The world of accountants has transformed a lot but they have never lost their value in the market. From startups to well-established businesses, everyone is in need of a good accountant in order to manage their books. But the job role of the current accountants isn’t only limited to managing the books of the company as the modern accountants have become tech-savvy and they contribute towards major decisions in the company as well. Gone are those days when companies looked at only accounting skills while hiring an accountant. And this change in the accounting industry has been brought by technology only.
Technology has played a key role in transforming each and every type of accountant. Whether you are CPA or just an accountant, if you are not using technological solutions then you will be left behind in the tough race of competition. Well, there are many technological solutions that accountants of the current era are using in order to become more effective and efficient but one particular technological solution that has completely transformed the accounting industry is cloud computing.
Cloud has become the new normal in the accounting industry and almost all the accountants from all over the world are using cloud in one form or another. Whether an accountant is just using Google Drive for storing the sensitive financial data of his clients or hosting his accounting software, he is using advanced cloud technology. So, let’s understand how cloud computing is transforming the world of accountants and how accountants can reap the advantages of this advance and robust platform.
One of the biggest hassles for accountants was they were not able to manage the books of their clients effectively and quickly. One of the biggest hurdles in book management was restricted access to books. Most of the clients were dependant upon their desktop installed accounting software and in order to access data of that software, the accountant had no other option than visiting the office of the client. Well, doing this with 2 or 3 clients looks very easy but with time, your list of clients will grow and you reaching everyone’s office in order to access their books will become a cumbersome process.
But cloud computing completely changed this scenario. With the help of cloud hosting applications, accountants were now able to access the books of their clients without moving an inch from their own office desktop. Just within a few clicks, the whole software of the client along with the data can become available on the office desktop of the client. This completely transformed the way accountants used to manage the book of their clients and this is why cloud computing applications like cloud hosting became a new normal in the accounting industry.
There is no denial in the fact that most of the businesses looking for accounting services will go through the skill set and the expertise of the client first but you should know that security and safety are also one of the main driving forces for businesses on the hunt of accounting services. Well, with the traditional solution, it becomes very difficult for clients to trust the accountant because only the local hard disk is used in order to store the sensitive financial data of the company. The local hard disk is the most vulnerable place to store sensitive financial data of clients because it has no layer of defense. But with the introduction of cloud computing, everything changed for accountants and they started winning the trust or their clients without any hassle.
Cloud computing comes with various layers of security and that’s what makes cloud an ultra-secure platform. If a business approaching an accountant will come to know that the accountant is using cloud platform then he will be able to trust the accountant blindly. Two-factor authentication, multi-user access, encrypted data, anti-virus, anti-malware, firewall protection, all these layers of security make cloud platforms the safest place to store sensitive business data like financial data. This is how cloud computing allowed accountants to win the trust of their clients without much effort and without pouring in lots of money.
You should know that continuity is the key to success in any profession and the same goes for accounting as well. If you are not able to provide consistent service to your clients then you will not be able to build your credibility in the industry and that will hamper your growth as well. Earlier, all the businesses were solely dependent upon their traditional accounting solution that was prone to many errors. Well, the traditional solution was completely dependant upon the hardware and issues in hardware lead to downtime. Even a couple of minutes of downtime can lead to disruption in the workflow but that changed with the advent of cloud computing.
You should know that if you will go to buy cloud package from cloud vendors then you will see the cloud vendors offering guaranteed 99.95% of high uptime. And this uptime is not a fake one. All the reputed and trusted cloud vendors offer high uptime because they know the value of business continuity. By working on the cloud, words like interruption in the system or being locked out of the system due to hardware issues will become meaningless. This is why you should trust cloud computing if you want to maintain business continuity in your profession.
So, as you can see, cloud computing has completely changed the world of accountants. From being a nerd dealing with huge piles of papers and a calculator by their side, accountants have transformed into a tech-savvy professional that takes part in major decision makings of the company and uses the best and the most advanced technological solutions available in the market. Well, if we will say technological solution like cloud computing has played a major role in it then it will not be a false statement. Cloud computing has played a leading role in transforming the world of accountants.