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<b>IT Healthcheck with Simon Hurst</b> ' Where does IT hurt?

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24th Feb 2006
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IT Zone's groundbreaking healthcheck project is underway. Many thanks to all of you who were brave enough to offer to bare your technology souls in front of AccountingWEB's worldwide audience. Dorking-based Cooksey, Perry & Co will be the first victim.

Simon Hurst has been in touch with Chris Cooksey to set an appointment for the initial consultation and to get an understanding of Chris's IT ailments.

Like a lot of practitioners, Chris has been wrestling with IT for many years: 'My first PC was a Sanyo 8086, bought in 1985, with Sage, Wordstar and Calcstar. IT in those days was awful! I then started to use Lotus 1-2-3 to produce accounts. Lotus served me well until I returned to sole practice in the mid 1990s and took on the PTP tax product. I carried on using Lotus for accounts for a few more years until I bought IRIS Accounts and Tax in 2000.'

In spite of admitting to some IT frustrations ' although 'less than there used to be', Chris has already achieved a lot through his use of IT. He has one in-house employee and two ad hoc sub-contractors who work remotely but are able to exchange accounts and other information with him via email. Using his laptop computer he can effectively take his office to his clients ' even those as far away as Norwich. He is able to run his real office without having to employ any dedicated administration staff, but does sometimes think that 'there's a lot I do that someone else could do instead'. His partner, Jackie, even operates a small bureau payroll service for several of the firm's clients.

In the past, most of Chris's IT 'support' has come from friends, colleagues and the IT company that looks after his network, and apart from some initial training on IRIS, he has picked up most of his IT expertise as he's gone along. Chris is clear about what he would like the IT healthcheck to achieve:

'I hope to find out what sort of IT level I'm at ' am I average, or below or above average where IT is concerned? Of course I'd also like to know whether there are things that better use of IT could help me do more quickly and more easily." Space is at a premium, so Cooksey would love to go paperless and also feels that he and his team could be getting more mileage out of Microsoft Word and Excel.

Once he completes the first IT health check, Hurst will select another firm for an efficiency-giving once over.

It promises to be a fascinating exercise. 'Nurse, the screens!'

IT Healthcheck - Cooksey Perry & Co, 2006

  • Initial consultation - 24 March
  • Return to Cooksey Perry & Co - 24 May
  • Last time for Excel system - 30 Aug
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