Mobility and Remote Access
In the past two years, we’ve seen accounting businesses moving slowly towards the cloud. In fact, a recent CPA.com survey indicated that 90% of CPAs believe they need to begin delivering digital business processes to clients via the cloud in the near future. However, the same survey also found that more than 70% of firms still use on-premise applications for bookkeeping and other key business needs. With such contradictory statistics, how can accounting companies bridge the divide between old and new technologies as they move towards the digital era, while conforming to ever-evolving compliance regulations? The key is using remote access solutions.
With a remote access solution, employees can securely access older Windows-based applications and office PCs with the same ease as they do cloud-based resources – from any location and any device. Meanwhile, IT staff can easily manage both on-premise and cloud-based resources from within a single unified admin console, allowing them to set the pace for migration to the cloud.
Here are six ways accounting companies can benefit from a remote access solution.
- Increased business turnover
Allowing your clients and staff to access accounting software and data via remote desktop will significantly reduce non-productive time and interruptions. Companies already using remote access solutions are able to eliminate needless journeys to the office, allowing them to report more billable hours and increase their income by up to 100%.
- Greater employee satisfaction
In accounting there are extremely busy periods, requiring staff to spend long, extra hours in the office. In many cases, employees cannot accommodate this situation in the long term, especially those with families. Allowing accounting staff to work from home using remote access solutions, providing them with more flexible working hours and telecommuting options, will lead to a better work/life balance and eventually help to retain qualified staff and avoid a resource shortage.
- A safer work environment
Accountants work with highly sensitive data, requiring a high degree of confidentiality. They have to conform with compliance and security regulations at all costs. This is why accounting firms are often reluctant to allow BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiatives. Implementing fast and secure RDP access to remote desktops and apps will allow these firms to support BYOD, while maintaining a high level of IT security.
- Reduced hardware and upgrade costs
For most accounting firms, financial criteria are a key factor in deciding whether to replace or update hardware and software. Smaller firms are likely to replace/update software annually or only when the operating systems no longer support it. It can quickly become very expensive to upgrade the entire IT infrastructure periodically. An efficient remote access solution requires minimal resources in terms of servers & administration, leading to reduced spending on new hardware and hardware maintenance.
- Ensuring business continuity in any situation
In any accounting firm, continuous access to business applications and data, in any situation, is critical to business operations. By implementing a remote access solution or improving the performance of the existing RDP connection, accountants avoid spending tedious hours synchronizing their laptops with office systems, or even worse, not having backups of client data at all. If a client faces a deadline for an audit, for example, accountants can complete computations and reports at any hour, without having to stay late or go back into the office in the evenings or on weekends.
- Better document and information control
Often more than one accountant is working on the same report, and newer versions of the same documents pile up, while consultants take turns modifying them and then making sure to sync the latest versions. Using a remote access solution, they can collaborate in real time more efficiently and securely, from both PCs and mobile devices. Moreover, all documents can be backed up and stored in a secure environment, where they are accessible at any time by authorized employees and clients.