You might also be interested in
Replies (12)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
Balance
Interesting article and some balanced comments, thank you.
I've had a few start-up clients recently who've not wanted to fork out the expense for Sage so are tempted by say £10pm for online accounts software, then they realise that's £360 over 3 years.
They then turn to VT !
As with all things, a balanced and overall view is required. I do dind the whole vague 'cloud' tag a bit confusing, especially when articles include social media as part of the cloud.
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meeting All's Expectations
I built my own Linux practice cloud based NAS system expandable to 16TB. No security worries either. Can download client's files anywhere in the world or file share,with wi-fi access. Obviously I've got mixed feelings about that when on holiday- you can end up working without thinking, but the pros outweigh the cons here. For good measure, with disaster recovery uppermost in my mind etc, I added to the system the very misunderstood Seagate 3TB NAS Go Flex drive product, great for streaming video course material etc. This product is a great entry level for small practices looking to get involved with cloud accounting that they can trust and indeed monitor access too. It beats, Dropbox, Google Drive etc hands down. Once that is full I'll just copy what I need over to the Linux NAS. The only problem has been the number of apps out there on the market available to clients and compatibility issues especially with iphones and other Apple products. Android wins every time as far as I'm concerned here. A lot of this is client driven. Most of them look for problems which don't exist with apps it all seems too good to be true doing your books on the hoof, scanning documents etc. As an Accountant all I see is opportunity and better book-keeping compliance. It also works very well with old fashioned email attachments excel spreadsheets etc. A win-win.
For me
all the "high tec" stuff gets changed too quick. I don't like cloud nor do I think it will be the future. Most humans are not capable of handling this much tec in such a short space of time. So let's consolidate for a few years, iron out the bugs else we will have a society of high teccies and low teccies with no middle ground - not good.
High-tech fashion
all the "high tec" stuff gets changed too quick. I don't like cloud nor do I think it will be the future. Most humans are not capable of handling this much tec in such a short space of time. So let's consolidate for a few years, iron out the bugs else we will have a society of high teccies and low teccies with no middle ground - not good.
I feel the same about computers.
@chatman
How long has it taken most of us to be fairly comfortable with them? HMRC have only just started using e-mails. Suddenly we have this all singing and all dancing technology and what happens, nude photos get nicked. Does put it in a bit of perspective.
I wouldn't have
minded so much if they hadn't sent them back to me with a note saying the photos might have degraded their "cloud cred".
Good read!
Great article John, thanks for writing it. I enjoyed reading this!
Paul Lancaster
Sage One UK & Ireland
http://uk.sageone.com/blog/
Good points
Great article we use google hangouts, webex, gotomeeting, google drive. All very good ways of communicating effecively internally and externally.
More than just online bookkeeping
Great read and some brilliant titles! Generation X Efficiency Ninjas indeed.. True though, so much emphasis is placed on cloud based book keeping, but the facts are you can now use standard products and apps like office 365, cloud CRM systems and document portals to access all the documents you need wherever you are. The best side benefit is I can magnify the view and not have to scrabble about for a pair of mislaid reading glasses.
Shellshock
Albasas - you might want to review that comment about "no security worries" with your Linux-based NAS drive in the light of the revelations about the "shellshock" vulnerability. I suggest anyone using a remotely-accessible NAS device checks with the manufacturer to see if there is a problem or not. If there is any doubt I would turn off remote access at least for now as I gather hackers are actively scanning for this flaw.
In any case you would need to keep the NAS unit's o/s up to date as there are other security vulnerabilities on many of these units (eg Synology) that have come to light in recent months . Anyone using these units , especially when opened up directly for remote access, needs to keep a watch out for relevant security vulnerabilities or they will get hacked.