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The Cloud for Your Firm: 3 Initial Considerations for Cloud Enabling Accounting and Bookkeeping Firms Working With Small Businesses

The Cloud for Your Firm

3 Initial Considerations for Cloud Enabling Accounting and Bookkeeping Firms Working With Small Businesses

dscn0903.jpgThe potential benefits of a real-time, lean collaborative working model are too great to argue with.  Accounting professionals, bookkeepers and their small business clients are all hearing about the value of working together in the cloud, and how cloud technologies and solutions can reduce cost and improve efficiency.  There is a great deal of truth in these statements, just as there was a truth in the value of implementing computers, networks and other technologies in business.  What is not clear is exactly what businesses need “in the cloud”, and how they should approach this shift from local IT to outsourced managed service.  Initially, there are 3 issues which warrant consideration, if not deep discussion, prior to making any significant move to relocate internal IT and shift business applications to the cloud: internal use systems, client interaction, and operational support for both.

With all the discussion about cloud computing and remote access, it would seem that all the applications and solutions businesses need are now available online and paid for in low monthly subscription fees.  Anyone working with small businesses, however, comes to understand that the vast majority of these businesses are still using more traditional modes of information management and computing.   For the most part, these businesses are using PCs and local networks, possibly with a little hosted email thrown in.  Almost certainly they have a website and maybe even a fairly sophisticated e-commerce system that allows them to sell products online.  But when it comes to general office functions, and particularly back-office functions like bookkeeping and accounting, the software and the data generally reside on the office PC and server.

Accounting and bookkeeping professionals who work with small businesses are often in the same position as their business clients when it comes to information technology.  Since so much of the work involved requires the same programs and data formats as those used by the client, service providers find that they spend as much in management of software licensing and systems to support working with client data as they do on systems intended for internal use only – sometimes more.  Many of these service providers are also small businesses, and it becomes challenging to find a way to handle internal IT needs while at the same time trying to address those of the client. Where e-commerce solutions are readily available to handle operational aspects of product based businesses, the best tool set for a professional accounting firm or bookkeeping business working with small business clients may not be so easily defined.

The solution for many providers has been revealed through cloud computing and hosted application models.  With Cloud Servers, Remote Desktops, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure now widely available as affordable alternatives to capital-intensive implementations of locally installed products, businesses are finding new abilities to manage applications and data, provide mobility and enhance collaboration.  The additional benefit is in how accounting service providers may engage with their clients in more efficient and effective ways, without the burdens of replicating data or trying to share access to a single machine or application resource.

There are a number of elements to consider before taking the file server to the parking lot and running it over with a truck.  Moving to the cloud is not a one-step process, and it is important to do a little research and collect some important information before making the final decision on how to proceed.

Internal Use Systems

Among the first of the questions to ask when considering a change in IT management approaches is “which software do we need”?  Implementing an outsourced IT arrangement, which is really what “cloud” is about”, does not necessarily mean throwing away all the existing software and starting with new.  The software in use within the firm may be exactly what it needs right now and adding full IT management, fault tolerance, and remote or mobile access could be the main scope of the requirement.  Moving from locally installed solutions to hosted solutions provides quite a number of benefits while removing many of the direct costs and frustrations of IT management and administration. The greatest benefit of this type of approach is the ability to preserve the “body of knowledge” existing in the business, knowledge invested in the people and processes already developed.

On the other hand, there may be new tools or services only available as “cloud” service, and it makes sense to explore how they may benefit the business more than the in-use applications.  The important element is to remember that the solution must address real business problems, and whether it runs in the cloud or not isn’t the first or most important thing to ask.  For example, a discussion about whether QuickBooks Online might be a better choice than QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise should be focused on the functionality provided by the applications and not which servers they are running on.  With application hosting for QuickBooks now being an available option, there is a managed IT and remote access capability for both solutions, rendering the fact that QBO is a SaaS solution almost irrelevant in terms of being a differentiator.

Client Interaction

An important aspect of adopting new technologies or working models is the consideration of how the firm and the client businesses will work together, and whether or not there is (or could be) a standardized approach that might work for most clients.  Certainly, it makes sense to standardize as much as possible.  Treating every issue or engagement as a singular event – a one-off – is the least efficient way to do business.  The key to profitability is in the firm’s ability to produce high quality work consistently and in a timely fashion.  This requires that the business be well-structured in terms of the standard processes and methods which will be used to work with client information.  When the firm and the client can work seamlessly together as and when required, and when each is responsible for their own systems and data, it is a best-case scenario. The questions relating to client interactions focus on how the firm works with clients and which tools or solutions are required to improve that situation.

