The Cloud Lets Us Centralize the Information, Distribute the Workload

Defining “cloud computing” and how it applies to small/medium businesses is not always easy.  Perhaps one way to look at it is to consider how cloud computing concepts apply to the management and use of data and information within the business.

Take Google, for example (the Google search service, not the company). Google has systems that communicate with other systems, and provide access to lots of information located in lots of different places, and provides that information to lots of different people who use it for a variety of different reasons.  Google doesn’t actually store all the data it’s linking to.  Google provides centralized access to the data.  And, when you load that page or link, it’s not coming from Google servers, it is likely launching from the server where the data actually resides.

It’s really not that different from, say Intacct and Bill.com, where both applications are available via the Web, the systems communicate and share data, and users access the systems to perform a variety of functions.  The Intacct servers, Bill.com’s servers, and the application users are not all located in the same place, and work via the “cloud” – the amorphous network of servers and systems all interconnected.

The whole “cloud computing” concept is really fairly basic: centralize the information but distribute the workload.

Centralizing the information so those who need it can access it is critical to supporting the business, but distributing the workload for accessing the information – and accessing it in the context of the work to be performed – is essential to creating an efficient business.

As an example, let’s look at a basic accounting solution, like QuickBooks Pro.  While the software offers a range of features to support the essential record keeping requirements of many businesses, it doesn’t offer much functionality to address the more detailed operational aspects of the business.  It doesn’t offer sales or contact management support for the sales department, it doesn’t offer any CRM or service tracking tools for the service or support department, and it doesn’t even address the manufacturing, distribution, or merchandising needs of the business.

However, by leveraging the power of “the cloud”, even a solution like QuickBooks Pro can handle a fairly complicated enterprise requirement.

The power is with integrations – “specialist” solutions which focus on specific aspects of the business, but which also have the ability to share information.  Just like with the original “one write” systems, the information should only have to be entered once, and then it can be used again.

Long ago we recognized that redundant data entry – re-keying information – leads to lost productivity and increased potential for errors.  With the ever-increasing volume of information being generated by business and individuals, it is essential that data entered once be available to any part of the system it relates to.

This means that customer information in the accounting system would also be available to the sales and service teams.  However, since we don’t want those users in the actual financial systems, it is best to give them applications to help them do their jobs, but to have data in those applications integrate with data from the financial systems.

• Sales people can have accurate customer information, maybe even sales or purchase histories, products purchased, and so on, making it easier for them to be more effective at their jobs.
• Customer service or support personnel know who their customers are, and what services or products they’ve purchased, and maybe even if the customer’s account is eligible for support.
• Warehouse workers are able to view picking tickets, pick and pack shipments, and produce packing slips or shipping bills, and all without direct access to master vendor or inventory data or financial information.

Give users the tools they need to accomplish their tasks well, and don’t expose them to unnecessary data or applications.  This is a critical element to creating efficient business processes.  Utilizing the Internet as the network, and taking advantage of web services and Internet-based solutions and integrations, the business can create a framework of functionality which addresses the unique requirements of the business while providing the additional levels of mobility, access, and security required to facilitate those processes at any time and from anywhere.

Read the entire article “What Does Cloud Computing Really Mean to Accounting and Business” on Bookkeeping in Bunny Slippers

Running QuickBooks in the Cloud: Information from those who know

QBCloud consultants have been involved in virtually every aspect of the popular QuickBooks hosting service from the very beginning – all the way back to 1997, before the Internet was a hugely big deal, and prior to DSL broadband even being invented.

Back in those days, hosting of QuickBooks software seemed more like a license enforcement issue to Intuit than anything, because it was demonstrated that hosting business software might also a really great way to steal it.  Well, to provide lots of people with unauthorized use, anyway.  This is one of the main reasons why we worked for so long to try to get Intuit to recognize not only the business benefits of hosted applications, but to also recognize how the provider community could help protect the Intuit QuickBooks licensing.  After all, QuickBooks desktop editions are the bread and butter of the product line, and the after-market of developers, consultants, trainers, writers, and everyone else within the QuickBooks “sphere of influence”, will keep the QuickBooks solutions earning market share for some time.  Why not extend the lifespan of the solution by bringing it to the clouds?

