Accountants work from various locations, such as the office, home, or a client’s site. They need flexible tools and the right technology to stay productive working remotely. Hosted desktop solutions help create a smooth and uninterrupted remote work experience.
Hosted desktops are a cloud solution that can transform your work by giving you remote access to your desktop via any device. The best part is that you can work faster anytime, anywhere with hosted desktops for accountants.
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From artificial intelligence to cloud-hosted desktops, technology has come a long way. Undoubtedly, the accounting industry has also welcomed these innovations. According to a survey, 67% of CPAs and tax professionals prefer cloud accounting as it reduces front-end costs by up to 50 percent.
This blog will explore some common challenges accounting firms face and how cloud-hosted desktops provide effective solutions.
1. Vulnerable Endpoints
For CPAs, keeping the firm’s financial statements secure is always a priority. Accountants’ desktops host a plethora of sensitive financial information. These endpoint devices are prone to cybersecurity breaches. Hence, depending on such vulnerable endpoints can be a misstep or mistake.
No firm would want to countenance any security breaches of its data. In a world of proliferating cyber threats, staying prepared to fend off the inevitable cyberattack is better.
That’s why accountants should opt for cloud desktop solutions. You can store the company data in the cloud with guaranteed security and privacy.
Also, the security protocols of hosted desktops, such as on-demand multi-factor authentication, Minimum Recovery Time Objective (RTO), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), endpoint firewall, and more, prevent data from falling into the wrong hands.
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2. Potential Loss of Sensitive Information
Accountants would want their clients’ financial data to be regularly backed up to prevent data loss. Cloud backup is the best solution for tax preparation and other documentation, as it is a foolproof measure to guard against any calamity.
This backup feature ensures that you won’t lose any data, as it is regularly backed up and stored in multiple separate data centers located in different areas.
3. Collaboration Challenges
Remember the time when accountants were only responsible for making entries and performing other core accounting activities? Now, they have to perform various other tasks, from extracting data insights to suggesting plans for the future.
The rise of hosted desktops has made the life of accounting professionals way easier. Real-time collaboration through cloud-hosted desktops helps CPAs restructure their internal and external communications. They get optimal collaboration as multiple users can work within the same network. Moreover, real-time data sharing facilitates collaboration among team members and clients.
4. Management of Customer Relationships
Hosting a desktop on the cloud helps accountants manage client communications. Delivering the data on any device, even outside business hours, benefits both accounting firms and clients.
Mobile devices are rapidly becoming more omnipresent than laptops. Thus, multi-device access on smartphones and tablets ensures that the work is done without lag. It makes it more convenient for clients as accounting professionals usually operate remotely.
Once CPAs adopt or implement cloud-based desktop technology, they can connect with clients and share files even from their home offices. CPAs can access tax information, examine and approve tax returns, and share files with clients securely. The advantage of accessing data anytime and anywhere can be achieved with cloud-hosted desktops for accountants while working from remote locations.
5. Flexibility
Flexible work gives a boost to your business. Using cloud-hosted desktops gives accountants access to data and applications from any location. Whether you are working in your client’s place or your own office, you can work seamlessly.
Hosting on the cloud offers flexibility to users who want to maintain a work-life balance. Additionally, you don’t have to wait for the following day to catch up on any invoice entries or updates, as you have everything on your device.
6. High Cost of Scaling Resources
While you need to scale up or down resources, it’s pretty easy with cloud-hosted desktops. You can get it done from the service provider. This means that you don’t need an in-house IT team to configure the server whenever you hire freelancers or remote workers.
With a few clicks, the providers will meet your scaling needs. This helps you save money as you only pay for what you use. With the expanding business, you can alter the resources and not worry about updating the hardware.
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7. Lack Of User Experience
A CPA firm can’t survive even minutes of downtime when its primary task is to create contemporary advisory services and manage client engagement profitability. Accountants work on heavy files and financial tasks; therefore, performance can’t be an excuse for lowered productivity. Hosted desktops offer you dedicated storage and vCPUs to ensure you can work on complex applications.
For instance, you can get 4 vCPU and 8GB of RAM with 50 GB of storage to work on large data sets. Moreover, you can get a few required applications integrated into your virtual desktops, such as QuickBooks or Marg ERP 9+, to work with ease.
So, as an accountant, you won’t have to worry about performance and productivity issues. You can get a personalized experience and work on any accounting-related application of your choice without any performance lags.
Suggested Reading: Remote Working: Should Your Accounting Firm Still Have An Office?
8. Compliance
Accountants manage sensitive clients’ data like salaries, expenses, and tax records. They must follow strict regulations such as PCI-DSS, GAAP, SOX, SOC 2, IRS, and ISO to prevent data breaches and cyberattacks. Ignoring these standards can lead to legal issues, heavy fines, and loss of client trust.
Cloud-hosted desktops help accounting firms stay compliant. They provide secure, centralized access to data and applications. This setup supports safe collaboration and protects client information.
Trusted Hosted desktop providers like Ace Cloud Hosting follow all major compliance standards. This helps accountants meet legal requirements and avoid penalties.
9. Integration Issues
Accountants use different software daily for bookkeeping, payroll, and tax filing. On traditional desktops, they enter data manually across systems. This causes delays and increases the chance of errors. It also makes it hard for users to access the same file simultaneously, slowing down remote work and teamwork.
Hosted desktops fix these issues for accountants, offering a unified virtual environment. Users can integrate tools like QuickBooks, Microsoft Teams, and Sage without affecting performance or security. Hence, employees can access everything from any device and location.
Teams can share files in real time without version conflicts or long email threads. They can also work on the same document together, improving accuracy, saving time, and supporting smooth collaboration.
10. Customization and Automation
Traditional desktops limit flexibility. Developers, testers, and designers struggle with slow setups, hardware limitations, and time-consuming manual tasks.
Hosted desktops offer a fully customizable and automated environment. You can scale resources in minutes. Add or remove users and increase RAM, CPU, or storage as needed. It speeds up product launches and adapts to changing workloads.
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Many industry verticals are adopting hosted desktops, and accounting is no exception. But the question is: are hosted desktops easing the workloads of accounting professionals? Hosted desktops certainly offer you peace of mind by addressing the above-mentioned challenges.
For any CPA, tax filing professional, or bookkeeping expert who works from multiple locations and needs round-the-clock access to resources globally, hosted desktops for accountants are a game-changer. Every feature of hosted desktops showcases how beneficial the technology is, from offering real-time collaboration possibilities to personalized user experiences.
Hosted desktops give you a secure, flexible environment no matter where you work. If you are still unsure whether the hosted desktop solution will work for your accounting firm, contact our Solution Consultant at 855-223-4887 or start your 7-day free trial now.
