Category: legacy application modernization

Posted on

Knowing Your Options: Hosting QuickBooks for Shared and Remote Access

Intuit’s QuickBooks financial applications, the desktop editions in particular, are the most popular small business accounting solutions on the market.  The QuickBooks Online Edition, Intuit’s cloud-based contender, is not quite as accepted among accountants and advisors for a variety of reasons.  Being in the cloud isn’t necessarily one of those reasons, if you consider the growing demand for access to multi-user cloud-hosted QuickBooks desktop editions.  Mostly it comes down to functionality and how the application operates.  QBO just isn’t like good old desktop QuickBooks and isn’t the preferred solution for many financial professionals or their clients.  Yet these users still want and need remote access and mobility.  This is where hosting comes in.

QuickBooks hosting and creating the ability to access QuickBooks applications and data remotely is something that a lot of businesses can benefit from.  Whether it’s to outsource the management and maintenance of servers and systems to a 3rd party, or to create the ability for remote workers or contractors to collaborate with real-time applications and data, there may be a need for a hosted application approach.  Business owners and IT managers need to give consideration to the level of service and support they and their users will need before selecting their provider.  Knowing what the provider will handle and what the subscribers are responsible for might make all the difference in determining the right approach.

In-House DIY Hosting

Local networks and PCs allow users in the same location to share resources, like printers and data storage locations.  Typically, desktop computers have application software installed on them, and use the network to access shared data.  When users work outside of the network, getting access to applications and data might not be so easy.  Even extending the network via VPN access doesn’t solve the problem when the desktop applications are not designed to access data over remote connections (desktop applications like QuickBooks).  It used to be that the only reasonable way to allow remote users to access and run QuickBooks as if they were inside the LAN was to set up remote desktop or application servers (terminal servers).  MyQuickCloud is a product that addresses this need very gracefully, providing in-house personnel with the tools necessary to establish a secure cloud for QuickBooks access directly from existing on-premises systems.

Co-location and Outsourced Infrastructure (IaaS)

Instead of setting up remote access solutions in the office, many IT departments find that co-location with a 3rd party addresses a number of issues.  Leasing equipment, operating system and virtualization tools may be more cost-efficient than purchasing them directly, and the security and redundancy in most hosting facilities far exceeds what most businesses are able to afford to implement by themselves.  Co-location provides managed service for infrastructure elements, but doesn’t necessarily address business needs in terms of user security or application and data management.  These elements are traditionally left up to the subscriber; installing and configuring software applications, establishing user and application permissions, and managing updates and software upgrades.  For this reason, co-location may be a good option for a business with internal IT staff, but not necessarily for businesses seeking “full service” application hosting.

Application Service Providers (ASP) and Managed Application Hosting

Application hosting service providers handle software installation and management, user and security administration, and ongoing technical support as part of the subscription service.  Customers need only to provide their software licenses, name users and upload data in order to use the service.  The service provider does the software installation and configuration, sets up the users and establishes permissions, and connects users and applications to managed data storage.  This model allows businesses to enjoy many of the benefits of a cloud-based or SaaS solution model while also allowing them to continue to use software solutions they are already invested in, in terms of both software licensing and process development.  On the other hand, these models can be extremely restrictive in terms of the applications or integrations they will support, and can be quite costly as the number of users or applications hosted increase.

Whether you roll your own (DIY hosting) or work with a full service QuickBooks host, accessing business applications and data from anywhere is an option every business can take advantage of.

Make sense?

J

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

Posted on

Cloud Hold-Out No More: QuickBooks Desktop Editions in the Cloud

When most people hear the words “QuickBooks” and “online” together, they think of the web-based solution from Intuit called QuickBooks Online Edition.  And why wouldn’t they?  With the media, industry talking heads, and everyone in information technology discussing cloud this and cloud that, all the attention is going to web-based applications, Software-as-a-Service models, and cloud platforms.  While these approaches to business software distribution and delivery are working for a lot of software vendors and their customers, there are a few hold-outs that may be keeping a lot of folks from considering that move to running their businesses “in the cloud”.  Intuit QuickBooks desktop editions used to be among this list of applications securely anchored to your local PC, but not anymore.

The desire to have remote and mobile access to business applications and data goes beyond simply getting email or syncing contacts to a mobile phone these days.   Business people in all industries are seeing the benefits of using wireless and mobile laptops, tablet computers and smartphones to handle tasks in real-time rather than accumulating paperwork, spending a bunch of time organizing and keying in data, and then submitting the information for batch-processing after the fact.  And, with services being seamlessly connected and information being shared and integrated for a variety of reasons, internet connectivity has become almost as essential to most businesses as telephone service. (Actually, in many cases, telephone service IS delivered via the IP network, so maybe that statement doesn’t make as much sense as it used to.)  Payroll isn’t calculated in the software, it’s calculated by a service online and delivered through your software.  Same with banking, accepting payments, and paying bills – many are processes handled through the software but perhaps not actually happening WITHIN the software on your PC.

