Recently I attended a seminar held by Proactive Accountants Network entitled ‘Capitalising on the Cloud’. The seminar had five aims:
1. Dispel the myths – what cloud is and why you need to embrace it
2. If you’re new to cloud – get you started and ‘un-confuse’ you
3. If you’re ‘into’ it – take you to the next level
4. Challenge, disturb and inspire you!
5. Introduce you to tools, systems, process and support to help you implement and capitalise.
The seminar reaffirmed our views on the cloud but also challenged us on ways to utilise it. Technology is pushing new boundaries for the local accountant. Traditionally our industry has relied on physical records, heavy data, and physical technology within the office, however, the cloud has introduced the use of light data allowing us to become global accountants. To prove how much technology will affect the way the world and business will interact the video below was shown at the seminar to highlight a project developed by IBM called ‘Watson’, a super computer that can think like a human.
As you can see the rapid development of technology will affect the way we all do business, there are powerful cloud tools that are readily available for us to harness.
But is your data safe in the cloud? The answer is yes! The cloud has very high data security levels, the same as those used by your bank. If you trust internet banking you can trust the cloud.
We use the cloud everyday checking emails, online banking, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the list goes on and on. The cloud is innovative, safe and effective. It has proven that utilising the strengths of the cloud has the potential to help grow and develop your business locally and if necessary globally. The safety procedures and systems implemented in the cloud are just another reassurance that it is the future of accounting and business in general. The digital business revolution of the cloud is already here, when will you capitalise on the cloud?
By utilising cloud services in our firm it has greatly improved the systems and procedures in our office. If you are looking to move your business to the cloud and start using cloud based software such as Xero, do not hesitate to contact us to help you get there.