It is likely that the firm will need to be able to address working relationships with various client and engagement types – where clients do some of the work, where the bookkeeper does the work, or where the participants work collaboratively together in the same systems.  While it may seem that the best way to create a dependency on your services with the client is to keep them out of the systems, empowering the client is really the key to a close and long-standing engagement.  This means that the client needs to have their own solutions and approach to cloud-enabled IT, and the accounting or bookkeeping service provider should be able to access and work within that environment.

It is rare that a small business can effectively operate without computers and software to manage information and support operations, so it makes sense that the business should have its own accounting and financial systems, too.  For the accounting service provider, it is essential that a level of understanding be gained around the use of today’s available remote and mobile access technologies, as it is with these solutions and tools that participation in client systems will be enabled.  When the client accounting solution sits on their office PC, there are limited options for working together in any real collaborative form.  Connecting to their PC via remote control is a widely recognized means of gaining access to client systems, but if the bookkeeper is on the system when there is a problem of some sort, all eyes go directly to that remote user as the likely cause of the problem.

The considerations relating to remote access to client systems focus not just on enabling a collaborative working environment, but also on mitigating risk and improving client perception.  The risk issue comes in when the accounting service provider is exposed to systems and information not relevant to their task, and the perception issue becomes material when the accounting professional becomes the software or IT service provider.  It makes sense for the accounting professional to make recommendations or suggestions about software and IT service which might benefit the business, but not to necessarily be the reseller or direct provider of the product or service.  The moment the accounting professional attempts to sell the client a software product or IT service, the relationship is changed and the client is more likely to view their accounting pro as another vendor rather than a trusted advisor.  It’s also not necessarily a great move to start a new client engagement by telling the client they have to switch accounting products to allow the accountant to work closer.  Rather, professionals need to help their clients position those products for more efficient use, which may include enabling remote or mobile access granted via deployment in the cloud.

Operational Support

When businesses outsource their IT management and administration, there is often an initial belief that all responsibilities in these areas will be handled by the IT service provider.  What is often overlooked is the reality that the firm still needs to have people attending to IT related tasks, just doing different levels of work with the technology. It is important to recognize that someone in the firm will end up dealing with various IT and process support issues, and it still makes sense to have personnel dedicated to these tasks (*Note: here’s where I suggest that the cloud changes the focus of internal IT personnel, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for them).  The service provider and solution evaluation and selection process, as well as the actual deployment and administration of services, will take valuable time away from actually performing client accounting or bookkeeping work, and there should be people attending to these issues while the business continues operating.

Where an internal IT department or contract technicians may once have supported internal systems, an operational role within the business is still required to manage outsourced IT activities, including and particularly those where clients are involved with the firm systems.  Delivering new benefits with a minimum of business disruption is the goal, and can be achieved through proper planning and coordination with team members and clients alike.

Closing Thoughts

“The Cloud” is just another way to run software and implement computing resources.  It still takes servers and software, it uses processors and storage and networking, just like more “traditional” computing models.  The difference is in how these resources are purchased and provisioned, and the impact is a change in how businesses of all types can benefit from technologies which enable collaboration, lean process, and mobility.  The Cloud for Your Firm addresses your internal business requirements, lends itself to client collaboration, and has internal operational support to ensure the firm is fully leveraging the available benefits to improve business performance and profitability.

Make sense?

J

Read more about Accountants and Bookkeepers Working With QuickBooks Clients: App Hosting Approaches That Work

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Predicting Outcomes and Providing Guidance | Being Nostradamus| Proformative.com

I have a gripe with the accounting profession.  My gripe is with the fact that accounting information delivered to most business owners is old news.  Stuff happened, the professional properly recorded it and reported on it,  you paid your taxes, and that’s that.  Game over.

