Tag: subscription service

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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

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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

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Turn Risk into Opportunity: Focusing on Value and Supporting Profitability

Turn Risk into Opportunity:

Focusing on Value and Supporting Profitability

Most businesses accept that they have “customers”, people who pay for the products and/or services that the business provides.  However, the customer many businesses fail to recognize is the “internal” customer – the consumer of services delivered internally to the organization.  These customers, most frequently recognized as co-workers and team members, depend upon the services delivered to them in order to do their jobs for the company.  This dependency represents the value of the service, and every organization has a need to get as much value as possible for the cost they expend for these services.  When the business approaches these internally delivered services as profit centers rather than pure cost centers, the impact to the business could highly beneficial as the application of resources gets focused on building strategic benefit for the company and not simply on supporting status quo.

Calling a part of the business a profit center doesn’t mean it’s going to sell services externally for money.  Rather, it means that the activities of the department can have a direct and meaningful impact to business profitability, and are participants in the development and facilitation of business strategy.  Profit centers can come in many flavors in a business, and may be identified as managers and owners reflect on areas of the business where changing conditions may introduce business risk.  Risk often translates to opportunity at some level.

A fairly obvious example of this is in the placement of IT departments and services within an organization.  If information technology is viewed purely as a cost-center and a “necessary evil” of doing business, it is more likely that IT services will have a perceived higher cost and lower level of value, as the technology is not considered a player in business strategy.  When technology is leveraged more directly to realize the strategic vision of the business, and is applied in ways which assist in delivering higher levels of service at a reduced cost while providing a means for market differentiation, the positive impacts in efficiency and profitability can be great.

A not-so-obvious example of a cost center which could be re-oriented towards increasing strategic positioning while making a positive improvement in internal service delivery (resulting in increases in performance and profitability) is the area of sales tax compliance.  Particularly with the emerging complexities introduced with cloud and Internet services, and with the lack of standards being the only consistency across the country, sales tax compliance is becoming a significant consideration and risk factor for businesses seeking to adopt cloud services and SaaS application solutions.

“Don’t just think of the tax department as a compliance shop,” says Waterfield. “It should also be considered a profit center. If given the proper resources, and access to information, it can provide the company the ability to become competitive in the marketplace either from assistance in calculating the proper price point or reducing overall tax expense on purchases.”
CFO.com (http://s.tt/1n56t)

Unless the tax compliance department is a direct participant in the consideration and adoption of cloud IT and other services, the business could end up with a significant liability and risk exposure that was not expected or allowed for.  Rather than finding this out after the fact, reviewing these types of potential impacts should be part of that same process which considered the adoption of the solution in the first place.

Accounting and tax professionals can find additional value to deliver to their existing and prospective clients by placing focus on these very important aspects of operating and managing a business.  As technology and globalization introduce more, and more complicated, issues relating to sales taxes and reporting compliance (which even the smallest of businesses must address) accounting and tax professionals should help their clients meet these changing requirements by offering proactive consultative guidance and support.

Make sense?

J

Read more about Should you be paying sales tax on your cloud solution?

Read more about Cloud FAQs for CFOs: CFO.com

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Discussion on hosted service options at The Sleeter Group ASC 2012

Discussion on hosted service options at The Sleeter Group ASC 2012

Are you having a hard time understanding the best approach to hosting your business applications – wondering why it costs what it costs, and why some applications seem harder to get hosted than others?  While installing applications on your desktop seems pretty straightforward, it may seem like nothing short of rocket science to get an application installed with your hosting provider.  And, to make matters worse, a handy little software widget you just bought for $20 now means you must have your own entire virtual server just to run it in the cloud? What’s up with that?

There is a lot of confusion regarding application hosting services, what customers expect from them, and what service providers are reasonably able to deliver.  Unfortunately, software developers, customers and service providers are not always on the same page when it comes to trying to solve the problem or making it easier for businesses to adopt the service.

To attempt to address the issue, and to (hopefully) provide some clarity and guidance around the application hosting service model and its use in your business, I will be presenting a session on application hosting, including QuickBooks hosting, at the 2012 Accounting Solutions Conference, presented by the Sleeter Group and being held this year in Anaheim, California on October 22-24.  The discussion will include information on typical hosting provider models, as well as application issues and considerations businesses should be aware of when looking to have their software and systems delivered by a 3rd party.

In all fairness, I will not be recommending specific providers, nor will I suggest that any one provider is better than another.  Each hosting company has their own strengths and weaknesses, which is true with all businesses.  The focus of the session is helping attendees learn what they need to know to begin a basic evaluation of whether or not hosting of their applications makes sense, and to recognize those factors which will impact cost, performance, and usability.  Further, I’ll also be talking about how hosting isn’t a standalone solution, and how cloud-based applications and services may be combined with hosted application services to deliver the necessary functionality for the best value (“can you say chunkify!” to use a Doug-ism).

