Forgot the fancy arguments about why firms should move to cloud-based products. For accountant We can recount the classic arguments for the use of Internet-based applications –they reduce the technology that firms need to know Updates are easier and users always have the latest version of the software; and having data elsewhere means that when disaster strikes, a business can be up and running more quickly than is usual possible with on premise based software.
But Gamble, who spoke at a session at the recent CCH Connections 2013 user conference, gives a more basic view of Axcess' advantages.
"I worked seven days a week for 41 years every tax season at the office," says Gamble, a member of the Richland, Wash-based Northwest CPA Group. But after moving to CCH Axcess, "I started working at home on Sundays."
Gamble' firm has a staff of 21 people and a support staff that is five or six people and churns about 1,500 returns each tax season.
But the benefits of an Internet-system goes beyond helping the tax and accounting professionals. It makes life much easier for the firm's office manager. That's because with a single database, serving the applications within the Axcess suite, she no longer worries about whether a change or address change is entered in all applications because there's one database serving all applications.
Axcess also produced cost savings. An early adapter, the firm reduced its number of servers from four to two, saving $40,000 while it did so. Gamble also says cloud-based applications increased security for the firm's data
"CCH has a lot better security than I ever could have in my office," she says.
There are still issues regarding the cloud—who owns data, the fact that subscription pricing costs more over the long term than purchasing on-premise software, and there places in the United Sates where Internet is not always quick or reliable. .
But certainly, accountants and their clients are getting an increasing number of offers of programs and services as the software companies that have sold the desktop applications see the feature in the cloud.
New Intuit Team
For example, Intuit has been assembling a team of veterans with contacts at accounting firms at its new Cloud Service practice, headed by Ray Barlow, who had a 10-year career with CCH before joining Intuit during the summer as a senior strategic account leader.
Barlow recruited Dave Bergstein, who had been with CCH for 10 years, and Kim Hogan who represented Fujitsu America and most recently XCM Services in order to reach accounting firms. Helping firms move to the cloud is a key responsibility of both. Already on board when Barlow arrived was Jim Clement, who served the top 25 accounting firms in an 11-year career at CCH and is performing the same role in Intuit.
"I wanted people with strong contacts, not just good sales people," Barlow says.
The Intuit effort represents an initiative with CPA firms that the profession hasn't seen from Intuit, which always been strong in dealing with the tax-only firms, but has not been as strong with full-service accounting firms. But Intuit hit the market this year with its Intuit Online Practice Management, joining Intuit Tax Online for professionals.
Beyond that, Intuit is pulling its cloud applications together in a Virtual Office, basically a dashboard that will connect the various modules already on the market, in a way that resembles what CCH has already done with Axcess
This year, it also introduced a sweeping rewrite of QuickBooks Online, a product that whose sales were already outstripping those of the desktop version of the popular accounting system.
"We redesigned it from the ground up," product manager Kevin Kirin said in an interview earlier this year. He noted that a major effort had been to improve the product's ease of use. "The expectations for ease of use online are higher," he continued. "We wanted to reinvent it so people make fewer mistakes."
The market for QuickBooks online is where the most intense action is. These applications serve small businesses. There is a growing number of competitors that include Xero, FreshBooks and Excel Online. And in many cases, they are also used by the businesses' accountants.
Sage's Cloud Priority
Likewise, Sage North America is ramping up its efforts with accounting professionals and a good deal of energy is going towards the cloud, in particular its low-end Sage One.
Mike Savory, manager of product management for Sage One, says the product is a top priority for his company for one simple reason "Customers are demanding it," he says.
Sage One was introduced in the United State last year. The product, which has a regular priced of $29 per month, has already seen a second iteration in the United Kingdom with the recent debut of Sage Accounts Extra, a product that has more features and is designed for companies with up to 20 employees. Extra is multi-lingual, multi-currency multi-user and has more security features. It will make its way to the Untied States, although Sage has not disclosed a date yet.
Despite the fact that it is aimed at smaller businesses than have used Sage 50 U.S. (the former Peachtree) and Sage 50 Canada (the former Simply accounting,) businesses are showing an interest in it, Savory says.
The company has also announced plans for the Sage One Accountants Edition, aimed at supporting collaboration between accountants and clients. Accountants can access client data through the portal.
Like Intuit, Sage is ramping up its efforts with accountants. It will be a subset of the long-standing Sage Accountants Network.
Kashoo Emphasizes Mobile
Vancouver, B.C-based Kashoo also emphasizes collaboration between accountants and their clients via an online software product. Jim Secord, Kashoo's CEO. says his firm's low-cost cloud accounting product stresses mobile use.
In fact, he says, it's difficult to separate the discussion of the advantages of mobile technology from cloud computing because it is the latter technology that makes mobile applications possible
"We have had cell phones for more than a decade, but it wasn't until we had cloud apps that mobile began to take over."
An advantage of the mobile connection to the web is the ability of accountants to see client files. Kashoo emphasize use of the iPad app over its web app with full use use of its accounting software available on that device.
Kashoo's pricing is typical of the new generation of small business products - low-cost and simple, when compared to traditional software licensing. It is priced at $20 per month or $192 per year
CCH Axcess
When its cloud suite was introduced in April, CCH underscored the change in platform with a name change as it moved from the historic ProSystem fx designation to Axcess. The line has been in a testing phase with Axcess Tax in limited release for the 2013.
The applications available - Tax, Portal, Document, Practice and Workstream - all existed in the ProSystem Suite. However, they were rewritten for the cloud and can be accessed via one dashboard.
CCH views Axcess as more than just another product line - it's represented as a tool that changes the way things are done in the tax and accounting business.
When the line was introduced, Teresa Mackintosh, now CEO of CCH Tax and Accounting, said, "It will fundamentally change the ways professionals practice."
