Along with the rapid growth of Hosted QuickBooks services there is also the related question as to how relevant and effective these cloud computing services are as compared to a traditional local IT infrastructure. It is obvious that unless the advantage is more pronounced, no business will go for application hosting services provided by a third party; especially considering the fact that organizations are always apprehensive about letting other people handle their data and applications. So keeping these contexts in mind, let us analyze some of the, by now familiar and still evolving, features associated with hosted services provided by a QuickBooks Application Service Provider.
QuickBooks Hosting services ensure fully secure data
QuickBooks applications are typically hosted on the service providers terminal servers which are among the most reliable out there in the market. They provide for a fast connection as well as the bandwidth requirement is comparatively low on the users end. As far as security is concerned, service providers provide always-on IT Helpdesk support that takes care of real-time monitoring and troubleshooting of online security threats. The IT helpdesk can be reached via phone, email, chat and works 24*7. Moreover, the data is stored at Tier IV data centers with multiple backups done on a regular basis.
Access to the hosted services is password protected, which insures that only authorized people can have access to them. It effectively eliminates the chances of data theft and damage.
Mobility provided by anywhere anytime accessibility
Terminal server hosting basically implies that users get access to the applications and data residing on terminal servers via the Internet. There being no obligation on the part of the user, as far his location is concerned, he can make better use of his time and resources. The mobility factor is also crucial when one observes the current trend of companies of having a mobile workforce, especially the sales and marketing people. Anywhere anytime functionality helps these people to carry out their tasks efficiently while delivering a great deal of transparency.
QuickBooks Add-on features
Integrating QuickBooks applications and add-ons is found to be simpler when they are hosted on the same terminal servers. The incorporation of the add-ons features is also more cost effective compared to a traditional local installation.
Hosted QuickBooks are compatible with all the latest in-demand QuickBooks add-ons that are available in the market and so the users of hosted applications are assured of the best services in this category.
Multi-user functionality
In a hosted environment multiple users can log in and get access to the same QuickBooks files simultaneously. There can work on the files individually and print and save them locally. This saves a great deal of infrastructure cost as there is no need to install the same application separately on each users local desktop. Also, hosting QuickBooks provides organizations the option of determining the type of files a particular user can access
Real-time multi-user collaboration for improved productivity
Real-time collaboration is another major advantage associated with Hosted QuickBooks. This functionality allows users to share information and data with one another in real time. Services providers further can, on demand from business organizations, determine who gets to access whose files. These factors help various entities using QuickBooks services like CPAs, who usually work in a group. The real-time collaboration helps the CPAs to check and make changes to the files complied by bookkeepers. This thus leads to enhanced transparency and also saves a great deal of time as well as there is no need for both the parties to be physically close.
William smith is IT analyst at Real Time Data Services. The company is major QuickBooks application service provider with specialization in accounting, tax and CRM application hosting. The company is the largest Hosted QuickBooks service provider in the cloud environment. Peachtree, MyOb and ACT! CRM are also hosted by the company in the cloud environment.
