You must not blame me if I do talk about the clouds”

Henry David Thoreau

In his book “Walden” Thoreau explained the ways of the world and his own philosophies on life through his observations on nature. Something of the same idea is being used when we call what is essentially a bunch of software “Cloud  computing”.

A cloud in nature is a visible mass of water droplets, gathered together and suspended in the sky.

“The Cloud” is an invisible mass of disparate but related computer systems, gathered together throughout the internet.

Both clouds are one thing made up of many separate, independent elements.

About eighteen months ago I wrote “Software as a Service (SaaS) is commonly touted as the next big thing in software circles”. The world has not changed yet, but you can be assured it is doing. T

The slow shift from traditional software has definitely begun. Momentum is growing and when the likes of Google, Sage, Salesforce and Amazon get involved you can bet that there is nothing going to stop it.

So what happened to SaaS? When did the Cloud appear on the horizon?

What is the Cloud?

SaaS still exists, but to understand why requires an explanation of what the Cloud is. And this is essentially a description of three main types of “droplet” that make up the cloud.

With any computer system there are certain elements that it needs to make it work:

The physical hardware of the computer

The platform that allows the software to run

The software that you use

Cloud computing systems have all of these but they are accessed over the internet, rather than being part of your computer. (Commonly these three elements are called Infrastructure as a Service; Platform as a Service; and Software as a Service.)

For example, Infrastructure as a Service could be a massive server offered to software companies to host their systems on – good examples are www.rackspace.com and www.opsource.net.

So, Software as a Service still exists, but it is now common to talk of the Cloud as a whole. This makes sense as it is certainly easier to remember. Although as an accountant though, you are more likely to be interested only in the software part, it is likely that that Cloud will be used more and more to describe either the whole concept or any individual part. So it is useful to understand the background.

How does Cloud Accounting help you?

Cloud accounting is becoming more and more prevalent. Traditionally businesses either went with a known name for their accounting system, such as Sage, or they did as their accountant advised. Nowadays cloud based systems such as Liquid Accounts, FreeAgent, Kashflow and Arithmo are often the first choice, especially for startup businesses.

This change in perspective is driven entirely by the benefits of Cloud computing.

Cloud systems are generally:

          easy to get started

          easy to use

          easily accessible from anywhere

          low cost, with few overheads

          easy to maintain

Crucially, businesses have seen how these advantages combine to offer an efficient, low cost way of accounting. The software is always available, from anywhere. It is always up to date and needs no installation.

As systems and data are accessible from anywhere it allows for great flexibility. For accountants this allows access to clients’ records. The business can make bookkeeping entries, and the accoountant can view them from their office.

Summary

The Cloud is the next step in computer software. It encompasses a variety of software services, but all with the common factor of being accessed over the internet.

The benefits of the model – flexibility, ease of use, security and cost - are being recognised as more businesses see the potential in using Cloud software rather than traditionally installed systems.

And there is particularly good news for accountants. The design and build of cloud systems lends itself to financial processes. Accounting programs fit perfectly into the model. Implementing the software, especially for clients, could bring major benefits to an accountancy practice.

The bottom line is: Have you got your head in the sand or in the clouds?

By Julian Shaw, April 2010

Over the last few months we have been working closely with all our accountant clients to get their clients working well with Arithmo.

I’ve just posted a case study on Accounting Web that shows how one practice in particular, Sturgess & Co, has used Arithmo to help them grow.

Click here to read the case study

Online accounting is not necessarily a new concept - it’s been around for quite a bit in one guise or another. What’s happened recently though is a different approach to it. Partly this has been caused by software vendors looking at what businesses want from an accounting system, with accountants having a say in it. 

More than that though, recent developments have come from the general direction the web has taken - web 2.0 and all that. Things have become much more communicative. It’s no longer good enough to be a flat information screen, there has to be interaction.

This has coincided with much faster internet speeds, plus the emergence of “cloud” software. All of this has lead to a new way of accountants working, a more hands on approach.

