legacy application modernization – Page 15

February 14, 2013

Getting out of IT Jail

I have a friend in the accounting/technology industry that spends way too much time on his business in-house IT. He’s always futzing around with servers and workstations, fixing corrupted data files or PCs that won’t launch applications, and setting up remote access so he can work at home (which he never actually does because he’s at the office fixing IT issues). More often than not, when I try to get time to chat with the guy, his response is “I’ll have to call you later; I’m in IT jail”. As a side note, my friend is Doug Sleeter, a recognized leader in the world of small business accounting and among QuickBooks accountants, consultants and advisors.

My friend works a lot with different solutions and technologies designed to make it easier and more effective to get accounting and business information collected, processed, stored, and reported. He reviews tons of different solutions each year, and looks for those he believes can truly make a positive impact in the life of a business owner. My friend also, as he puts it, “eats his own dog food”, meaning that he actually puts into place many of the solutions which he finds to be beneficial so that he can experience their benefit in his own business. His proven experiences then translate to support for the solution in the market. People need to know that a solution will actually do what it is supposed to do, and many wait for someone else (someone they trust) to go first so they can use the customer feedback to help them make a decision.

My friend clearly recognized the growing value of cloud solutions and how implementing cloud-based services to solve specific business problems might be a more effective and affordable way to address growing business needs than with traditional ERP models or installed software approaches. Using different tools that work together (his term for this is “chunkify” 🙂 ), even very small businesses could now affordably address the various operational and financial information management needs which exist at some level in all businesses. Following along with his previous commitment to use and not just talk about these things, he began the process of selection and implementation of various cloud-based applications, tools and integrations for his desktop QuickBooks software.

No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy. thesis on Military Strategy, German Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke

It was going great. Application services subscribed to were working as expected, and all sorts of information was fairly seamlessly flowing to and from QuickBooks. And then, it happened – his bookkeeper moved away and wasn’t able to work in the office where the accounting software and data were housed. Take a deep breath. Okay, so back to the remote access thing, and more IT jail.

He worked diligently to create remote access for the now-remote bookkeeper, and remote desktop service worked OK, but it was “a pain to keep working, and it never could give the type of performance we were trying to give her”. Go figure, the one piece of the puzzle left in the office was the one making everything else more difficult and costly. He was in IT jail once again.

The final step was to get the QuickBooks software and company data out of the local network and in a safe and secure and fully-managed environment. Particularly since QuickBooks is (in this case) the centerpiece of the business accounting system, it became essential to place it in an environment where it would be maintained, monitored, and protected by people who specialize in that sort of thing. My friend, like most business owners, just didn’t have the time and resources to have the level of IT and management that an outsourced commercial service provider could offer.

See The Sleeter Group’s QuickBooks and Beyond article Still Addicted to Desktop Software? Get it Hosted in the Cloud

Intuit even recognized that businesses needed a better way to run and manage their QuickBooks desktop software, so they created an accredited hosting program to allow service providers to offer application hosting and license management services to QuickBooks users. My friend now uses one of these providers to host his QuickBooks and other desktop applications. He still has all the integrations and features he had before, but isn’t required to spend time and productivity fixing hardware issues or software installation problems. His software is installed, maintained, and actively supported by IT professionals who are focusing on nothing more than keeping his systems up and running.

In his own words, “the hosting move offloaded us from having to mess with providing access, and at the same time it improved performance and delegated the IT management”.

For a time my friend and his business went without a high level of IT management and support, but now he completely recognizes that he needs it and is finding it to be well worth the cost. Now he’s got his own “get out of jail” card.

Make sense?

In case you didn’t know it, both Intuit and Sage have programs for service providers, providing authorization to host and deliver small business financial software products to direct customers.

Get information on Intuit’s Authorized Commercial Hosts for QuickBooks here, Get information on Sage hosting partners here.

If you need assistance deciding how to get your applications and business online, or selecting and implementing with a service provider, we can help.