As users have begun to realize that, whether they mean to or not, they are essentially “on line” with their business applications and data at some level, the consideration for outsourcing more of their IT operations and working more fully in an online model might not be so bad as long as they don’t have to give up the functionality, usability, and cost-efficiency they have come to expect with their beloved business applications – like QuickBooks.

Service providers recognized this opportunity and developed business models which would give users their desired desktop applications (like QuickBooks!), but in way that seems more like a cloud service.  As platform and virtualization technologies have evolved, businesses are finding that there are numerous options, and numerous providers, for getting their desktop and network applications installed in the “cloud”, and delivered back to them as a managed subscription service.  It is a model which is growing in popularity and demand, and it makes sense.

Small businesses in particular are moving to the cloud not because they are generally dissatisfied with the products they currently have (there’s a reason Intuit has market share with QuickBooks; there are a LOT of QuickBooks desktop lovers out there).  Small businesses are making the move to online and “cloud” models because of the business benefits of getting information when and where they need it.  Mobility is driving the cloud, and the cloud is driving software makers to change how they do things.

It will be a while before all the investments are made and man-hours are spent to rewrite or redevelop applications to run on these new platforms and in this new cloud-based service model.   In the meantime, ISVs will look to hosting providers of various sorts to help breathe longevity into their solutions while securely embracing their customers and market in preparation for a cloud-based service delivery, and customers will engage with service providers who can supply them with the legacy application hosting and management they require to achieve the level of freedom, access, and mobility they demand.

Make sense?

J

Posted on

Changing How We See Software: QuickBooks 2013 interface frustrates power users

Changing How We See Software:

QuickBooks 2013 interface frustrates power users

You’re an accounting, bookkeeping or business professional and have been working with QuickBooks desktop software for years.  Your processes and methods for using QuickBooks to manage client accounting have been developed over time, and have been refined to the point where you are able to maximize your efforts and efficiently handle all your customer requirements.   Sure, there have been changes in the software over the years, and many of them have proven to be helpful.  But sometimes you have to wonder what they were thinking when they changed the interface for 2013.

Initially I thought it was the grumbling of a few people who simply resist change, some admittedly so.  But then the grumbling got louder, and started to come from folks I would expect to hear only “happy rainbows and sunshine” from when it comes to QuickBooks.  The new interface, they say, “sucks”.

So what’s the issue?  What did Intuit do with QuickBooks 2013 desktop editions that has inflamed so many devoted users?  One ProAdvisor puts it this way: “Basically no real enhancements at all, just the interface and relocation of options”.  In short, QuickBooks desktop editions now look a bit more like QuickBooks Online Edition, and “there’s extra stuff in the navigation – Intuit stuff“.

I understand Intuit’s motivations for making the desktop and online editions appearance more similar.  After all, the benefit of the QuickBooks product line is that you can start with an entry-level edition and move up the product line to more features and functionality without converting to and learning entirely new software.  Since the online edition of QuickBooks is positioned as the entry-level product for some businesses, it makes sense to continue that same look for the user as they upgrade to richer desktop editions.  Unfortunately for many accounting and bookkeeping professionals, this means giving up on some of the usability you’ve come to expect (like being able to fit all the necessary information on the screen, and having easy-to-read menus, or not seeing a lot of unusable space on the screen, or even being able to suppress Intuit in-product offers).

Many companies have successfully increased their revenue potential by adding offers for services via links in the software interface, which is much more acceptable now that people have adopted web technologies and are familiar with the “hyperlink” concept.  Building additional value (and revenue streams) in the solution makes sense from a business perspective, which is why you see so many software companies moving in this direction.  Software solutions and services can interconnect seamlessly and transparently via the web, so we should all expect to see software makers engage their customers in as many ways and with as many products and services as possible.  For Intuit, this means being positioned to take advantage of, initially, their partner network of interconnected solutions and, later, their own direct offerings in each area.

Software developers like Intuit DO listen to their users and market influencers, as they value your continued patronage.  They have come to learn, however, that devoted (or invested) users will accept change eventually – even more so when there is a chance to use the change to generate business opportunity.  QuickBooks accountants and trainers rely on change in order to keep their clients coming back for more.

The real target is the new user – the business not already adopted into the product – and it is primarily for this new user that the interface changes were made and in-product advertisements targeted to.

In the case of Intuit’s interface selection for QuickBooks 2013 desktop editions, it might seem like there’s “no enhancement, just the interface change”.  I would suggest, however, that the interface change IS the enhancement Intuit elected to deliver – enhancement of the acceptance of the online edition and connected services.

Make Sense?

