continue to be supported, but 2019 becomes the only supported version for Mac. Intuit previously indicated that there wouldn’t be a new Mac version, so having a 2019 edition represents a big win for Mac users who wish to keep their QuickBooks compatible with newer Mac OS versions.

People, processes and data are reliant on the software that supports the activities that keep the business running. Central to retaining the value of your business information and operational processes is keeping the software supporting them up to date with the most current feature set, service integrations, and application and update support. After all, the incremental investments made to maintain important assets of the business tend to be less costly than recovering from lost data and reduced productivity due to failure of an unsupported system.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J