February 13, 2013November 29, 2017

Turning to the IT Department When Times are Tough

When budgets get tight and the economic outlook is bleak, business owners and executives tend to turn to information technology departments and projects as a potential area for cost cutting. The reason for this is that many businesses view IT purely as a cost center, making it a prime target when driving to reduce operating costs. A survey by McKinsey & Company, however, reveals that the current trend is a bit different. While the survey is a bit dated, the information it contains is as relevant today as it was then.

The research indicated that many non-IT executives “seemed to have a developed a healthier appreciation for their information technology functions” according to Joe McKendrick in an older ZD Net article on the subject. McKendrick mentions that business executives generally seem pleased with the way the information technology is helping organizations get through these difficult economic times, “navigating the rough seas” as he put it.

“The survey also suggests that organizations that took the most advantage of information technology going into the downturn may have come out the strongest” observes McKendrick.

The McKinsey & Co Study, authored by Roger Roberts and Johnson Sikes, reported that the economic downturn actually increased awareness of the role information technology can play in improving business processes and reducing costs. As for the quality of services delivered? The study revealed that non-IT executives largely believe their IT functions responded effectively to the economic crisis. A majority said current performance in providing basic IT services is very or extremely effective. In contrast, IT executives had a dimmer view of their performance, with only a minority being satisfied with service delivery levels.

There have always been questions about the alignment of information technology to the business need, and IT is often perceived as being out of touch with the business. In this research, McKinsey & Co indicate that IT executives are very aware of the issues of keeping up with the business and are finding innovative ways of addressing them.

Make sense?

If you need assistance deciding how to get your applications and business online, or selecting and implementing with a service provider, we can help.

February 4, 2013

Lean and Mean – Improving Sales and Distribution Performance

It is surprising that, even in this world of Internet marketing and online commerce, many businesses are operating at levels far below their potential. Reliant upon people rather than information and process, these businesses are weighted down by their legacy approach to getting things done. They throw money and personnel at the problem, adding more “fat” to the business and making sustainability just that much harder to achieve. The right approach, and the mantra of all manufacturers and distributors, should be to work “lean and mean”, applying technology and business principles which support agility and improved process efficiency.

The center of lean business is in operations, and includes all aspects of the “order” processing and support systems. From the point where an order is sought, to the point of order entry, and through to delivery and service – all aspects of the operation must be addressed for the business to achieve maximum success. Innovating in operational areas, such as in order management and distribution, can help the business rise above others in the market and create a significant competitive advantage.

What becomes challenging for many businesses is the fact that years of working in established “silos” often makes it difficult to introduce the cross-functionality necessary to support lean operations. It is not sufficient to simply suggest that the organization work collaboratively to streamline processes from order through to service and support. Work groups and team members must work together and adapt to delivering process improvements, following through with the actions necessary to turn the philosophy into bottom line results. Good support is required to keep customers, and a good product is necessary to support increased sales. No aspect of the operation stands alone, so each is necessary to participate in making end-to-end improvement. Additionally, back-office processes must be aligned to work collaboratively where required, supporting efficient operations rather than creating unnecessary bottlenecks or delays.

The key to developing a lean and mean, high performance operation is applying the technology and principles which translate into improved profitability and customer retention. In many cases, the same solutions which create customer “self-help” capabilities are also solutions which can address similar needs for internal business users. Ultimately, the goals are elimination of redundant or error-prone processes, establishing the sharing and secure collaboration of information throughout the organization, implementing integrated systems which allow users to efficiently perform their particular tasks, and working cooperatively with others in the supply chain to maximize the real-time capability and efficiency.

Rather than continuing to utilize basic record keeping solutions, or accounting products which aren’t prepared to address the specific operational aspects of the business, owners and managers should be looking to the tools and solutions which will help them develop the framework to support improving operational performance, turning people knowledge into sustainable business profitability.

Make Sense?