Once upon a time, accountants had to work with book ledgers, pen and pencil (mostly pen, putting that single line through incorrect entries), and stacks upon stacks of paper documents.  Just keeping up with the process of recording transaction information, adding it all up (and making sure the footing totals jibe), and then summarizing the information into usable form took all the time available, and the focus was on the accuracy of the work – not necessarily the timeliness of it.  With the advent of computers and computerized accounting systems, the process of creating and storing the data became easier, but the volume and nature of information increased and thus the complexity and time to process increased (the “everlasting gobstopper” problem.. it never really goes away).There isn’t any argument over the critical value and importance of that work.  Every business owner understands that not properly accounting for business activities can mean increases in tax burdens, penalties and interest, and more.  It’s good work… but what do you do with it?  My intent is not to try to diminish the value of today’s approach to accounting.  Rather, I’m trying to point out how the accounting profession could make a huge impact in today’s pathetic economy, help businesses get financially healthier, and help put the small/medium business market on a path to growth and success.  It involves seeing into the future.

These days, technologies exist which facilitate acquiring the information (even in paper form), converting that information into digital data, and then actually interpreting the data to arrive at a transaction.  Traditional software and cloud service providers alike are recognizing that mechanical data entry is passé, and do-it-yourself solutions for accounting and bookkeeping will rely upon “smart” engines which can read and properly understand what each scanned document means.

So – once the accurate data entry problem is solved… what’s the next logical step?  Analytics!  It’s only really possible now that online solutions have brought the business information to the accounting professional in real-time, and have allowed the accounting professional and the business owner to collaborate and share data faster than ever before.  If information is power, we have a lot of power in our hands… but do we really know it?  This is where BI (business intelligence) and analytics come in, and where the opportunity exists for the accounting profession to become a guiding force in rebuilding our economy.

What if an accountant could not only tell his client that the business lost money last year or last month, but that they’re going to lose money through this month and year if they don’t change their behavior?  And, what if the accountant could run a variety of scenarios which would help forecast the most positive business outcome based on certain choices which could be made, or certain activities which could be handled in different ways?  What if the accountant could help his client peer into the future, and get an inkling of what the business could look like if certain economic or business conditions continued… changed… ?

Maybe I’m a little overzealous when it comes to believing that the accounting profession could have recognized the economic trauma which was coming, or that they could have prepared their business clients for it.  But I don’t believe I’m very far off the mark in believing that not nearly enough “analysis” occurs in the typical public accounting engagement, and even when it does… is the suggested path the right one?  I would submit that BI is new enough to so many people that it may not be.  Learning what the numbers are telling you is one thing… staving off disaster is quite another.

I would encourage all BI and Data Analytics fanatics to check out an article on CFO.com on this subject:  That New Big Data Magic  http://www3.cfo.com/article/2011/8/analytics_that-new-big-data-magic

A few memorable takeaways from the article:

“you may be spot-on about a problem, but the solution doesn’t magically appear out of the data.”

“what you do with [data] is a people-based activity, a skill base you have to mature.  And it doesn’t come quickly.”

“CFOs have a gut sense that there’s money out there in all that data… The challenge is how to turn that data into new opportunities.” The good news.. is that new technologies are making it more economical to make sense of Big Data… The caveat is that those technologies will not provide those opportunities. That’s still up to the people who make business decisions.”

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

reblogged from Proformative.com  Being Nostradamus – Predicting Outcomes and Providing Guidance

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Financial Literacy and Small Business Success

Businesses and individuals alike must make complicated financial decisions throughout their lives.  Sadly, the volumes of research which explore aspects of financial and debt “literacy” among individuals and small business owners reflects that a growing portion of the population lacks the understanding to make these decisions.  Questions surrounding this issue often focus on the educational aspects, and the positive impacts which might be created through greater levels of understanding of accounting fundamentals and the basics of financial management.  Particularly in smaller businesses, where there is a much closer relationship between business and personal finances, understanding even basic financial concepts is likely to lead to “better financial decisions and household well-being”.

a strong relationship between debt literacy and both financial experiences and debt loads[1]

Because many educational offerings tie to specific training approaches and methodologies, it becomes very difficult to measure the usefulness of the skills developed separately from the effectiveness of the training methodology.   Trainers may employ specific devices or tools which facilitate their delivery, and often times these tools become more of a focus than the actual educational content.  On the other hand, a program might provide a great deal of information in a fairly raw form, yet this information is unlikely to deliver a useful result if the participants do not understand it or cannot grasp the concepts introduced. The challenge is not only with providing the education, but finding a balance with the information and the outcomes; understanding how basic the training might be and still provide a measurable, beneficial impact.

