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Web 2.0 & Practice 2.0 – Bayoneting the wounded. By Simon Hurst

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7th Jun 2007
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It looked like a relatively simple and innocent question but my recent article asking how far Web 2.0 could go towards providing a complete solution for a new accountancy practice has so far generated 56 comments; one or two of which actually sought to address the question asked.

A few of the issues raised have been very specific and may best be resolved directly between the parties involved, but overall, the debate has highlighted a range of important issues concerning accountants, their future and their relationship with technology.

Let's deal with the original question first. Unsurprisingly, opinions were deeply divided on how complete any Web 2.0 or software as a service (SaaS) solution could currently be. Given some of the less than clear posturing that had preceded his contribution, Chris Jolly gave a refreshingly direct response: "Can you find all the day-to-day software on-line for someone starting an accounting practice? The answer is simple - no, you can't..."

He went on to add: "Yes, SalesForce et al are making SaaS [software as a service] a reality in certain high volume segments. No, this does not mean all the every day software for accountants will be on the web any day soon." Provoked into a response, Dennis Howlett countered by quoting two recent surveys that had shown 35-40% of professional accountants said they were seriously looking at on-demand/saas solutions. "Today, you could do 80-90% right now if you really want to," Howlett reckoned.

He then admitted, "The one black hole is tax calculation but I expect that to stay as it is for some years to come."

Twinfield's David Terrar contributed some specific product suggestions: "For online accounts preparation there is a good choice. Whether it is Twinfield, Liberty Accounts, Winweb, Accounts IQ, Marginz - all of these have the significant advantages of the SaaS [model] and allow the practice to communicate and collaborate with their clients in a different way." He also considered the issue of a practice's web presence, suggesting that it should incorporate a blog and recommending WordPress or Blogger for a simple, free solutions and SiteKreator for a more comprehensive site with integral blog and forum tools. Many other options are available.

Terrar also highlighted Nigel Harris's Online accounting services buyer's guide to which John Stokdyk added Nigel's other guides on accounting software for a start-up business and online back-up.

Jason Holden gave a considered response based on the experiences of his own practice. He saw SaaS the way forward in part: "The main part is the part that benefits your clients, use hosted accounting software for the benefits it brings to all, have a part of your website that is secure for clients to log in and go to their folder where you may have copies of past accounts, tax returns and anything else that they may find of use." Holden also pointed out the usefulness of offsite backup as an addition to normal backup procedures, but felt that tax, payroll and accounts production – together with Excel and Word – would stay sitting on the local desktop.

Nichola Ross Martin asked about the privacy of data held online and what would happen if the hosting company went bust. Several contributors acknowledged the importance of the issue. Terrar pointed out that for some organisations, security and privacy issues don't just apply to data held online: "A decent SaaS service will have the security, data storage and recovery approach covered much better than the majority of SMEs who are often at risk because they don't have backups in a fire proof safe, or off-site, and maybe haven't tested out if their recovery would actually work in practice."

So much for the actual question. The debate also featured some useful – and some not so useful – explorations of related matters.

The first comment on the article came from Dennis Howlett who protested that he wouldn't be drawn into a full response but believed that "99% of professionals have no clue about the train wreck they're on right now."

The bell of impending doom also tolled for Neil Wilson who wondered how long before clients were able to dispense with that expensive luxury – their accountant. "The question is not whether you're running your client's accounting system on your servers, it is whether your client is running your account production system on their servers, while hiring some willing third party data entry clerk to punch the numbers in and press Send".

On the same subject, Martin Foley made a very good point in his comment entitled 'It's all about timing….' suggesting that, whilst we're all doomed in the end, the timing might not be as imminent as some others suggested. After quoting Bill Gates's "spam would be dead inside three years" comment, he added, "I would have predicted 10 years ago that any accountancy practice (however small and however unambitious) that relied for its bread and butter [on] the 'service' of producing accounts and tax compliance would be long dead within the decade. Seems I was wrong on that..."

Underlying many of the responses was resentment at some of the jargon and insider comments that permeated some contributions. Arnold Smith felt the thread had "gone a bit too techy" and, interested as he was in making the best use of IT, he thought that he wouldn't "find any help here".

Richard Murphy's response was "If this is too techy for you then you're in trouble", causing Arnold to staunchly defend his position and re-assess his original posting: "Perhaps these comments are not too techy; perhaps they are just jargon-laden and badly written, designed to impress rather than inform."

If there is a lesson to be learnt from the entire exchange it is that taking a little more effort to explain terms that might be unfamiliar to the audience would be to the great benefit of all concerned.

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By david_terrar
08th Jun 2007 15:13

Thanks and Twinfield
Simon,
I'm really please you've picked up the various constructive threads and repositioned your article. Thanks for the mentions. Just one thing, a slip of your keyboard, start of para 6 - they haven't actually named the company after my surname (yet).

Hope you enjoyed London Wiki Wednesday this week.
Regards,
David Terrar
Business Two Zero

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Simon Hurst
By Simon Hurst
09th Jun 2007 08:36

Is 58 a record
No, I think you'll find that's a 78.....

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Simon Hurst
By Simon Hurst
08th Jun 2007 15:27

Sorry and corrected
Thanks David - error corrected

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By david_terrar
08th Jun 2007 21:12

Is 58 a record?
Simon - thanks! By the ways I've responded to Neil Wilson's last comment over at the other article. I'm very interested to see if he answers my questions or responds.

Is 58 comments a record?
David Terrar
Business Two Zero

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