Accountants and Small Manufacturers: Getting in Front of the Ball

There’s a lot more to accountability in a manufacturing or inventory-based business than simply keeping track of money in and money out. Particularly in an economy when nobody can afford to build or stock products too far ahead of demand, it is essential that these businesses have a means to not only track and manage purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and stocking activities, but to understand conditions or trends which impact the flow of materials and cash through the business. Read more…

January 25, 2013October 9, 2017

Remote access to client bookkeeping comes in many forms because clients come in many forms

There are a lot of conversations in LinkedIn and other groups, where bookkeepers and accountants are discussing their various methods of accessing client QuickBooks data and applications remotely. While these conversations are quite helpful for some folks, there are others out there that simply get confused due to all of the possibilities. There are many ways to work remotely with QuickBooks clients, and there are a lot of different situations where one approach may work better than others.

The key to remember here is that REMOTE ACCESS MATTERS. Time and distance is the enemy when it comes to outsourced bookkeeping, and whether you like visiting your clients or not, having remote access to their data can be the key element in providing the highest level of service and value possible. Remember when PCanywhere became available, and we were all excited because now we could use a modem to dial directly in to the client PC? OK, maybe I’m talking to a crowd that’s too new to remember that excitement, but believe me, remote access is something all outsourced accountants and bookkeepers have been looking for. Now that really good options are available (a lot of options), it makes sense to get a better understanding of what you can and can’t do with various remote access approaches.

First, when you’re looking at any true SaaS solution (true being a relative term, but here we mean an app service that was built for the web and is offered as a subscription model), consider that the solution exists only on the web, and that when a business subscribes they are generally subscribing to a single company data set. Unlike QuickBooks desktop, for example, where you can have numerous company data files, QuickBooks Online and other SaaS solutions generally build a single company data file associated with the subscription. When you want to access different companies, you may have to log in as a user of the company you’re accessing.

If you’re an accounting professional, there may be an edition or approach that allows you to connect to multiple client accounts, but then again, there may not be. So be prepared to have to log in as each individual client to access their data. When this becomes the situation, what’s the difference between one client having QB Online and one using Xero, Wave, FreshBooks or Kashoo? None, really, other than the fact that you need to get to know all of the solutions a bit. As a bookkeeper or accounting professional, this shouldn’t be so much of an issue, as debits and credits and basic accounting theory doesn’t change with the accounting software (basic “accounting theory” isn’t really available for redefinition).

The other thing to recognize about these solutions is that the data belongs on the web with the app, so it’s not like you’ll be copying the data file to your PC to work on. You might export the data to another solution, but you won’t be using the SaaS solution offline.

If the client isn’t using a SaaS solution, then it is likely a desktop solution, where the application is installed on their local PC. This type of solution – QuickBooks desktop editions being the most popular and easiest example to work with – gets installed and runs from the PC. Data may be stored on the PC or on a network hard drive, but the program is running locally on the user’s computer, and is using resources on the local computer (memory, processor, etc.). There are only a few ways to make this type of application into something you can access remotely, and one of them is by using a remote control approach.

Remote control is where one computer connects to and controls certain aspects of another. This is like the old dial-up approach, using PCanywhere-type applications to control one computer from another. These days, the Internet rather than a dial-up phone connection is the preferred method, and there are web service providers which “broker” the connection and communication between computers, providing added features and layers of security. Using a remote control solution (examples are LogMeIn or GoToMyPC) simply allows the user on one computer to control the keyboard and mouse, and view the display, of a remote computer. It doesn’t matter what is running on the remote, so a bookkeeper could use this approach to access a client PC and QuickBooks desktop applications and data, or even to connect with the client so they can log in to QuickBooks Online or Xero together.

Some bookkeepers work with their clients, showing them how to do things and connecting to client resources in order to get work accomplished. Others connect using their own resources or accounts, and work concurrently with the client. Still others may export data from the client solution into their product of choice, not even working within the client application at all except to make adjustments and data exports. It all depends on the collaboration model you and the client have going, and it is unlikely that any single model or approach will work for the entire client base.

