CPA_Practice_Advisor_November_2020 - 18

REVIEW: HOSTING SYSTEMS

By Garrett Wagner, CPA

Near Universal Push to Remote in 2020

was another brutal challenge and hurdle to get users connected, buy them new devices, figure out various software
glitches, and spend countless hours wishing things would
" just work. "
A key to making your office just
work, is a cloud-based hosted solution, which takes the bedrock of your
tech stack, and, instead of being
something you have to spend your
time worrying about, focusing on,
updating, and supporting, all those
features are handled by a third party
whose one and only job is to make
sure things just work!
The concept behind hosting is
to take the IT department, project,
updates, challenges, maintenance,
and variable cost structure and
leverage the knowledge of a thirdparty company to focus on those
key areas. In essence you subscribe
to the level and volume of IT support
and bandwidth you need instead of
making large capital outlays. Like
any good subscription service, a key

benefit is that you can drastically
increase your speed and volume with
a single phone call, say when busy
season starts, and then reduce that
same bandwidth once the workload
settles down in the summer, helping
your organization save costs and
providing more resources when you
truly need them.
The concept of a hosted desktop,
server, or application is simple.
Instead of installing an application
on your own desktop, the application
is installed on the hosting company
servers. Your business is then
provided with online access to your
resources, making them accessible
from virtually any device anywhere,
with the same functionality you had
when everything sat within the four
walls of your office.
Key Point: While moving to

CETROM

NOVEMBER 2020 ■

stack made this conversion easy. For others, each day

ABACUS PRIVATE CLOUD

CLOUDVARA

RIGHT NETWORKS

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RATI

how to work virtually or remotely, and, for some, their tech

ALL

remote in 2020, everyone has had to figure out overnight

OV E R

on. As we all are dealing with the near universal push to

20 20

hardware, software, servers, user profiles, backups and so

minimize frustrating errors and
miscommunications down the line
when an issue arises.
■ As with tax returns, there will
always be a cheaper solution. Focus
on vendors who understand the
accounting vertical, our software,
and business challenges.
■ Ask about their credentials. While
credentials alone will not guarantee
that they are immune from making
errors, it does point towards their
willingness to stay current with the
latest changes in technology.
In this issue of CPA Practice Advisor, we've reviewed four product
hosting providers. The products
vary, with basic QuickBooks hosting
offered in some, to custom server
and data migration services offered
in others. The products included in
this review are:
■ AbacusNext Private Cloud
■ Cetrom CPA Cloud
■ Cloudvara
■ Right Networks
If you're tired of trying to manage all of your technology solutions
in-house and require your team to
be able to work securely anywhere
anytime, stop the frustration, join
the modern era and host your IT
bedrock/infrastructure with one of
these third parties and say goodbye
to frustration. ■

Mult
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Appl unting
ica t i
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Supp
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em U l t iple
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tions IT infrastructure, which is made up of your physical

Mob
i
Capale
bilit y

successful. The bedrock of any tech stack is the organiza-

Mult
i
Cen t ple Da t a
ers

technology solutions an organization uses/leverages to be

Secu
Op t i ri t y
ons

" tech stack " for short, which just means a list of all the

a hosted provider is a vital move
to make in 2020, you still need to
research each service provider given
how complicated and evolving this
field in. A key tip is to consider a
national vendor who focuses solely
on accounting firms. I understand
the value of this approach; while our
software needs are far from cutting
edge, our software a hyper specific
and the issues, while frustrating at
times, are easily fixed by people who
are used to dealing with them. Too
often I hear horror stories of local
IT companies taking days to fix and
issue with a specific tax software,
which should take 5 minutes, simply
because the company is not familiar
with that software.
Once you are ready to move forward with a hosted provider, here are
five tips for firm owners to consider
according to Joseph E. Brunsman of
CLP Brokers:
■ Much like the engagement letter
your firm offers to clients, request a
written description of what services
are being offered, and what services
are not being offered by the service
provider.
■ With ransomware being a massive
threat to every business, investigate
the backup solution that your
service provider is offering.
■ Look for a service provider that
is able to explain topics in a way
you can understand. This should

High
GuarUptime
ante
e

A COMMON TERM used in 2020 is " technology stack " or

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