J

Check out buildingup.biz and see what we’re up to these days

Posted on

Should you be paying sales tax on your cloud solution?

Should you be paying sales tax on your cloud solution?

There are a lot of undefined issues relating to whether or not sales taxes should be charged and collected on “cloud” services and online applications.  Traditional approaches aren’t quite right, because there isn’t a clear delineation of what is “service” versus “product”.  For example, an online storage service may be “service”, but when you are charged for bandwidth or other elements, it starts to be more product oriented and taxation may apply.  Online applications or cloud hosted software?  In some cases, the platform may be service, but the subscribed application may be taxable software.  It’s a clouded issue for service providers and their customers, alike.

‘Kelley Miller of the law firm Reed Smith, who specializes in technology law and specifically tracks how states have been enforcing cloud taxes, says it’s been a tough issue for states. The DOR says in its ruling that the market is evolving “at a rapid pace.” Traditionally tax laws just don’t work for this new era of cloud computing, she says, because there is not a tangible transaction of a disc or piece of hardware. Massachusetts seems to have echoed findings from other states though, she says. “The essence of the question is, are you buying software that people bought in a box at the store 10 or 15 years ago,” she says. If so, then Massachusetts, and other states, have claimed a right to tax it.’

A recent article on CIO.com discusses Massachusetts rulings on the subject, joining a number of other states in attempting to bring clarity to when cloud computing services should and should not be taxed.  The decisions sound almost as complicated as the underlying issues, so “clarity” obviously doesn’t mean simplicity.

Read the entire article here

Make Sense?

J

Posted on

The Cloud Makes Time Travel Possible: Hosted applications can deliver immediate business benefits

The Cloud Makes Time Travel Possible: Hosted applications can deliver immediate business benefits

In an article published on CIO.com, author Kevin Fogarty describes how moving to a cloud IT approach proved to be a highly beneficial and strategic decision for an on-site diesel fuel distributor.  The focus of the article was on how existing software and processes were enabled by centralizing them in a cloud hosting environment, and not by replacing them with new subscription-based applications.

For many businesses, this is the secret that nobody’s talking about: you can have the benefits of “the cloud” without having to radically change everything you have and everything you do.  Retention of knowledge assets is critical to business continuity, and moving existing systems and process to platforms where they can be leveraged to greater business advantage is a way to do that.  With centralization of systems and services, information can be processed far more efficiently than before, eliminating delays and improving cash flows dramatically.  Time is money, and the cloud helps businesses spend less of both.

“A lot of the invoices have to go out every day by certain times, so third-party accounting companies can do their thing for the fleet owners.” The setup sounds like a classic for any overhyped business-process-automation system, but Daniel Abrams and other Diesel Direct managers weren’t interested in managing their business using sophisticated business systems that require more motivation, money and technical staff than Abrams was willing to use or pay for.”

The initial benefit is being able to use the products already in place, just from a more secure and redundant location, but when you begin to consider the positive ramifications of reducing the time between delivery and invoicing, billing and payment receipt, or customer demand and product supply, you rapidly realize that the cloud means much more to the business than just another way to run software.

“Those changes save Diesel Direct both money and time. Rather than running reports and invoices all night Tuesdays, for example, the additional capacity lets the company run those resource-intensive processes during the day rather than overnight. That gets critical work done faster and more accurately than a process left to complete itself unattended.”

In short, the cloud makes time travel possible, because the result is available almost immediately upon completion of the task.  It’s kind of like getting your expense check as you walk off the plane in your home town, because you reported all your expenses in real time as they were incurred (snap a picture of the receipt at the bar, and like that).

Yet most business owners and IT managers for small and mid-sized businesses are being told that the cloud is best applied when innovation is required, and should be reserved for NEW things, and not thought of as a way to improve the status quo with existing or legacy architecture.

“It’s not unusual for mid-sized companies to come to depend on cloud services, according to James Staten, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester’s Infrastructure and Operations practice.

It is unusual for them to be more concerned with infrastructure than with applications, he says.”

With affordable and secure application hosting services being widely available for small and medium businesses, owners and managers no longer have to look to new solutions just to enable mobility, remote access, and a fundamentally stronger and better-managed system.  Legacy applications can be hosted and delivered, extending their useful life as well as the value of the development and intellectual property, and giving customers capabilities not readily available with local implementations.

“Diesel Direct can’t accomplish anything if its minimal IT infrastructure is offline for any length of time.

Abrams, worried about storms taking out his business as well as the power, didn’t know what technical solution he wanted until Callow “described for him what an enterprise infrastructure looked like,” Callow says.

“They didn’t need one, didn’t want one, but they did want the security, the reliability of a redundant IT infrastructure,” he says. “The most effective way to get that at the lowest possible cost is the cloud.”

