As one of the world’s oldest professions, accountants have existed for as long as trade and business has existed. Accounting, defined as the system of recording a business’ financial transactions, has allowed even the most ancient of civilizations to keep records of their financial dealings and affairs.
In today’s fast-paced world, rapid technological advances have pushed accounting to shift from the background to the foreground of important business decisions. Innovations such as accounting software (EG: Quickbooks online) that’s purely deployed online is an amazing advancement for companies to be able to keep track of their spending anytime, anywhere. With effortless data acquisition, improved productivity and organization, and effective and efficient financial analysis, accounting has come a long way from physical balance sheets and manual bookkeeping. Cloud accounting software has paved the way for a technological revolution in the accounting industry - making the experience seamless and hassle-free.
The shift in the fundamental role of accounting as a profession - and its changing role within a business - now requires a different skill set and an intermediate technological know-how. Nowadays, streamlining accounting processes have become a little bit more complicated especially for people that aren’t exactly tech-savvy.
That’s where IT services for accounting come in.
More and more businesses are taking advantage of managed IT service providers to assist with their day-to-day operations. It doesn’t matter if it’s a purely IT-related issue or a problem with accounting software, related IT services for accounting firms provide reliable, affordable, and timely solutions to a business’ IT needs.
Let’s take a look at how IT services for accounting works and how it can help your firm.
Keeps you up-to-date in the latest accounting software and hardware advancements
When a company grows, software and hardware requirements grow along with it. The rapid rate with which software and hardware advance may be difficult to keep up with especially if you’re running a business and taking care of your own clients. However, with the right IT services for accounting, companies will be able to scale the level of support that it needs in order to keep up with other advancements in the accounting field.
“The great thing about managed IT services is how customizable it can be,” says Emil Isanov, CEO of managed IT services provider ETech 7. “The best way to get your money’s worth is to determine what your company needs and clearly communicate those needs with your prospective managed IT service provider. From free accounting software to premium services like Quickbooks, your managed IT services provider should be able to accommodate any and all of your company’s tech needs.”
IT support for accounting may help control and reduce costs
RecruiterBox has posted an article about how the cost of hiring a new employee could cost a business as high as $5000 or more. With managed IT services, interviewing, hiring, and training new IT hires may now be a thing of the past. This is because managed IT services offer fixed-value contracts that are usually billed on a monthly basis. This means that companies will be able to design their own service package and pay for said services accordingly.
“It is important to note that one of the biggest expenses for any type of company, for any type of industry, is manpower. With managed IT services, your company will have access to a dedicated team of IT experts often at a lower cost than a single IT employee,” says Isanov. “For instance, when a disaster occurs and it results to downtime for your business, a single IT employee could take days (or sometimes even weeks) to fix the issue but with managed IT services, a readily available team will be able to cater to your needs and will be able to keep your business running with backup and disaster recovery plans. In redirecting resources, accounting firms can expect predictable IT expenses and can focus on growing its client base rather than worrying about IT issues.”
IT services for accounting bolsters your accounting firm’s data security measures
Equifax - a consumer credit reporting agency - has reported a breach that lasted from mid-May 2017 through July 2017. Hackers have accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses as well as stole credit card numbers. A year later, the US General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report confirming that a single Internet-facing web server with out-of-date software led to the breach. But what does this have to do with you?
Accounting firms quite possibly handle more sensitive information than an average company since it basically deals with financial information - which is why it makes sense to look into IT support for accounting firms. “When working with managed IT service providers, it is important to ask what types of safety and security measures they can offer. Often, IT service providers offer various types of security measures that intertwine with one another to provide a sort of layering. For instance, layer A is in place to ensure that your basic security needs are covered while layer B is in place to cover anything that layer A might have missed,” says Isanov.
While the points listed above may serve as a starting point for firms to consider IT services for accounting, it still depends on how a prospective IT support for accounting meets the needs of your organization. Hiring a managed IT services provider has its pros and cons and having a bit of know-how will help you form an informed decision.
About ETech 7
ETech 7 is a managed IT services company dedicated to providing superior quality service to a wide range of businesses. Leveraging state of the art software and world class service, ETech 7 strives to deliver affordable and reliable solutions for your company’s IT needs. For more information, visit www.etech7.com.
