Technology Involved In Accounting Outsourcing
Technology Involved In Accounting Outsourcing
Often it is considered that outsourcing requires a huge amount of investment in terms of human resources, infrastructure, and technology making it a feasible solution only for the larger companies. This is a myth that probably emanated from the fact that outsourcing experiences of only large companies are covered in popular media. This assumption has been proven consistently wrong with fast multiplying instances of small mid market companies outsourcing their back end for fruitful results. Accounting outsourcing has gained rapid popularity (the fast growing sizes of BPOs is a testimony to this). Apart from the cost savings, organizations have seen benefits in terms of accuracy, reliability and proper maintenance of their accounting books.
This transition has been aided by rapidly decreasing technology costs (computers, internet connections and email/data storage accounts) are so much cheaper now, rising reliability of remote access softwares, and ever falling communication costs(thanks to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) among others. In this article, a brief overview of the different technology aspects related to outsourcing is covered.
There are two basic data items involved in an outsourced accounting process:
a) Input Documents or Source data like bank statements, invoices, bills, check stubs etc.
b) Accounting file like QuickBook , Peachtree, and MYOB file
Communication between both ends is another information item that needs to be managed well. However this article covers only the options for handling source documents and acc. files.
Technology Options for accessing the input documents:
a) Scanned Form
Scanned documents can be uploaded by the client staff on a website (usually of the service provider). These are then downloaded at the service-provider delivery centre/office. Alternatively, they may also be picked from the client server or just opened remotely by the service provider’ staff. Accessing scanned documents remotely though the best method in terms of data security is the least productive method. This reduction in productivity is because the scanned documents open very slowly over even the best internet connections ( just do a simple test of opening a PDF file through your browser and compare it against the time taken while storing it first on your PC and then opening it). Also please note the transmission security while you upload the data to the service provider’s website or while they download it from your PC/server.
b) Faxed – data can also be electronically faxed to an e-fax number. These faxes then get emailed to service provider as electronic images
Both Scanning and faxing have their advantages. The first method gives clear and magnified images while the latter method is convenient and fast. Further in a high volume process (where the source documents run in-to hundreds), scanning is definitely the better solution in terms of reliability, image quality and even time.
Technology Options for accessing the accounting file:
Primarily there are four ways by which accounting outsourcing is possible Server Based, Remote Access Based, Hosted Software Based and Online Software Based
Server Based: The accountant works on the backup copy of the accounting file and once the work has been completed the file is uploaded back to the server. The client can download the files and save the updated version of his books.
Remote Access Based: The accountant connects to the clients’ computer using a remote desktop access service like GoToMyPC.com, LogMeIn, Windows Remote Desktop or Secure VPN connection.
Online Software Based: In this method, the accounting software is a web-based version. So
the accountant logs in to the Online Accounting Software (eg Quickbooksonline.com, NetSuite) and updates the books and logs out. The client can login to the online accounting software via internet and see the updated books. This method is the best in terms of processing speed and reliability, however the web-based versions of popular software like QuickBooks and Peachtree are stripped down versions and do not have all the features like inventory, sales orders , complete reports etc.
Hosted Software Based: This version is a modified version of the Remote Access based version. The difference being that the accounting files of the client are hosted on a third-party hosting service provider such as Personable.com. Hence the service provider access these hosted files. This method may be more reliable and useful if the clients’ current technology set-up is not robust or good.
All these options do not require a huge amount of investment or any major changes in your IT setups.
Data security is one of the most important factors that come into play while evaluating your outsourcing accounting needs. It is of utmost importance that necessary steps have been implemented for data security. Encrypted technology be used to make sure there are no breaches in your private information. The remote access software should not allow for copy or transfer files from client computer to service provider systems.
Certain other steps such as signing Non-Disclosure Agreements with the service provider, using 128-bit encrypted servers for storing accounting data and having a paper-less office should be considered
In sum, the plethora of different technologies- remote access, scanning, communication and document and wok-flow management helps in making outsourcing work for small businesses.
Priyankar Baid is an experienced accountant who has consulted small businesses in US, Cananda and UK over the last few years. He also runs a firm http://www.outsourcinghubindia.com specializing in online accounting. He helps businesses set-up accounting systems, clean-up existing books and implement outsourcing agreements. His firm specializes in providing accounting and reporting services to small medium businesses in North America.