QuickBooks hosting introduces a bit of a wrinkle in the concept, but not much of one. Really, hosted QuickBooks desktop editions should be viewed to be not less and not significantly more than a QuickBooks Online or other SaaS approach. If the client would benefit from working online (most client would), then having them host their QuickBooks desktop applications and data with a hosting provider makes sense. However, just because the client is hosting their QuickBooks doesn’t mean that you should immediately assume that you’ll have access to their applications or data. Like with a SaaS solution, you’ll likely have to have an account to log in with, and that account could be a separate login allowing you to work at the same time as the client, or the account could be one that is shared with the client and where only one of you can log in at the same time.

Since a hosted solution is accessed online just like a SaaS solution is, you don’t have to have the software installed on your own PC, and you only need an Internet connection to access the application and data at any time. A major difference of working with a hosted solution is that you could possibly have the application installed on your PC, and could copy the data from the host and work on it offline.

With all of the options available, accountants and bookkeepers have realized that the selection of client collaboration approaches depends on a number of factors, and that professionals may end up applying an unlikely combination of solutions in order to address meeting various client preferences as well as their accounting needs.

Make sense?

Read more about hosted QuickBooks desktop editions

Read about the race to find the secret sauce of hosted application services for small businesses

December 12, 2012

The True Cost of the Cloud

Excerpt from article on Intuit Accountants News Central: The True Cost of the Cloud

“Accounting professionals are strongly encouraged to adopt cloud computing models in their practices, and there can be little argument that mobility and access are driving the need. In concert with the messages supporting mobile access to business information – and the value of anytime, anywhere access – cloud service providers are strongly suggesting that the overall cost of purchasing and maintaining information technology (IT) in the business is much lower when a cloud computing approach is used.

Arguments over the total cost of IT and related services become somewhat subjective. Many business owners and managers fail to consider the value of their own time spent dealing with business technology issues, much less the time spent by in-house employees and remote workers. To further complicate the issue, dramatic changes in process support and delivery, connected service and cloud computing approaches are impacting business productivity and profitability in new and dramatic ways. As a result, every business should consider the costs and the benefits of this new connected and collaborative working model.

At the core, cloud computing is really just an outsourced IT service that addresses the various levels of application and computing infrastructure. From IaaS (infrastructure as a service) to SaaS (software as a service) and all things in between, a viable cloud computing approach for a business may encompass little more than co-location of physical server and network resources with a third-infrastructure provider to something much larger scale, such as offloading virtually every aspect of application management and delivery to a SaaS solution.

Because there is no single, correct definition of what makes up a “cloud” service model, attempting to compare costs directly to a more traditional IT approach is quite complicated.”

Read the entire article at Intuit Accountants News Central

http://blog.accountants.intuit.com/ways-to-grow-your-business/the-true-cost-of-the-cloud/

November 20, 2012January 26, 2016

QuickBooks SDK Integrations, Cloud Hosting, and the Customer Relationship

Intuit QuickBooks desktop editions are the most popular small business accounting software products on the market, boasting somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5M users. In contrast to the QuickBooks Online Edition, which has approximately 300,000, desktop QuickBooks still reigns supreme with small business.

While QuickBooks satisfies most of the general business functionality required from a general accounting product, it doesn’t address much else. For this reason, numerous software developers have created the software products – the extensions, integrations, widgets, and tools – that make QuickBooks more useful to the business.

The sheer popularity of the QuickBooks product line has supported the creation of a very large and diverse community of developers who make things that work with QuickBooks. However, as with any attempt to bring like-minded people together, the QuickBooks developer “community” is not all-inclusive, and there are lots of ISVs (independent software developers) out there who aren’t communicating with Intuit frequently, and who aren’t necessarily exposing their solutions through the Intuit marketplace and other Intuit-branded venues. In many cases, these are developers who have line-of-business solutions that represent the operational priority for their business clients, and where the integration to QuickBooks financial is somewhat of an after-thought. In many cases, these solutions rely on QuickBooks only for general back-office account functions, where the GL, AR and AP are all that really matter. The “tough stuff” is done in the line-of-business application.