In the study Keeping it Simple: Financial Literacy and Rules of Thumb, the authors discuss the benefits of teaching small business owners a series of fundamental “rules of thumb” for management of the business, rather than delving into the complexities of comprehensive business accounting and finance.  Teaching participants about the basics of double entry bookkeeping, cash management and investing, and then coupling that information with instruction on essential processes to follow resulted in significant improvements in financial management and improved the accuracy and consistency of reported data.

the rule-of-thumb training changes actual business management practices[2]

 

Outcomes show consistently positive when a simpler approach to developing “financial literacy” is provided to small business owners, and particularly when the training and content is oriented towards the characteristics of the participants.   The highest level of result was achieved with business owners with a low level of financial “sophistication”, with a limited interest in financial or accounting training, and with limited baseline business practice structure.  These were the participants who were found to be most likely to implement what they learned in the “rule of thumb” training.

The conclusion drawn from these discussions is that financial education and basic accounting training can become a key factor in helping business owners not only account and report better for their businesses, but provides an essential foundation for understanding how to grow the business and create profitability.   Accounting professionals working with small business clients should recognize that an effort to provide a level of education to clients is likely to not only help those clients make better business (and personal) financial decisions, it will also increase the chances that the client will keep better books and provide the accounting professional with more consistently useful information to work from.

After all, the goal of the accounting professional working with small business clients is to help those small businesses become successful businesses, isn’t it?

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

[1] http://www.nber.org/papers/w14808.pdf

Debt Literacy, Financial Experiences, and Overindebtedness | Annamaria Lusardi and Peter Tufano| NBER Working Paper No. 14808|March 2009

[2] https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/kis-dfs-march2013_0.pdf | Keeping it Simple: Financial Literacy and Rules of Thumb | By ALEJANDRO DREXLER, GREG FISCHER, AND ANTOINETTE SCHOAR

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The Language of Accounting: Disconnect between Accountants and Bookkeepers

The Language of Accounting: Disconnect between Accountants and Bookkeepers

There are a tremendous number of bookkeeper training programs developed over the years which propose to deliver the essential bookkeeping knowledge (e.g., double entry accounting) required in order to properly service business bookkeeping requirements.  Particularly as the CPA profession stepped away from traditional bookkeeping in favor of performing “higher level” and more profitable work, there was and continues to be a great need for skilled and experienced bookkeepers.  While it seems that accountants and bookkeepers would be a natural fit for partnering to serve small business client needs, there is often a disconnect between the two which causes the working relationship to not always prove as beneficial as it could.  What is the cause of this disconnect?  In many cases, it is due to the fact that the bookkeeper training educated the operator on the use of a software product, and not on the fundamentals of accounting and bookkeeping.

Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to look through a lot of bookkeeper training programs, and the thing that stands out is that many of these programs aren’t really training bookkeepers on accounting principles.  More frequently, the training is focused on teaching users how to use software (usually QuickBooks).  With the number of users of the QuickBooks product, it is obvious that there is a need to educate users on the solution because people need to know how to use their software properly.  But it happened at some point in time that a majority of the industry came to believe that learning QuickBooks (or Xero or Freshbooks or Kashoo or whatever) was somehow synonymous with learning bookkeeping.

When I first started working with my father in his accounting practice, I had to use a manual general ledger, check register, etc.  It was all manual – computers didn’t come along for a while (yes, I am that old).  It was time-consuming, but it taught me the fundamentals.  I know what a subledger is.  In consumer-friendly software like QuickBooks, you don’t work in the AR subledger; you push the button that says “customers” or maybe “invoices”.   QuickBooks, in many ways, doesn’t speak accounting.  It speaks record keeping.  And this is where the disconnect begins.

An old school accountant will recall the green eye shade days and working with book ledgers and 13-column pads, but even “new” school accounting professionals know that the fundamentals of accounting aren’t available for re-invention.  A debit is still a debit and a credit is a credit.  Yes, there are intimacies involved which speak to specific treatment of items for reporting and tax purposes, etc., but the essentials of double entry and other basic accounting principles are consistent and unchanging.

The “language of accounting” includes certain precise terms with specific meaning, and this precision in the use of terms simply doesn’t exist in many bookkeeper training programs. Rather than focusing on the fundamental accounting training bookkeepers truly need in order to be of maximum value to the business, these programs focus on helping users become experts in using the software product, or even to become experts at teaching others how to use the solution.  While this software expertise may be beneficial in terms of helping accountants work with their clients who use the software, it doesn’t add enough value to the relationship to warrant partnering.  What accounting professionals need are bookkeepers who understand bookkeeping and who can apply basic accounting principles to the task.  Which software they operate is secondary to that purpose.