And this was the reasoning behind Sturgess and Co choosing Arithmo. It allows for collaboration between accountant and client in a way that simply was not possible a couple of years ago.

Arithmo was designed with this collaboration in mind. We made the accountant dashboard specifically for practice’s like Sturgess and co.

We may only be 12 days in to the New Year but we have been working hard behind the scenes on improving Arithmo’s features.

This afternoon an update to the invoice template has gone live. Users can now upload their business logo, change the font and have greater control over the text shown on their invoices. As with all things we have tried to keep this process as easy as possible making the bookkeeping for small business’s straight forward.

I was at the inaugural Business Cloud 9 Summit earlier in the week, at the uber-swanky Lancaster London Hotel.

This was an opportunity for enterprises to hear from big cloud software providers such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite. Being run by Sift Media, it was a slick, well organised affair.

My main reason to attend was a “fringe” session, set up so accounting software vendors such as Arithmo could sit and talk pretty informally with Accountants. This went pretty well, and it’s real-world feedback that we need.

Since the session, there has been a lot of online discussion about its merits. I found it useful, but it could have been even better. Here is a good  are some of the comments being made, including some from yours truly…

http://biztwozero.com/Home/486 

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/technology/showdown-business-cloud-summit

I have been asked to be a contributor to the excellent Start Up Donut blog. It’s a great place to get all sorts of information about running a small business, with guidance, forums, articles and lots more.  

My first post seemed to go down quite well, about an online tax scam. I’ll put more on as often as I can.

We are delighted to announce a partnership with leading compliance and business support services company SimplyBiz, to develop a system called  Accounting Solutions. 

This is an exclusive online accounting system that produces reports in exactly the same format as the GABRIEL return. This return is mandatory for IFAs and inclusion in an accounting package offers them significant help with FSA returns. 

The SimplyBiz Group was launched in 2002, and provides compliance and business support services to some 2,000 financial services firms and 5,000 individual advisers nationwide.  SimplyBiz is committed to delivering exceptional and relevant services for all IFAs, from the smaller practice through to the largest.  The SimplyBiz 2009 offering is stronger than ever with numerous enhancements including the PLUS package for larger or more complex practices.  Since launch SimplyBiz has continuously won various accolades and awards and was voted “Best IFA Network / Support Services provider” by Professional Adviser in both 2008 and 2009.

For more information go to accounting web.

We were at the Software Satisfaction Awards last night, at the magnificant Royal Courts of Justice, London.

Here is a report about the event http://www.businesszone.co.uk/topic/cloud-sweeps-sme-software-satisfaction-awards

Arithmo was in line for three awards, Web-based Accounting Software, Small business Accounting Software and Newcomer of the Year.

Although we were pipped at the post in each category, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening in very grand surroundings.  Congratulations to all the winners.

We spoke to loads of people in our industry and we all know that Cloud solutions are gaining ground on traditional accounting software. Last night’s result demonstrates this.

We are looking forward to the ICAEW’s annual Practice conference - northern version - on 15 October in the Midland Hotel, Manchester.

This will be a full day for the accountants, and we are exhibiting there. We hope to speak to many accountants about our online accounting software.

If you are an accountant who is planning to attend, come and speak to us, we’ll let you know all about Arithmo and what it could do for your practice. Or we could answer your questions about online accounting in general.

We are delighted to announce that Arithmo has been nominated in the Newcomer of the Year category at the Software Satisfaction Awards 2009.

This latest nomination sits alongside our nominations in the Web-hosted accounting software and Small Business Accounting Software awards.

We are always trying to add to the online accounting features to Arithmo. At the moment the team here is doing the last testing on our new invoice system system. It will allow for much mroe flexibility.

What’s happened is, we put in a customisable invoicing template, but kept it simple. Turns out our clients want it more sophisticated, even if it’s a bit more complex. So we’ve changed it. We think we’ve kept it as straightforward as we can though.

Once we’ve checked it over, clients should be able to tailor their invoices to their hearts’ content.