Does Your Business Really Need Cloud Based Accounting Systems?

The word cloud is in real demand. Everybody is talking about it and infact; you are using cloud based technologies in most parts of your business. As I am writing this, billions of dollars are being spent on adoption of cloud based technology in areas of Information Security, Business processes, HR and many more. But when it comes to Accounting and Finance, most of the stakeholders in the company are sceptical of adopting cloud based technologies which is available in the market-place, which begs the question when cloud based accounting systems should be adopted in the business. Well the answer to it cannot be simple yes or no as it depends on number of variables.  Below are certain things you should consider before deciding to use cloud based accounting systems

Collaboration among Finance and Accounting Team members: Quite often unless the company is using an ERP system, managing the task and scope of work in desktop based accounting system becomes quite a challenge and puts lot of load on the software leading to data corruption and erosion of productivity in the team. On other hand in most of the cloud based application a separate scope for individual team member can be defined. For example access can be given to the member responsible for billing and access access can be granted for payments to other team member.

One-Stop Solution for Billing and Collection Systems: Most of the accounting systems are equipped to generate invoices, but sending the same to customers and following up with customers becomes an independent activity. However, in most of the cloud based accounting systems invoices can be emailed to the customer as well as payment reminders go from the system. This way discipline is brought into accounting team and frees up accountant time enabling to focus his efforts on more important tasks.

Real-Time insights into the business: Gone are the days, when you had to depend on the reports from the accounting and finance department. With cloud based applications all you have to do is click some buttons and you have access to management reports and other insights. But again there is a small catch here, the book-keeping and accounting should happen in real time for the application to give real-time results.

Data sensitivity and protection: There are loads of benefits with cloud based application, but as most of technology experts point out, it will be tough to have a system which will be 100% bullet proof from the attacks of hackers and malware. 99 out of 100 times your business data is safe in cloud-based environment, but again you cannot predict. If you are in the business where the data is really confidential, think twice before you decide to migrate to cloud based software.

Looking to Outsource Your Accounts: It helps a lot if you are data is on cloud, when it comes to outsourcing of accounts. This way, you keep the control over of the key elements of accounting processes and outsourcing the rest. Also the quality check of the accounting outsourcing becomes real-time, rather than waiting for a quarter or in some-times one year  when external auditor points out the discrepancies.

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