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No commentsCoreConnex Publishes Video on Building Equity Value in IT Service Firms – Users of ConnexIT, Connectwise and Autotask PSA Software Benefit
View trends and benchmarks
Bellevue, WA — December 22, 2008
CoreConnex, Inc. (CC), a new player in the SaaS industry who provides business intelligence and systems to VARs, MSPs and IT Service Companies announced they have published a video series on How to Build Equity Value in Your IT Service Firm just in time to give IT service company owners added impetus to plan and set goals for 2009. The series is available at no charge and breaks down key elements of building a valuable company.
IT service firms currently using ConnexIT, Connectwise and Autotask psa software are leveraging powerful video series in combination with Corelytics financial management software to set goal, track performance and stay in touch with IT industry benchmarks.
This announcement was made in connection with the CoreConnex launch of the Corelytics™ financial dashboard . The videos were created to give IT service firm owners access to practical perspectives on financial planning with an “end game” in mind. Corelytics™ allows company owners to set financial goals, view and analyze their business performance trends and get a clear understanding of where their business is headed – and why. Corelytics™ incorporates financial performance benchmarks drawn from a network of VARs, MSPs and IT Service Companies.
Recent related blog discussion include:
Perspectives on Financial Planning
The availability of this important video series and the IT industry’s only on-line financial management and benchmarking dashboard offer a great resource for owners and managers of IT service companies to gain insight on important business-related topics and learn about IT industry-specific benchmarks that will help grow and increase the value of their businesses. Companies using PSA software are taking full advantage of this valuable video series and financial dashboard combination.
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LiveTime Solutions Meet Sarbanes-Oxley Delivery & Support Control Requirements
Newport Beach, CA — April 12, 2005
LiveTime Software, a provider of J2EE Service Desk solutions, has announced that LiveTime Help Desk and Support Desk can be used to implement a systems-based solution that complies with the key delivery and support requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 (SOX). LiveTime solutions ensure organizations implement a SOX compliant Service Desk as they adhere to the specific Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) for service desk operations.
LiveTime Help Desk and Support Desk provide direct support for managing the key IT processes of service level management, problem and incident management, and with the process of assisting and advising customers. These features cover the key Delivery & Support COBIT objectives affecting the operation of a service desk.
LiveTime Help Desk and Support Desk meet the service level management objective as they allow managers to define, manage, monitor, and report on service level agreements either locally or from a remote location using a web-based interface. The inclusion of a self-serve client portal that permits controlled access to knowledge base articles, forums and the status of relevant cases, meets the key COBIT process of assisting and advising customers.
Problem escalation, tracking and auditing are also key features that comply with the COBIT requirements. Â?LiveTime is a perfect fit for organizations requiring a SOX compliant service desk,Â? said Dr. George Vossos, Chief Technology Officer at LiveTime Software.
Â?LiveTime allows organizations to better manage responses to system failures so that operations can be sustained and the integrity and completeness of financial data be maintained,Â? said Dr. Darren Williams, CEO of LiveTime Software. This workflow supports the COBIT requirement of ensuring that the cause of a problem is investigated to prevent any recurrence.
LiveTime Help Desk and Support Desk are Â?out-of-the-boxÂ? solutions allowing organizations to consistently manage responses to incidents and problems in accordance with guidelines from best practice frameworks including the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and COBIT. Organizations requiring a SOX compliant Service Desk can use LiveTime solutions to demonstrate compliance with the SOX-related control objectives of the COBIT framework.
About LiveTime Software
Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, LiveTime Software, Inc. is a vendor of J2EE-compliant, web-based service desk, help desk and support automation software for medium to large enterprises. Many global 2000 organizations and educational institutions use LiveTimeÂ?s vendor-neutral solutions to lower their costs and improve customer satisfaction. Founded in 1999, LiveTime Software is a privately held firm with offices in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. For more information visit http://www.livetime.com.
