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The Practitioner's IT Survival Guide

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9th Apr 2005
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Followers of the Practitioner's Diary will have shared his anguish over the last few weeks as he tried, with varying degrees of success, to introduce new IT systems.

We asked our West Country practitioner to share some tips on how to survive IT in a busy accountancy practice, without losing either your clients or your sanity!

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1. Always remember that if anything can go wrong, it will - probably several times too.

2. However many days you are quoted for the job, expect it to take that many weeks before it's right!

3. Grow your own in-house IT expert. Buying in outside help is expensive, and frustrating when you need a quick fix. Appoint an IT manager - they will generate fees from added-value client services too, so this needn't just be an overhead. Then get them trained up on Novell, Windows NT, SQL or whatever you are buying.

4. Don't expect any bought-in expert to be able to understand your system very quickly - there are just too many permutations for anyone to have seen them all before!

5. At least 10% of new hardware will be dead on arrival or fail shortly afterwards. Let the stuff settle down before you commit anything important - such as your business - to it.

6. A "best of breed" solution, where you select your own mix of accounts preparation, tax and practice management, etc applications, is viable, but requires a lot of commitment and patience. As soon as one supplier finds a snag you can expect them to blame everyone else!

7. Security, particularly reliable backup and anti-virus software, is vital. Backup needs to be automated and tested weekly - restore a test directory. Many backups turn out to be useless just when they're needed because noone checked that the system was working! Anti-virus checking should be centrally managed and automated too so that nothing can slip through.

8. When seeking quotes for hardware and software, set out detailed, itemised requirements in writing and insist that suppliers respond in similar detail. Make sure you tell every supplier what all the others are supplying so that conflicts and compatability issues can be dealt with at the planning stage. If any spec changes, repeat the process - better to be safe than sorry.

9. Don't be a pioneer. An accountancy practice is not the place to test out the latest Microsoft operating system, so leave new releases of Windows and Office to techno-masochists and stick to products that have been available for a year or so. Once Service Release 2 arrives there is some chance of a Microsoft product is somewhere near being stable.

10. Unfortunately, in the end you just have to go for it. If you try to upgrade gradually, or upgrade hardware and software at different times you are likely to run into compatibility and obsolescence problems. Trying to run Office 2000 Professional on an old Pentium 100 is going to end in tears! Be thankful for the current 100% First Year Allowances on IT expenditure.

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We are sure this isn't an exhaustive list. Feel free to add your tips and suggestions below.

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By Accounting WEB
09th Sep 2001 19:08

An IT Placement Student Can Help Firms Plan & Implement Systems
If your firm is in or around London, a City University IT student could provide technical help and an extra pair of hands. We have students looking for IT work alongside their studies.
If you'd like to know more, or offer a placement, please email me [email protected]
Ginny Williams, MBCS, FCCA.
Professional Liaison Director
School of Informatics
City University.

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By AnonymousUser
07th Jun 2001 11:08

Independent Consultancy
I read with interest the comments regarding appointing independent consultants. This was the very reason Nexus Technology Consultants Ltd was formed. The directors have all worked in practice as IT manager or Network administrator. We have experience with the full range of IT problems within a practice – plus their solutions. If you need further information please visit our website ).

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By neileg
09th Apr 2001 16:44

A couple more...
11. Don't under budget. If you can't afford to do the job properly, don't do it at all. An unreliable, or underperforming system will soak up hundreds of otherwise billable hours.

12. Notwithstanding point 3, if you can find a truly good, independant consultant, grab him/her. An objective view of your IT proposals/problems can be worth its weight in Pentium chips. Get someone from your firm to work with them. This person will become your in house expert (who will then hold you to ransom!)

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