With no software to install, moving your books to a cloud-based accounting program like QuickBooks Online offers a bounty of benefits – including the freedom to manage your finances from anywhere.
Cloud-based technologies have greatly improved the accuracy and efficiency of a wide range of professional tasks, including your bookkeeping duties. Cloud-run systems are less costly and complicated to manage than traditional accounting software, and upgrades occur instantaneously.
Traditional, hard-drive based accounting software, meanwhile, is riddled with challenges that curtail business performance and limit your potential.
When you work with a legacy bookkeeping system:
- you waste valuable time carrying out manual program installations and updates,
- your data is never truly up to date, and
- being chained to a single computer with single user access means your company’s ability to update, share, and act on key financial data is severely restricted
Fully automated cloud bookkeeping processes also make it easier to detect duplicate entries, fraudulent activity, and other accounting discrepancies.
Here are 3 more great reasons to trade in your desktop for a cloud-based bookkeeping system.
1. Improved Productivity
To remain competitive over the long-term, your business needs to prioritize efficiency. Today’s technology has vastly improved productivity in the workplace, with cloud computing playing a major contributing role.
Cloud efficiency makes a clear, streamlined overview of your payables, receivables, and cash flow situation available at a glance. That puts you in a better position to make key decisions on the go, and service your customers more effectively.
With all of your bookkeeping functions performed online, there’s no software maintenance to worry about, and no backup drives to update and keep safe. Your cloud service provider takes care of the heavy lifting, reducing your overhead costs and freeing you to spend more time on revenue-generating activities.
One of the biggest benefits of a cloud-based accounting system is the complete financial organization it affords. Not only does a paperless system eliminate the need to manually sort, file, reference, and share paper documents, it makes your accounting data easier to find, while keeping it out of the hands of anyone who shouldn’t have it.
You simply can’t beat the cloud as an efficiency platform when it comes to making your financial data accessible anytime, anywhere. By doing away with a desktop hard drive as your bookkeeping hub, you’ll gain full-time access to the information you need from any internet-enabled device.
2. Real-Time Collaboration
Cloud-based bookkeeping solutions update automatically, and allow multiple users to view and retrieve financial data. That means anyone with secure access can track client information or update company expenses as needed – making it easier for you and other authorized personnel to stay on top of vendor bills and customer payments.
Multichannel access also gives you the means to collaborate in real-time with your accounting professional, ensuring your financials are always in order. The more informed and up to date your bookkeeper is, the more effective their role in enabling business growth. That kind of team approach to performance success simply isn’t available with traditional, single-user software.
At the same time, despite its multi-user, multi-device capabilities, cloud technology offers security and backup functionality designed to prevent data loss. You’re in control when it comes to restricting access to confidential information. And because all data is safely stored in a virtual environment, there’s no worry that a lost or stolen device will grant someone else entry to your private accounts.
As an added bonus, an internet-based bookkeeping system like QuickBooks easily scales to meet your company’s expanding transaction needs.
3. Full System Integration
It can be tough to find everything your organization requires in one legacy accounting system – especially when your company is growing. A cloud-based infrastructure allows for full system integration with the add-ons you may need as you continue to develop your operations.
But customizing your bookkeeping platform is about more than just gaining access to helpful accounting tools like an integrated payroll system, for example. It’s about keeping the information your company needs in one place, and being able to sync with other useful apps and cloud-based business solutions.
There are countless ways to improve your company’s performance and agility when you leverage third-party apps for everything from time-tracking to managing customer relations. So break away from your desktop and take advantage of a cloud accounting system like QuickBooks Online to create a workplace ecosystem that’s scalable, cost-effective, and that ultimately drives better business results.
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