Media Relations contacts:
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Suite 920, 4100 Newport Place, Newport Beach, CA 92660, United States of America
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Suite 5, 107 Promenade,Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1 NW, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 1242 580090, Fax: +44 (0) 1452 700150
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Phone: +61-3-9620 7588 Fax: +61-3-9620 7533
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LiveTime and the LiveTime logo are registered trademarks of LiveTime Software, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
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No commentsMyths on Outsourcing – Week 4 Technology Needed For Outsourcing Will Be Expensive
Myths on Outsourcing – Week 4 Technology Needed For Outsourcing Will Be Expensive
Myth 4 Technology Needed For Outsourcing Will Be Expensive.
Ahhh technology – scary, wonderful and expensive! Is technology expensive? Only if you want it to be. Technology is getting cheaper and there is such a range alternatives that you can usually achieve your aim economically if you know where to find it.
Take digital dictation for example:
Digital dictation is a prerequisite to enable any business to outsource their documentation production. So unless you have already made the move to digital you are going to have to invest time and money into a new digital dictation system, and these don’t come cheap. A law firm with around 20 fee earners will expect to pay around £15,000 to implement a digital dictation system. The implementation will take weeks (if not months) to be completed and all Fee Earners will need to be trained on the new system of which most features are never used.
Now consider an alternative, we have provided a number of our clients with a PC based digital dictation solution which uses USB headsets for voice input. This solution was required as our clients needed to move to digital dictation but the financial resources to undertake a large scale implementation were prohibitive. The chosen solution delivers all of the functionality required by our clients to create digital files and means that our clients were able to outsource their transcription to us, thus freeing up their internal staff for more value ad services. This was all provided at a cost of less than £50 per Fee Earner which is significantly lower than some comparable hardware and software solutions and implementation took minutes instead of months.
Remote access to software packages
This is often seen as one of the major barriers to delivering the full benefits to outsourcing. In the old days the costs associated with installing a Virtual Private Network or Citrix and the need to have allocated bandwidth far outweighed the financial benefits of outsourcing. However, the internet now provides ample bandwidth and the availability of specific applications such as logmein, means that this is now imminently achievable. Gone are the days when companies had to spend in excess of £100K per annum for a 256k circuit to an outsourcing provider.
For one of our clients we are remote accessing their in-house systems in the UK from an offshore terminal for less then £45 per annum per PC and using their existing internet connection. This provides their offshore support team with full functionality required with our client benefiting by having all of their support work outsourced to us at a fraction on the cost
Software as a Service
There are now a number of online SaaS providers who are able to provide applications which deliver all the functionality required for a monthly fee. SaaS is fast becoming the preferred route for SMEs to implement applications without the capital expenditure of traditional systems implementations. In effect by leasing the software online, SMEs benefit from the full service model which incorporates back-up, upgrades and data security without the need for onsite services, firewalls and IT staff. As an example, full accounting software is on-line for multiple users for less than £20 per month, it delivers UK compliant accounts and VAT Returns.
Don’t get left behind by your 12 year old – you can use technology to your advantage.
We hope that you have found the articles over the last 4 weeks of use. If you would like any more information on how outsourcing and technology can work for your firm please contact us and we would be happy to provide you with more information.
Provided with compliments of Magellan Consultancy Services
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No commentsWhy your company needs help desk software?
Why your company needs help desk software?
Why your company needs help desk software?
A company that operates online must have a Help desk software. In various instances, having help desk software is a crucial aspect of a smart business tactic, benefiting both the customer and the business. Investigating, finding and comparing the alternatives available can be a scary experience, but being aware about your alternatives will help.
This software solution offers a centralized method of handling the complaints and issues in website management. In case of any e-commerce business, technical issues are expected to take place. Getting ready to deal with unforeseen conditions can ease pressure and frustration by proper handling of technical complications.
Earlier many companies had call center support before the internet became popular. Customers were quiet annoyed by long hold times, poorly trained staff, and unresponsive phone messages. Few customers may not be eager to offer a complete and proper report of the problem, which just aggravates the problem. As many companies have clients in different parts of the world and in differing time zones, this software has helped numerous companies to properly deal with client issues or complaints.
These software solutions can deal with numerous tasks in a business. Most programs let customers to directly go to the suitable department to meet their needs. Eg, many software programs let technical inquiries to be routed directly to the technical support department and billing questions to the billing department. This can restructure and better handle queries and provide a faster response time.
