In the current age of technological revolution, every business owner wants to adopt the latest applications and methods to continue their growth journey. Whether IT, health, construction, finance, or tax industry, they need advanced software to manage and run their businesses. They also want to benefit from evolving cloud technology, which has touched almost every business sphere globally.
Particularly for accounting professionals, the convergence of accounting software and cloud lies in selecting any accounting software hosting provider. CPAs and accounting firms have realized the need and benefits of cloud hosting and are looking for ways to migrate their business process to a cloud-hosted environment.
Next to selecting an accounting software like QuickBooks or Sage for long-term usage, choosing an accounting software hosting provider takes time. You would also want to ensure that the cloud service provider you hire offers the best-in-class services.
Wondering how to make the final move of selecting a cloud hosting provider for your accounting software? Consider the following factors for best results:
-
Deployed IT Infrastructure
The IT infrastructure required to host accounting applications on the cloud is quite expensive, so most businesses prefer hiring a cloud solution provider. Still, it is essential to check the intrinsic details of the infrastructure put in place by your cloud service provider.
For instance, you should ask about the location of data centers and the reliability of the data center network in case of natural disturbances. In addition, you can check the types of servers that offer cloud solutions (high-performance computing servers) to ensure uninterrupted performance with more extensive applications and collaboration.
Recommended Read: Do Cloud Hosting Solutions for Accounting Firms Make Sense?
-
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
Any unexpected interruption to accessing accounting software hosted on the cloud can cause significant loss to your business. This is why you want the chosen cloud service provider to reinstate the hosting services as soon as possible after a disruptive event. Ideally, your accounting software hosting provider should have the necessary technology in place to identify different types of risks that can harm your business.
If you know about how cloud hosting works, you can ask for more information about data replication at various internal levels to ensure business continuity. Make sure you hire a service provider that does not charge any additional amount to cater to such needs.
-
Data Backup
Imagine the situation in which you lose access to various accounting files you have been working on for weeks. You have tried every tool and method to recover the data but are unable to do so.
While this can also happen in a cloud-hosted environment, regular data backups act as a solution to deal with such situations. Every cloud service provider offers this in-built solution to help their clients recover data in case of unexpected data loss. First, however, you should dig deeper to know to what extent your service provider helps recover the data and how quick this process is.
At Verito Technologies, we ensure a 30-days rolling backup to ensure our clients do not lose their business-centric data.
-
Cost of the Hosting Plan
Most cloud service providers offer different accounting software hosting plans aimed to benefit diverse clientele. However, the availability of several hosting plans scale of operations may differ from one business to another. Hence, a cloud hosting plan suitable for one type of business may not be the right fit for another.
Although many business owners compare cloud services only based on pricing, you are advised not to do so. Instead, pricing should be just one parameter in your checklist, while you should also look for other service qualities. For example, it would be best to start a free trial with an accounting software hosting provider and experience the benefits you can get.
What’s Your Plan?
Selecting the right cloud service provider is not just a choice these days but a necessity. Therefore, all the factors detailed above must have given you a fair idea about the selection process and how to check the competence of a cloud hosting provider.
If you want to move accounting software to the cloud, give us a call at 1-855-583-7486.