Professional bookkeepers, accountants, and the business client are all in a position to benefit tremendously when the service providers team up to provide comprehensive service.  The key to making these connections lies with the professional bookkeeper who must not only understand basic accounting principles, but must also be able to speak to the accounting professional in their native language.

Make Sense?

J

read more…

Opinion:   I think that every QuickBooks training program should include taking the sample data file in QuickBooks, and translating that to a manual accounting system of book ledgers and reports.  Then, have the student process a years’ worth of transactions manually and from paper-based source materials (and also make them create and use a manual paper filing system for all that information, and come up with a means to travel to obtain all the documents necessary which aren’t mailed via USPS).  The requirement would include generating the bank reconciliations from printed bank statements and cancelled check copies, creating a trial balance from the general ledger and then creating the P&L and Balance Sheet.  I’ll bet you end up with a group of bookkeepers who better understand the fundamentals of the accounting process.  The other benefit is that these folks will have a much better understanding of the problems in the outsourced accounting model which can be directly addressed and solved by today’s cloud and connected solutions.

 

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The Small Business Borrower | Biz2Credit

In order for regulation and legislation to work in favor of small businesses, it becomes essential that accurate and complete information be available for analysis. Too often there are details not recognized in the information used by various agencies to help guide policy and action, and particularly in the world of privately held small business, the quality of data is often in question. This is where structured accounting software and the public accountant come in to play, and where a difference can be made not only with the individual client, but at a higher level by facilitating more accurate data production to support various research initiatives, such as those sponsored through the SBA and the Fed.

Overall, these research studies highlight two things: the important role that financial institutions play in lending to small business owners, and the value of quality data sets in ascertaining financing issues faced by small businesses and their owners.

Charles Ou, Ph.D. | Senior Economist | Office of Advocacy | July 2009

With the availability of highly useful tools for monitoring various key performance indicators and metrics in the business (with analysis of cash flow being an essential part), business owners and their accounting professionals alike are able to use real business data to reveal not simply the trends in business performance, but to identify areas where direct action could improve results in one aspect or another. By paying closer attention to managing business finances and analyzing key aspects of business performance, the “discouraged” or “denied” business borrower may become a successful or (even more valuable) a non-borrower.

via The Small Business Borrower at Biz2Credit.com.

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Criteria for Evaluating QuickBooks Hosting Providers: Going Beyond Pricing

Criteria for Evaluating QuickBooks Hosting Providers: Going Beyond Pricing

When a small business elects to run their QuickBooks desktop edition software in the “cloud”, it makes sense to work with an experienced provider – a company with the people and the experience to keep the QuickBooks desktop software working properly and securely.  The keys to selecting the best provider for the business are often hidden in the experiences of others; experiences which reveal issues that may significantly impact vendor selection and which have nothing to do with the price of the service. Criteria such as system performance, responsiveness to technical issues, resources for self-help, and knowledge of support personnel – these are the things that more frequently and directly impact the customer experience and, ultimately, the customer’s loyalty.

While Intuit supports QuickBooks Enterprise in terminal server and Remote Desktop environments, they only support the license when it is deployed for the single business organization the license was issued to. If a business has lots of different users on the platform and those users don’t belong to the one company who “owns” the infrastructure and the license, then the implementation is non-compliant and won’t be supported. Intuit also doesn’t offer direct support for QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier editions in remote desktop implementations, yet the software will work perfectly well in that environment. There are a few quirks and tricks to using the software in this manner, however, so provider technical experience specifically with QuickBooks is essential.

When working with a company providing managed application hosting services and not just managed server platforms, it generally means that the provider is taking responsibility not only for the server/network/infrastructure, but also for the setup, configuration and maintenance of system users and security, and the installation/management/maintenance of the applications running on the server.  When a business elects to outsource this level of service to any 3rd party, there are a variety of areas in addition to pricing which should be thoroughly explored prior to signing the service agreement.

When evaluating potential service providers, research the provider’s offerings and performance directly as well as evaluating the public’s perception of them, considering these 4 areas:

  1. Technology
  2. Innovation
  3. Business Practices
  4. Customer Satisfaction

The technology evaluation relates not only to the systems and tools applied to the service delivery, but also to the systems or tools applied to assist the customer with dealing with the service.  Too often, providers pay more attention to their ordering systems than their service delivery, believing that a quality customer experience rests more with simple purchasing processes than with a functional and well-performing application service.  Others may focus on delivering the best and highest quality application service, yet relegate their clients to sending emails or making phone calls to place service orders or request service information.  The providers who score the highest points in this category are those who recognize that both elements – service delivery and service administration – are critically important to providing a quality overall customer experience.

