QuickBooks is software for the accounting and bookkeeping processes of the business. Several CPA firms, accounting businesses, and individual accountants use this software to process accounts and books on a daily basis. However, desktop-based QuickBooks restrict the ability to work remotely.
When we use QuickBooks hosting provider (or the cloud) for this software, it improves your ability to process data in a flexible, scalable, and secure manner.
But why you should use the cloud?
The popularity of cloud services is increasing, and businesses across the globe are adopting more SaaS-based products.
In a report released by CISCO, it was predicted that 94% of the workloads in the industry would be handled by cloud servers. From this, 75% would be SaaS processes and hosting.
Do you need improved features and high productivity for your QuickBooks Desktop?
Why Do You Need A QuickBooks Hosting Provider?
Businesses can achieve paramount success with the right technological advancements and tools. QuickBooks hosting is one such tool empowering you to improve productivity and operational efficiency.
We have mentioned below 7 reasons why you need a QuickBooks hosting provider:
1. Cost-Effectiveness
Being a business owner, you are always required to optimize costs and reduce unnecessary expenses of the business for higher profitability and revenue. QuickBooks hosting providers help you with this by reducing your hardware needs, upgrades, and maintenance requirements.
2. Productivity
QuickBooks hosting providers deploy your application on the cloud, which gives better communication and data accessing power to your employees. As a result, the productivity of your business improves.
3. Flexibility
QuickBooks hosting providers help you access your software remotely. Your employees can use the portal offered by the provider or a browser to sign in to the cloud network. This provides work and data access flexibility.
4. Security
With several cyber incidents happening every day, even in big corporations, it is best to think about cybersecurity. The QuickBooks hosting provider ensures security measures, like multi-factor authentication, access control, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, etc. You are able to secure access to your cloud data without working on security measures.
5. Scalability
QuickBooks hosting provider helps you scale and descale your resources whenever necessary. You are able to improve storage on demand and reduce it when not in use. This ensures cost optimization as well.
6. Uptime
With the deployment of multiple servers and data centers, the cloud is able to offer 99.999% uptime approximately. This is like never experiencing a processing lag. Your team is able to access resources and applications without challenges.
7. Backup
With the help of the server redundancy used in cloud servers, your QuickBooks hosting provider is able to offer you redundant backup. These data files are redundantly stored in servers to offer retrieval even in case of disaster.
How To Select the Right QuickBooks Hosting Provider?
How can you select the right provider that helps you receive the above benefits?
A list of questions that you can ask your provider to evaluate their services.
Have You Created A Special Service Offering For Accountants?
You are looking for a QuickBooks hosting provider, and this seems like an unwanted question. However, not all hosting solutions are designed for CPA firms and accountants. The reason why it is important is that hosting provided for accounting has relevant technology features needed for your business.
Therefore, check the website of the QuickBooks hosting provider to understand their offerings and accounting-specific solutions.
How Will Your Service Support The Growth Of My Business?
As an accounting business, you may need support from the QuickBooks hosting provider during the tax season, when you acquire a new client or change your subscription. You should communicate with the provider to understand the services they would offer on-demand without delay during the tax season. This is important because it is your time to grab opportunities and improve revenue. Low performance and inability to scale at this time can severely hamper your services and promises to your customers.
What Is Your Security Structure?
We have already discussed the importance of cloud security. However, just knowing the security capabilities of the cloud doesn’t guarantee its implementation. Hence, when selecting a QuickBooks hosting provider, you should keep in mind the security structure.
Important features to evaluate are:
- Multi-factor authentication
- Software firewalls
- Regular monitoring
- Intrusion Detection and Prevention
- DDoS protection
- Physical server security
- Data encryption
What Is The Uptime Offered?
We have discussed that the QuickBooks hosting provider can offer you 99.999% uptime for your QuickBooks desktop software. However, that is always the upper limit and every provider may have a different promised uptime. If you are selecting anything that is above 95%, then you may not face challenges with downtime. The best-case scenario is still receiving 99.999% uptime, which will impact your productivity positively.
What Is Your Pricing Model?
In services, you can easily find hidden charges. This is not to say that every QuickBooks hosting provider will have hidden charges, but you need to check just to be certain. For this reason, ask for the following:
- An itemized review of the pricing. This should include a bifurcation of the costs for services.
- Overview of the services and features offered, so that you can cross-check.
Knowing these factors will allow you to understand the pricing model. Further, you can compare it with other providers to find an optimum deal for your business.
Are You an Authorized Provider Supported by Intuit?
The parent company of QuickBooks, Intuit, has endorsed many hosting providers for these services. If you partner with one, you are expected to receive better services and performance. Find out if your QuickBooks hosting provider is authorized by Intuit.
How Much Time Do I Need To Get Started?
You should know how much time the cloud provider needs to deploy your software on the cloud. Find out the approximate or exact time for this process to prepare your business for the same. There may some disruption during this time, so it is best to stay prepared for the same.
Conclusion
QuickBooks hosting provider helps you streamline your business workflows, reduce the complexity of various processes, and improve your productivity. There’s no reason you should avoid using hosting in the digital age. Cloud hosting helps you align your goals and achieve success in less time. Find out how you can select the right QuickBooks hosting provider, conduct thorough research, and host your software on the cloud.