So, I guess you need to come to Anaheim in October to learn some stuff, and then take a day at Disneyland.

Make sense?

J

Get ASC 2012 conference session information here

read more about the confusion over hosted licensing on The Progressive Accountant http://www.theprogressiveaccountant.com/tech-tips/confusion-over-hosted-licensing.html

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Price Of The Cloud Still Out Of Reach For Small Businesses? Commercial QuickBooks Hosting Providers offer competitive pricing, but are still largely unknown.

Price Of The Cloud Still Out Of Reach For Small Businesses?

Price Of The Cloud Still Out Of Reach For Small Businesses?

Commercial QuickBooks Hosting Providers offer competitive pricing, but are still largely unknown.

In a recent article on Forbes.com, contributor Gene Marks contends that, for most small businesses, the most cost effective way to run their business IT is locally and not in the cloud.  The contention is that software features and functionality businesses demand isn’t yet available in affordable SaaS solutions, and outsourcing the hosting and management of desktop applications is more costly than doing it yourself.

Because the cost of a cloud solution like the one I have is still too high for most small businesses like mine!  The setup I have would normally run me about $100 per user per month.  Which means that a typical small business with a ten user network would be paying $12,000 per year.   Yes, you read that right.  It’s a great service.  But is it worth that much?  Not to my clients – all thirty of them who considered this option turned it down.  At least for now.  Forbes.com

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2012/01/23/price-of-the-cloud-still-out-of-reach-for-small-businesses/

What this author did not take in to account is the aggressive pricing model which evolved around the hosted QuickBooks desktop editions, and how the community of Authorized Commercial Hosts for QuickBooks offer “full meal deal” hosting of those business applications most small businesses know and love.  Because the QuickBooks desktop editions have such a large market of integrations, add-ons, plug-ins, etc. it was necessary for most of the hosting providers to accept hosting of a wide variety of these applications in order to get adoption of the hosted QuickBooks product with ProAdvisors and accountants as well as their clients.

One of the Authorized QuickBooks Hosting providers, Cloud9RealTime.com, offers both shared hosting of QuickBooks desktop applications and Microsoft Office, as well as virtual server environments where customers may run whatever mixture of desktop software solutions the business already has.  By allowing businesses to place all of their licensed products in a managed environment, where installation of software updates and helpdesk support is part of the service, it enables organizations to have the benefits of remote access and high availability service without having to build the capability themselves – and for a fraction of the cost.  Cloud9’s pricing model is far less than described in the article, with services for businesses being available for half (or less) than the $100 per user cited by the author.

The Authorized Host for QuickBooks program and community of providers seems to be fairly unknown amongst small businesses, but owners and managers should look more closely at providers like Cloud9RealTime.com and see what pricing and services are available.  It may change your mind, and show that the cloud isn’t out of reach for small businesses.

Make sense?

J

read more about the confusion over hosted licensing on The Progressive Accountant http://www.theprogressiveaccountant.com/tech-tips/confusion-over-hosted-licensing.html

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Cloud FAQs for CFOs: CFO.com

There’s an amazing article on CFO.com called Cloud FAQs for CFOs and every business owner, manager, accountant, CFO and CIO should read it.

Here is one of my favorite Q/As from the article:

“Q: But I’m a finance officer, not a technologist. Can you guarantee that the total cost of ownership for the cloud is lower than what I’m already spending for my on-premises IT?
That depends upon what you’re already spending. Do you know?

According to Forrester senior analyst Dave Bartoletti, most companies are not all that good at knowing how much it really costs to run an application because IT departments “are still seen as cost centers.” The company buys the servers, the storage, and the applications, and flips the switch. “What does it cost to run?” Bartoletti asks rhetorically. “Who knows? You just depreciate the assets over a certain amount of time and after they’re fully depreciated, you buy more.” Even organizations that account for staff costs, maintenance, energy — all the indirect spend that goes into producing a service the business needs to run — will probably not be able to cost out individual applications with any degree of accuracy. How much, for example, does your e-mail cost? “If your CIO can’t tell you it’s x, y, z, per box,” Hotels and Resorts CIO Mike Blake tells CFO, “that’s a problem.”

“Enterprises are making significant investments in cloud technology in pursuit of lower costs,” says Dave Zabrowski, founder and CEO of Cloud Cruiser, a provider of cost analytics for cloud consumers, but “if you can’t see what you’re spending, there’s a good chance you’re spending too much.”

And that problem, that financial black box, has been the bane of the finance officer’s life in the IT age. The cloud, if nothing else, presents an opportunity to open that black box”

 Read more on CFO.com (http://s.tt/1jGJU)

Make sense?

J

read more about the confusion over hosted licensing on The Progressive Accountant http://www.theprogressiveaccountant.com/tech-tips/confusion-over-hosted-licensing.html