QuickBooks Hosting Review 2020 – Benefits, Pricing & Customer Reviews

Does QuickBooks hosting on the cloud help your business accounting for better?

QuickBooks hosting gives your business the power and flexibility that QuickBooks on the local system struggles to provide – anytime, anywhere access.

In January 2019, we covered the price comparison of some of the leading QuickBooks Hosting providers. We have also covered what businesses should consider while choosing a cloud service provider to host their QuickBooks application and data.

There are dozens of QuickBooks hosting service providers in the market with similar offerings and are appealing for your dollar, but how are their results? How should you go about choosing the right cloud provider for your business?

In this in-depth review, we are going to explore the need for QuickBooks hosting and what you should consider in a cloud hosting provider while hosting your QuickBooks data and application.

Let’s dive in!

Beyond Local System

Gone are the days when you install QuickBooks on your local systems such as desktop or laptop and work alone on the software. Switching to the cloud allows you to work simultaneously with other users in real-time. This multi-user mode gives you the independence to work from any internet-connected device at any time and from anywhere.

In this rapidly changing market, where real-time collaboration, 24×7 availability, and mobile access to the data are a constant need, having desktop-based QuickBooks is no longer an option.

Another main driving factor for choosing cloud over the desktop is hassles in installing, upgrading software, and file transfer with a local system. For example, if you upgrade your computer that has QuickBooks installed, then you also have to think about the files, data, and dozens of other desktop applications.

But hosting QuickBooks on the cloud ensures that it is the responsibility of the service provider to transfer files and upgrade software in the background.

What’s more, the cloud has made collaboration and sharing so smooth that the process of sending QuickBooks files or data back and forth on email is eliminated. All of this is achieved without any error or file corruption.

This is the ‘cloud’ age. You don’t need QuickBooks installed in the local system anymore.

QuickBooks Hosting – What and Why?

QuickBooks hosting is the hot thing in the cloud accounting space today.

QuickBooks hosting (also known as QuickBooks Cloud or Hosted QuickBooks) refers to the installation of the QuickBooks Desktop version on the network server hosted over the internet to enable access via a web browser from any location. Simply put, data and files in a Hosted QuickBooks can be accessed by an authenticated user from anywhere, anytime, without installing it on a local machine. – Source

Unlike QuickBooks Online, which is an entirely different version of QuickBooks accounting software from Intuit, QuickBooks Hosting is the availability of QuickBooks Desktop (Pro, Premier, Accountant, or Enterprise version) on the cloud server of an authorized hosting facility.

Simply put, QuickBooks Online is aimed to offer remote access to the application and focuses on businesses that need the functionality of the cloud but won’t mind compromising on the accounting features. On the other hand, QuickBooks Hosting combines the power of the cloud with the features of the desktop software to get the best of both worlds.

Benefits of using QuickBooks hosting for business can manifest in:

1. Anytime, Anywhere Access

QuickBooks hosting is a convenient option if you need the ability to work on QuickBooks data from any location. So, regardless of the time zone, you can efficiently work on the same QuickBooks file with your client or employee. You can also access it from any location, even while you are on holiday at a beach.

2. Speed

QuickBooks opens and operates much faster in the hosting environment than QuickBooks on the local system. You can also increase the number of users to work on your QB application without losing any performance. Just make sure you have good quality and a fast internet connection.

3. Backup

What if your local system crashes? Or you corrupt your QuickBooks file?

QuickBooks hosting service has multiple redundancies in place for data storage, along with regular and automated backup to ensure everything is working correctly.

4. Customer Support

There might be some issues while using QuickBooks, such as printer setup, email configuration, permission controls, etc. that can further complicate the accounting work. QuickBooks hosting provider takes care of all setup and maintenance work along with training and troubleshooting errors and issues that might come with the application on the cloud.

5. Integration

To streamline your accounting work, add additional industry-specific functionality, and increase efficiency, your business may require some 3rd-party add-ons such as billing apps, inventory software, etc., that easily integrate with QuickBooks.

The hosting environment allows easy integration with such applications so that you have all features and functionality and automatic syncing and data sharing with applications.

6. Security

There is a risk with a local  QuickBooks setup; that is, your data can be compromised if you don’t use secure methods such as anti-virus, anti-malware, password protection, firewalls, etc.

On the other hand, QuickBooks on the cloud is a secure solution because it not only employs all these security methods such as anti-virus, firewall, password protection but also has encryption security, access-control policies, and multiple-redundancies in place.

User Satisfaction

When you decide to buy QuickBooks hosting services, it’s essential to see what the hosting provider has to offer and find out whether the real people who are using the services are satisfied with the host or not. With this analysis, you can make an informed decision about choosing QuickBooks on cloud services.

According to YouGov, 78 percent of consumers in the United States read online reviews before making a purchase decision.

To evaluate a cloud provider’s services, check out the reviews and testimonials of existing clients that have been using their QuickBooks hosting services. This will help you understand whether the provider is effectively able to provide better customer experience and cloud services to their clients.

You can use various sites, such as Serchen, Google Business Listing, Facebook, and testimonial page on the company website to know the rating and reviews for their services.

Uptime is Critical

One of the critical things that one should consider while choosing cloud services is server uptime. It’s so important because it defines how quickly you can access your QuickBooks data and applications. The higher the uptime, the better the performance and availability.

If your QuickBooks servers are down, this can be catastrophic for your accounting firm, and you will be unable to find, share, or work on your QuickBooks data and application.

So, choosing a hosting provider with high uptime is critical because it will guarantee that your server will never go down for more than a fraction of a second. In other words, it means that if one server goes down, another one takes over so that you never experience the service outage.

It’s highly recommended that you choose a hosting service with at least 99.999% guaranteed uptime, which is also a cost-effective choice. The table below compares the value of different ‘Nines’ –

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