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36
Cloud Security
1. Known monthly costs and no large
capital purchase required.
The
majority of financial management
cloud-based solutions are charged
on a subscription basis, allowing you
to ‘pay as you go’ with scale of costs
determined by factors such as volume
of transactions.
2. Better control over cash-flow and
future planning.
With cloud you are
always on the latest functionality so
you can take advantage of tools such
as real-time dashboards, giving you and
your team all the information needed to
make the most informed decisions.
3. Less investment in IT hardware and
support costs.
You can say goodbye
to buying servers and PCs to run the
accounting software, as that expense is
taken care of by your provider. You also
don’t need to worry about supporting
the IT equipment.
4. Reduced staff overheads.
Fewer
employees are needed to manage the
system, freeing up resources to work
on more bottom-line activities such as
credit control.
5. Automatic business continuity.
All
your finance data is held remotely and
automatically backed up, so if your
records on-site are lost through fire,
flood or any other disaster your data
can be easily restored with minimal
downtime (and without the need to
retrieve and restore from physical back-
up disks).
6. Outsource time-consuming tasks
more cost-effectively.
The beauty
of the cloud is that it also gives you
a platform, so you can hire external
resources to manage the day-to-
day tasks of financial management,
from book-keeping to transaction
management.
7. Support modern ways of working.
Accounts can be viewed and worked
on remotely, making it perfect for
a growing business that may have
multiple sites, home workers or staff on
the move.
8. Joined up thinking & productivity.
Sophisticated cloud accounting
solutions enable back-office
applications, such as a CRM system, to
keep in sync with information in the
finance system, saving you from having
to re-enter data manually, which can
leave a huge margin for error.
9. Fast implementation time.
It can take
several months to train up employees
and go live with a traditional accounting
solution. However, you can be up and
running in a fraction of the time with
a cloud-based option and, because it is
delivered via a standard, familiar web
browser, training is minimal.
In spite of these benefits, it is still important to choose your cloud provider carefully. To
maximise the benefits of the cloud, look for a partner that can integrate your finance
system with back-office solutions (in the cloud or on premise); offers flexible contracts
with transparent methods of charging; is UK-based and stores data in the UK, not
overseas; and has a high degree of functionality – avoid basic, stripped-down cloud-based
accounting solutions that are only designed for smaller businesses.
Choose wisely and cloud-based accounting gives you the opportunity to drive your
business forward with the best technology choices, but without the cost or headache of
maintaining those technologies on-site.
www.bluqube.co.uk
Cloud security fears
misplaced, says Microsoft
Microsoft says that fears about the security of
cloud computing are misplaced as new research
shows that many small and medium-sized
businesses that have embraced subscription-
based cloud services enjoy higher levels of
security as a result.
The study by Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing
Group found that 35% of US firms enjoy higher levels
of security after moving to the cloud. In addition, 32%
spend less time worrying about the threat of cyber
attacks and 32% spend less time each week managing
security than companies not using the cloud.
Cloud users are also five times more likely to
have reduced the amount they spend on managing
security as a percentage of their overall IT budget,
allowing them to invest more in other areas.
For example, 41% of cloud users said they were
able to employ more staff in roles that directly
benefit growth; and 39% invest more in product
development or innovation.
Over a third (37%) said they were more agile and
competitive; 42% said the cloud made it easier for
them to scale their business to explore new markets;
and 52% said it enabled them to add new products
and services more quickly and securely.
Commenting on the findings, Ryan Brock, vice
president of Worldwide SMB Cloud & Channels at
Access Markets International Partners, said: “When
it comes to security, the cloud offers SMBs a level of
expertise, specialist resources and investment that
they cannot hope to match. This translates into cost
and time savings and better protection against cyber
threats, which gives them the freedom to innovate
and grow their business.”
One firm enjoying the benefits of cloud computing
is mobile marketing specialist SkyWire Media Inc..
Since replacing third-party anti-virus and anti-
malware tools with the cloud-based management
and security solutionWindows Intune, it has saved
$15,000 per month through simplified software
distribution and streamlined security upgrades.
SkyWire chief operating officer Thomas
Castleberry said: “Since we started usingWindows
Intune, support calls are down by 70%.We can
now prevent malware before it interferes with the
productivity of our salespeople, and this means they
can go out and win new business.”
Cloud Nine
The Cloud Industry Forum estimates
that almost one third of SMEs (29%)
already manage their finances in
the cloud. Julian Sayer, sales &
operations director at accounting
software vendor bluQube, offers the
following nine reasons why those
who have yet to make the switch
should follow suit.