After many years of exploration, testing, and proving the value of the business model, the Intuit Authorized QuickBooks Hosting program was finally launched, with only a few core providers initially participating.  The Authorized QuickBooks Hosting program represents a way for Intuit to provide at least a basic review and authorization for providers who wish to validate their hosted deliveries of QuickBooks applications, and provides a number of guidelines relating to treatment of the customer, the software, and the associated data.

Two of the most important elements of the Authorized QuickBooks Hosting program center around software licensing options and support availability.  The Authorized Commercial Hosts for QuickBooks are the only entities allowed to lawfully offer rental (subscription) licensing for QuickBooks Pro and Premier desktop editions.  Being able to provide QuickBooks licenses as a subscription service provides businesses with a simple and affordable means to keep their QuickBooks software up to date at all times, without the annual expense of upgrades and software installations.  Further, rental licensing programs allow providers to offer “turnkey” subscription services which include both the platform, the service delivery, and the application software license.  With this model, hosted QuickBooks acts more like a true SaaS (software as a service) offering.

The second element is support availability – support for end-users of the software as well as the service providers delivering the hosted apps.  Because Intuit does not support the Pro and Premier editions of QuickBooks in any sort of multi-tenant hosting environment, businesses electing to use these QuickBooks products in hosted infrastructure are on their own as far as support goes.  The commercial providers, at least those that were there from the beginning, paved the way for running QuickBooks in the clouds, developing the methodology and knowledge to implement and support the solution for many different and unrelated businesses from a central infrastructure. While the authorized commercial providers get a bit higher level of software support from Intuit than the average solution provider, the essentials of the architecture and implementation are completely up to the host. The hope is that the commercial providers will step in and assist the self-host and other businesses attempting to develop their own hosting to support client accounting and related processes, but there are very few providers with the knowledge, resources, or willingness to assist others in these areas.

**As a side note, it’s worth mentioning here that the consulting team at InsynQ is a resource which Intuit uses to refer self-hosts and other businesses who wish to develop their own hosted QuickBooks capability, so self-hosts and new hosting providers are not totally without resources for assistance.**

The other issue relating to support is end-user support for the customer-owned QuickBooks license.  When a QuickBooks license is utilized in a manner which does not conform with Intuit’s EULA (end-user license agreement), Intuit may be under no obligation to support that license – by offering technical assistance or by supporting service and product integrations.  This means that users running their businesses from hosting infrastructure that is not “authorized” by Intuit risk losing the support and serviceability of their software licenses.  We are seeing more instances where QuickBooks users are not able to obtain software support for their licenses, because those licenses are either hosted by an authorized delivery or provider, or the licenses were obtained via a method not allowed under the Intuit hosting program rules.

The Intuit Authorized Hosting program for QuickBooks is a good thing, even if there are a few “gotchas” in it (like the $5 per user per month surcharge on hosted QuickBooks users).  It provides the necessary guidance and framework for those who wish to offer hosted QuickBooks in the right way, and creates enough of a barrier (financially and otherwise) to keep out those who either aren’t serious about providing a quality service, or who don’t have the necessary resources to do things the proper way.  Even within the provider community today, there are varying opinions on how to handle certain aspects of the delivery.  There are different classes of providers, as well, with each offering a different solution set and support options, as well as varying in expertise and capability.  Certainly, different technologies will deliver different “customer experiences” but at a gut level, QuickBooks is still just QuickBooks.  It’s all about how much you know, and what experience you have in dealing with the application, the platform, and the user market.

As with so many things in life, experience does matter.  In this case, aligning with a company that has experience running QuickBooks for thousands of users – experience running the software on industry standard technologies and platforms – is the best experience you can draw from.  There is truly a fine art to delivering what isn’t exactly the most robust and well-designed software, and delivering it to a largely non-technical audience complicates things just that much more.  Without the direct support of Intuit and/or an experienced provider, those who embark on a do-it-yourself path will likely have a hard time making it to the clouds.

QBCloud hopes to make things a little easier by providing information and guidance on how QuickBooks in the Cloud works, providers offering the service, proper licensing, and other topics relating to QuickBooks application hosting.   We hope you find it useful.