CPA Practice Advisor - 4

FROM THE TRENCHES

DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR
RANDY JOHNSTON

EVP & Partner
K2 Enterprises &
CEO of Network Management Group, Inc.
randy.johnston@cpapracticeadvisor.com
@RPJohnston

TECHNOLOGY VISION?
ALTHOUGH THIS PUBLICATION does not mandate a theme for my columns, if you look back,
you'll note that year-by-year there has been a focus on important current technologies
for accounting professionals. While the topics have included emerging technologies, and
routine product offerings like practice management, document management or accounting
software, this year of "2020 vision" requires refined thinking and a clear technology vision.
Consultants to the profession,
as well as some vendors, are more
concerned about your choice of their
vision rather than one that fits your
clients well. Enjoying a little bit of
decompression time over the holidays
has rejuvenated enthusiasm for
technologies for you and your firm.
In 2020, you can expect coverage of
client advisory services (CAS) in some
depth as well as coverage of improved
automation in compliance services.
While these columns never stray far
from the premise that the technology must be ready to implement,
this year should provide a clearer,
simpler strategy so you can work your
own vision. With that in mind, the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this

FEBRUARY 2020 ■

year delivered the most impressive
wave of hardware technologies in
some time. Let's look at the best of
the best for accounting professionals.

SO, WHAT SHOULD WE
EXPECT IN 2020?
Most impressive at CES this year was
hardware for real world problems.
We'll discuss each of them, but I
was impressed by new generation
laptops, monitors (including a
second portable monitor), scanners,
keyboards and mice. While 5G cell
phones and WiFi6e technologies
were impressive, they are not
covered in this article.
Let's start with Lenovo, which had
multiple laptops for demonstration.

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Particularly useful to accountants
was the Lenovo 13" folding PC known
as the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which starts
at $2,500, available in the second half
of 2020. Intel has been showing some
prototypes like this unit with 15"-17"
folding screens. There was extensive
engineering by Lenovo using carbon
fiber and special hinges to keep the
screen from breaking or creasing.
The Fold can be used partially
folded, like a laptop, and a touchscreen keyboard is available, so the
detached keyboard becomes optional.
The Fold has a case built
around it for protection,
and the size and weight
when folded is smaller
and lighter than an

iPad Mini with a Zagg Keyboard. The
Fold allows operations across the fold,
too. The product comes with a stylus
that retracts when folded and is
exposed when the screen is flat. If you
are looking for impressive technology
to use with a client, this is it!
For 2020 laptops, the newest
Intel Core 10nm+ mobile processors
code-named "Tiger Lake" include
optimizations spanning the CPU,
AI accelerators and discrete-level
integrated graphics based on the
new Intel Xe graphics architecture.
Tiger Lake will deliver double-digit
performance gains, AI performance
improvements, a jump in graphics
performance along with 4X the
throughput of USB 3 with the new
integrated Thunderbolt 4. During
CES, Intel Vice President Lisa Pearce
provided insight into the progress
on the new Intel Xe graphics architecture, which will provide huge
performance gains in Tiger Lake, and
she previewed Intel's first Xe-based
discrete GPU, code-named
"DG1." Intel also covered
the Project Athena laptop initiative which
included 25 designs
rolled out in 2019,
and Intel expects
partners to roll
out 50 new
desig ns i n

ThinkPad X1 Fold at CES 2020

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CPA Practice Advisor

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