Most of these types of solutions, as well as many with more complicated functionality or data integration requirements, utilize a method of communicating with QuickBooks developed using the QuickBooks SDK, or software development kit. This SDK was originally introduced as a means to replace the clumsy IIF import facility, an early way to get data into QuickBooks from other systems. The SDK is really a tool kit designed to facilitate desktop application integrations, which is why so many developers use this method. Particularly when an application is intended to be used on the desktop in conjunction with QuickBooks, it makes sense for developers to use an integration method that will allow them to produce the rich experience and seamless re-use of data that the desktop environment allows. The SDK requires that the QuickBooks program be present, and QuickBooks controls access to the data file rather than allowing the 3^rd party application to have direct data access.

The new method for integrating with a QuickBooks application is by using the IPP (Intuit Partner Platform) method, which is essentially an API (application programming interface) which simplifies the creation of data streams to and from the QuickBooks database. This method of integration is intended to be serviced by the Intuit Sync Manager (included with QuickBooks), where your data first syncs to Intuit servers, and then connected apps sync from that source. In this case, Intuit acts as the intermediary, hosting the synchronized data and controlling the sync with the QuickBooks database. While this may be much easier in terms of offering stricter standards for QuickBooks data integration, it is not a method which addresses the needs of those solutions requiring an integrated experience involving QuickBooks programs and data, or which have more complex data integration requirements than may be served through the IPP.

Because the QuickBooks SDK has been around for many years, it allowed for very stable QuickBooks-integrated solutions to be developed. In comparison, the IPP is pretty new and has taken Intuit a few tries to get working. For this reason, there is a limited catalogue of solutions available in the Intuit App Center, which is where IPP solutions are promoted. Moving forward, Intuit has stated that the focus will remain on the IPP, with the SDK no longer being a preferred (or supported) method.

The method of integrating with QuickBooks desktop editions matters, especially if you’re looking to bring your business applications to the cloud. Application hosting services is the way to “cloud-enable” desktop solutions, yet not all hosting providers recognize or understand the differences in how applications might integrate with QuickBooks, and what that means to the technical and user environments. Not all applications are created equal, and not all QuickBooks integrations are, either. Some integrations sound simple enough to implement, yet have hidden requirements that make deployment with a host or outsourced infrastructure provider an interesting endeavor to say the least.

Developers using SDK integrations with QuickBooks should make certain that they have thoroughly discussed their solution requirements prior to deploying their applications with any host, particularly with a client-selected provider. Companies experienced in hosting QuickBooks are not necessarily adept at understanding the nuances of SDK-developed integrations, and may minimize the technical requirement to the point of leaving your company and your customer with a bad feeling about hosting. In worst-case scenarios, the software developer loses their customer altogether due to a poor experience with the solution in a hosted environment.

Cooper Mann Consulting is working to help developers and commercial ISVs with QuickBooks-connected solutions get their products to the cloud, and in a way that they can influence and help control the all-important customer experience. Rather than being just one of a few hundred hosted products customers can select from the provider menu of offerings, we believe your solution should be delivered with your values, your message, and your unique service approach. Doing so allows you to keep your arms firmly wrapped around your customers and users, working closely with them as you develop your solutions towards a true SaaS or cloud application model, and easing the transition from desktop to web application delivery and subscription service.

Intuit believes they own the relationship to all QuickBooks customers, and they’re right to the extent that the user relies on QuickBooks for some business functionality. Hosting service providers think they own the customer relationship because they have significant influence over the products accessed from their servers.

Operational support solutions go deeper into the business than any high-level accounting product, and the method of deploying the solution (locally installed or hosted) is an IT issue and nothing more. As a developer or provider of essential solutions which address specific vertical industry or line-of-business needs, and as the company who understands the business of your customer and supplies those solutions that help them perform, don’t you really think you should own that customer relationship? We do.

Make Sense?

Want to know more about how Intuit is changing their approach to QuickBooks integration? Read Charlie Russell’s rant: Is Intuit Abandoning QuickBooks SDK Developers?

Read more about QuickBooks cloud hosting: Cloud Hold-Out No More: QuickBooks Desktop Editions in the Cloud

Read more about cloud development: Lessons Learned (or Not): Development and the Cloud