Among the greatest benefits of outsourcing application delivery to a cloud hosting provider are the increased monitoring and security, application of best practices, and high levels of system fault tolerance and recovery capabilities offered.  While business subscribers focus on features and functionality of the application, the real focus for hosting providers is the platform – and the management and security of it.  This behind the scenes work offers tremendous business benefit to subscribing customers, but is often not the focus when discussing overall benefits of a cloud computing approach in the context of Software-as-a-Service, which is where many smbs focus their investigations.  As an alternative, businesses who may seek to adopt hosted solutions for their existing applications and software frequently do so for reasons of security and redundancy, not recognizing that their business processes may likely experience significant improvement, as well.

“Enterprises might have the luxury of making strategic decisions about cloud or other technology,” Golden says. “In mid-sized companies things are very tactical. No cloud evangelist is going around the refueling industry saying ‘there are ways to solve this problem.’ “Companies make tactical decisions to solve their own problems and, five or 10 years later, we’ll all wake up and realize we’ve changed the way we do everything,” Golden says.”

Make Sense?

J

The company in the article could be just like yours.  You don’t have to adopt new software and systems to benefit from the cloud.  How could your business change, if you could remove the problems of time and distance?

Posted on

Data Warriors – Accounting in the Cloud

Data Warriors – Accounting in the Cloud

The cornerstones of building and supporting a professional accounting, bookkeeping or financial services firm are the tools and resources that assist the professional in building their practice clientele.  In today’s market, that means understanding the value and application of cloud computing models and services.

Information management paradigms are changing, and professionals who can help their clients to achieve maximum performance and profitability through increased efficiency and innovation will find that the practice evolves into a more effective and agile organization, and the quality of their client engagements is taken to an entirely new level

Not participating in a cloud technology model is making a decision to not participate in today’s technology-enabled flow of business opportunity.  Ensure your continued relevance and value, and communicate to your clients and peers that your firm is prepared to meet the demands of an intelligent and informed clientele and market.

What does the “cloud” really mean to accounting and business?  Well, it means a lot of things.

  • Centralized access to information resources
  • Distributed storage and management of information resources
  • Collaboration and co-working
  • MORE data collection than ever before
    • MORE data being produced by various operational systems
      • MORE need for controls on data flows and exchanges
        • MORE need for analysis
          • MORE need for critical thinking

It’s been proven that any time things become more complicated or complex, it creates a need (read = opportunity) for specialists.

There is a current a growing need for accounting and business professionals who understand how all of this “connectedness” will work.  And the question isn’t really a technology question, as there are people way smarter than me handling all that.  What I’m talking about is the flow of information and data throughout the system.

This used to be more in the domain of the CIO; information systems guys and data analysts.  Accounting and finance, for all its business value, was 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.

But we’re finally coming to understand that virtually EVERYTHING in business has a financial impact leaving an imprint on the business: every action and activity, every relationship and interaction.

With the applications and service now being made available to businesses of all sizes, even small businesses are  now able to leverage the tools and gain the insight that only the largest of enterprises were able to do in times past.

The key is in enabling the business – facilitating their processing and getting their work done – using connected applications and mobile data access tools, or even simply helping with the collection of job or invoice or expense information electronically and in real time.

The earlier in the process, where you convert information into electronic data, the better.  You can then use connected systems or integrations to move and share data with others – other systems or other processes – within the business.

Accountants are already familiar with many of these concepts and tasks, where detailed customer activity and information is distilled into an AR entry, or where vendor and payments and various enterprise expenditures and resource utilizations are summarized into AP transactions and inventory valuations.  Operational systems are simply ‘exploded’ views of these subledgers and subsystems, where operational data and process-specific functionality resides.

With a traditional ERP/MRP approach, software systems were designed to meet the integrated business model by hanging all of the functionality and capability off a single framework or foundation.  Everything in the business was an extension from the core accounting and finance system.  Less intuitive for the user than a function or process-specific tool, at least the comprehensive integration of data was there.

What businesses may benefit from with a cloud-supported model is a similar result in terms of information being shared and enterprise collaboration being supported.  The difference, and the real and amazing benefit, is that specific and unique tools can be applied to support each operational segment or functional requirement in the business, and it can be done affordably and dynamically because it comes with the integration and real time information (data) exchange that single-framework enterprise systems provide.

The accounting professional becomes of greater importance in this connected system of data and functionality.  Their experience with and understanding of back-office and bookkeeping process, and the collection and preparation of subledger data for proper accounting treatment, is an integral role to play in establishing the proper integrations, syncs and data flows to and from “accounting”. Accounting becomes not an after-the-fact silo of historical data, but the centerpiece – the key – to unlocking business intelligence which leads to deeper understanding of business performance. When information is power, data analysis becomes the weapon, and the accountant the warrior who wields it.

Make Sense?

J