The widespread use of Internet necessitated quicker, more dependable and, easily available customer support. Customers want and anticipate fast help and answers to their problems. Hence these software solutions have become widely used throughout the world. The help desk software has allowed to provide nearly unlimited support. In a rising world market, these software solutions are fast becoming a need, and can help save a company lots of dollars each year.
To learn more about Help desk software, please click here: http://www.support-software.org
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ODIN Releases Intelligent Asset Management Software for RFID
Ashburn, VA — March 23, 2010
ODIN today announced the formal release of Intelligent Asset Management (I AM™) software for tracking IT Assets in the data center or office environment. The software is designed to easily integrate with existing Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solutions such as Sunflower Systems, BMC Remedy, IBM Maximo, Oracle, HP Asset Manager, Savi SmartChain, and others. I AM™ enables faster and more accurate asset audits, significantly reduces inventory costs, and ensures a higher security environment. Studies have shown that taking asset inventories with RFID in Data Centers, secure storage, and office locations is more than five times faster than bar code methods. In addition to the time savings, Gartner Group estimates most organizations have a 30% discrepancy between expected asset inventory and actual asset inventory due to poor asset management and manual systems– RFID can mitigate that 30% loss.
I AM™ is asset tracking software that is built upon ODIN’s EasyEdge™ RFID device management software. I AM™ was developed for ODIN customers who want to easily add RFID capabilities to their existing Enterprise Asset Management software and leverage their significant investment in those systems. I AM™ was also developed for those who didn’t have EAM, but needed to migrate from spreadsheet driven tracking to an easy to use application. The I AM™ software solution can be installed in as little as one day and integrated quickly into other standards based software.
“ODIN’s goal is to ensure RFID solutions are both accurate and easy to use. In our past deployments we could reliably ensure RFID system accuracy, but found our customers struggling with integrating RFID into their physical asset management & security processes. ODIN developed I AM™ so end users would finally have an easy-to-use RFID asset tracking solution that can augment traditional Enterprise Asset Management software or operate stand-alone,” commented ODIN’s founder Patrick J. Sweeney II. He added, “ODIN’s customers are excited about I AM™ because it installs quickly and allows them to inventory assets in hours instead of weeks.”
ODIN’s head of software development, John Kelvie, commented, “I AM™ is the logical extension of EasyEdge™ RFID device management software. Since we already had a robust RFID device control software platform, adding integration and application functionality so end users could more easily track their assets with RFID, solved a recurring customer need. We were also fortunate to have some great initial customers with tough usability and integration requirements. This helped us really focus on building for scalability from the beginning.”
About I AM™, Intelligent Asset Management
I AM™ is the first RFID software designed for highly accurate read rates and automated asset management through the physics of RFID. The software is first and foremost an RFID specific asset management tool designed to provide mission critical data to enterprise applications. I AM™’s architecture, born out of ODIN’s award-winning lab, is designed to very easily integrate with enterprise resource planning applications (ERP) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) while reliably providing 99.9% read rates.
I AM™, maximizes RFID accuracy and adds value to existing asset management and ERP software– applications where most companies already have significant investment. The software is built on ODIN’s EasyEdge™ RFID edge software and EasyMonitor™ monitoring and management software for a fully automated RFID infrastructure. This means fewer resources are required to manage more RFID readers. The software can function as a light-weight stand-alone system as well. The original design was for global data center asset management and is based on decades of data center experience. The solution has been extended to track office IT assets such as laptops, desktop PCs, printers, and networking gear. Find out more about I AM™ here.
About ODIN
ODIN is the leader in packaged RFID solutions for healthcare, aerospace, financial services, and government agencies. Global corporations on five continents leverage ODIN’s expert engineers and patented RFID software and monitoring tools to achieve accuracy, speed, and visibility for their RFID deployments. In addition to packaged solutions, implementations, and engineering, ODIN publishes the RFID Benchmark Series™, the industry’s first and most referenced head-to-head performance analysis of RFID equipment. ODIN’s RFID optimization software EasyRFID™ has been successfully used at dozens of companies across more than 265 sites worldwide to ensure accurate and scalable RFID implementations. ODIN serves clients from offices in Ashburn, Virginia, Dublin, Ireland and Budapest, Hungary. http://www.odintechnologies.com
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