The innovation evaluation looks at the actual service infrastructure and delivery. This includes features as well as limitations.  One of the pitfalls of being an application service provider is the inertia created with existing systems and customers.  Once the platform is in place and there are a bunch of users on the systems, upgrading and updating the underlying technologies can be a tremendous challenge.  I have often related this as being like trying to change tires on a moving truck.  Unfortunately, systems age and lose functionality, compatibility, support, etc.

Keeping the platform updated isn’t the only element involved with scoring provider innovation.  Even more important than simple change management supporting status quo, true innovation speaks to efforts directed towards crafting a better, more functional and more useful solution delivery.  Many skilled technicians can set up a terminal server for remote access to QuickBooks using the “standard” tools available, but it takes more skill and understanding to create a service which offers more and better capability than everyone else.  The point isn’t that the provider is changing QuickBooks software in any way – that’s not really an option.  Rather, it is in how the provider elects to architect their systems and solution, and whether they are attempting to improve the experience and deliver with a unique approach rather than a generic one.

With increased competition and as some provider platforms experience challenges either due to age or capacity, certain “interesting” practices have emerged.  I now look at these business practices as part of the process of evaluating providers.  In the early days of hosting and application delivery, the business practices of various providers had some similarities, but not any more.  The practices which frustrate me most and which always cause me to score the provider with low marks in this category relate almost exclusively to transparency – or lack thereof.  Here are two scenarios which I’ve seen come up with some frequency, and which (in my opinion) are indications that the provider may not necessarily be one you want to work with.

  • A business has signed a one-year service agreement with a hosting provider, and has been required to prepay that annual contract.  The business was not provided with a demonstration or evaluation system prior to executing the service agreement; they simply trusted the information provided by sales.  After a few months on the service, the performance and support are so poor that the business wants out of the annual agreement, even though high service levels and support responses were part of the contract.  In order to be allowed to end the service agreement and stop paying for the service, the business was told they would have to not only buy out a portion of the remaining contract, but also sign an agreement not to communicate the service problems they experienced or the exit agreement terms with anyone. (*please note that I am essentially in agreement about having to buy out a committed term agreement, at least in part, but applying a gag order? Not so much).
  • A business is using the services of a hosting provider, and has a need to know details of their delivery (like server operating system version) in order to verify compatibility with a new software product they wish to purchase.  Before the business customer is allowed to obtain the information, the provider requires that they sign an agreement promising not to disclose the information they may receive to any other party.  (*note: While I recognize that this type of agreement is desirable to protect proprietary information, it is more often used to prevent the prospective customer from disclosing something potentially negative, and it certainly doesn’t do much in terms of building trust.)

The final evaluation is on customer satisfaction, where anecdotes and information is collected from both current and past customers of the provider.  Admittedly, much of this information I scour from various forums and discussion groups and interviews but it is truly amazing what you can learn about a business simply by listening to customer stories in various social venues.  The picture these stories paint is often (frequently!) very different from the “happy sunshine and rainbows” testimonials you find on websites and in marketing brochures.  Of course, who would buy from a provider who says their “support is great until you’ve been with us for a month, and then we pretty much don’t care about you any more”.  Also, people tend to be more vocal when they’re mad about something, so there is often more negative than positive out there in the social realm, so weight that carefully.  But the fact that certain provider names come up more often than others is the clue; when you don’t see the provider name come up in these discussions, it usually means they’re simply not making people mad.

There is a lot to consider in selecting the right service provider for the business, and the items listed above are just part of it.  While there are some (few) standards among application service providers, it is still what some might refer to as an “emerging” model and will continue to evolve with the market demand and technology.

For now, businesses just need to know that their solution provider is trustworthy and willing to communicate honestly and completely. Selecting the right provider – a provider who supports their business and model with full transparency to the client –  will help the business move forward just as the wrong provider is more likely to hold it back.  While pricing is an important and unavoidable aspect of the discussion, businesses should also put some focus on these other elements which help to reveal how the provider works with their customers, and to determine whether or not they can (or will even try to) meet your requirements now and in the future. 

Make Sense?

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetJ