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Accountant working remotely from home accessing QuickBooks on his laptop

QuickBooks Hosting is the Solution for Remote Businesses

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QuickBooks is Perfect for Remote Work

As a result of the lockdown in 2020, many industries, including financial services and accounting firms, are undergoing massive changes. The focus on executing virtual strategies and remote consulting has transformed the landscape of accounting possibly forever.

That  being said, there is a software tool that streamlines accounting processes and facilitates the transition to more permanently remote operations and that is QuickBooks.

QuickBooks is considered one of the most powerful accounting software for businesses across industries. Saving money, time and effort it introduces features that help track and report company finances.

Here are 9 Reasons why QuickBooks Hosting is Right for Your Business

1. Saving Time

Save time on bookkeeping and paperwork because many of simple bookkeeping tasks are handled automatically making it easier to run your business.

Bookkeeping paperwork has always been a hassle but with the emergence of remote advising, filing, sending and managing the appropriate documentation is more difficult and time consuming. QuickBooks automates simple bookkeeping tasks that would otherwise make running your business remotely more challenging.

2. Reports and Data are Easy to Access

Generate reports with the information you need, so you always know where your business stands. You instantly know whether you’re making money and whether your business is healthy.

You can generate reports that would require gathering resources and information not readily on hand. QuickBooks software contains assets that let you know where your business is in terms of finance. You’ll find information that tells you how much money your business is making and organize your financial strategy.

3. Cost Efficiency

Remote working could be seen as an opportunity to cut costs, or at the very least, reallocate resources. QuickBooks is an affordable application that runs at scale. Whether it’s a $6 million or a $46 million business, you can use this tool for a few hundred dollars. Achieving the most for the least.

4. Promotes Business Growth while Staying Complaint

Growth Is imperative and working remotely doesn’t change that. QuickBooks gives you the right tools and data to use when designing a business plan. Maybe you want to secure a small loan or open a credit line for your small business. You’re able to create a balance sheet, statements of profits and losses, and cash flow charts, all of which follow the U.S. Small Business Administration’s compliance guidelines.

5. Customization and Scalability

As I alluded to above, QuickBooks is designed for scalability. The tool is flexible enough to work for a large variety of small businesses across multiple industries to utilize IT Support for Accountants. Furthermore, it has custom accounting packages for CPA’s, Health Care professionals, Retailers and more.

6. Broad Range of Tools for Almost Every Business

QuickBooks is expanding their services and plans to get to over ten million users by the decades end. There are currently 2.55 million subscribers to QuickBooks. Those are 2.55 million customers that leverage the tools and features QuickBooks offers to improve their businesses.

7. Automated Backups

QuickBooks hosted solutions has an automated backup service. This keeps important financial data safe. Partnered with the right cloud provider, data is guaranteed to stay secure and accessible.

8. Invoicing is Easier

Working remotely forces you to work with the digital tools you have in hand. When processing payments through QuickBooks, all that’s required is a simple email transaction. E-mail a statement or invoice, you’re able to process payments with credit card or bank account transfers digitally and in one central hub.

9. No additional hardware or Software Needed

Remote work is requiring businesses to restructure how they accept payment. Your clients will have to complete transactions digitally rather than in person and QuickBooks Merchant Account Services integrates with software to retain client data. In other words, returning clients won’t have to input the same information more than once. Card Scanning machines, or payment squares ineffective in a remote setting. QuickBooks allows for remote operations to continue without issue.

I.T. Doesn’t Stop There…

QuickBooks is an invaluable resource for a business looking to thrive in a remote environment. If you want a solution that protects your business infrastructure and Computer devices, I recommend looking for a Managed services provider that has QuickBooks integration. Nerds Support is a QuickBooks hosting partner and includes QuickBooks with all its other IT services and cyber security protection software.

Finding a managed IT services provider that comes with QuickBooks hosting will save your business even more money. Instead of having QuickBooks separate from your IT and cyber security needs, you’ll have everything set up in one place. And with the amount of phishing and cyber attacks targeting remote businesses it’s a good idea to focus on your IT infrastructure as well.

businessman working from home while connected to the cloud

How Remote Workers Benefit From The Cloud

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Remote Work Is Here

Companies are increasingly relying on remote work. Remote work culture has become commonplace as these companies realize how important flexibility is for their operation.

Furthermore, this is happening across industries. From streaming services to banking and financial services, it’s clear that remote work is depending on the cloud.

The novel Coronavirus outbreak tested cloud infrastructures in ways previously unimagined. All at once workers were forced to depend on a cloud environment to access important data, documents, and connect with colleges.

And It’s not Going Anywhere…

In fact, according to a Techwire survey, 48 percent of technology companies believe that cloud services will increase as a result of the shut in. This suggests that Cloud adoption is seen as a long term strategy rather than a temporary fix.

This however, isn’t surprising when you consider 56 percent of the workforce already have jobs that are compatible with remote work.

Based on those facts we can conclude that remote work will only increase in frequency even after workers are allowed back into their offices.

We’re already seeing a rapid growth in the use of cloud-based video conferencing applications like Zoom and Microsoft teams.

Even Billionaire and financier  Warren Buffett weighed in on the shift to remote work in an interview with “The Real Deal” stating:

“The supply and demand for office space may change significantly,” Buffett said. “A lot of people have learned that they can work at home, or that there’s other methods of conducting their business than they might have thought from what they were doing a couple of years ago. When change happens in the world, you adjust to it.”

Benefits of Cloud Storage for Remote Workers

Now that we’ve established remote work is a more permanent change, we have to go into the key technology that enables remote work, the cloud.

If remote work is to succeed, you and your team, collaboration is essential. The best way to achieve this is to adopt a cloud storage system that can handle any project without slowing down or crashing.

Nightmare scenario:  Imagine that while you’re working remotely, collaborating with your team, someone edits or deletes important information and now you’re several steps behind schedule. The good news is that the cloud has file- recovery capabilities.

Nerds Support’s managed cloud services, for example, allows you recover a deleted file or return to your last save to avoid these kinds of blunders.

Cloud computing security for data storage

Disaster Recovery

Cloud also helps with disaster recovery situations as demonstrated by its reliability during the lock-down. Because of the absence of on-site IT professionals, businesses are relying on the cloud to monitor, check and maintain their storage and servers in data centers.

Enterprises are leveraging the cloud to create a suitable environment that caters to remote workers around the world. The lock-downs have proven the need for disaster recovery capabilities and strong security but also network resiliency.

Cloud Storage Promotes Remote Work

The Techwire survey also revealed that 34 percent of respondents reported increased spending on remote productivity. IT organizations are preparing to deliver remote capabilities to end- users as the demand for remote increases.

We’re already seeing this more permanent transition play out as companies like Nationwide announce plans to move towards a hybrid operation of mostly remote employees.

Having the ability to work from various locations is a strategic benefit of remote work but now it’ll be a necessity. Cloud storage can help remote workers stay productive from wherever they choose to work. Cloud- focused applications facilitate this experience because they permit users to synchronize mobile devices, tablets and computer together.

Productivity Increases

With remote work becoming the norm, we have to take a look at productivity levels to see how they’re affected. There’s no use in implementing remote work if it those working do less of it. One study in 2015 based in a Chinese travel agency found that call-center employees that shifted to working from home saw increased productivity by an average of 13 percent.

But will employees prefer remote work?  A Harvard study found more than 40 percent of people would do away with a portion of their salary if they were offered a remote work option.

Cloud computing enables remote work without interruption. Employees can easily access their work station at home just as though they were in the office. All important information centralized in a single cloud infrastructure easily retrievable for the employee.

Security & Cyber Protection

If everything in the cloud is so accessible for the employee what about someone else? Can a hacker break into the cloud servers and steal all your data? What measures does the cloud have to prevent a breach?

Not to worry, cloud computing protects you from both data breaches and hackers. With the cloud you’ll have an outsourced IT security team 24/7 constantly monitoring complex and changing threat environment.

That includes protection from social engineering scams and malware attacks.

The cloud also protects you and your business from data loss and hardware failure. Multiple redundancies are put in place so that everything is backed up should anything happen.

Another valuable feature is multi-factor authentication. Let’s say your company device was stolen or lost. Multifactor security features prevents access the device and files if user identity is not confirmed on a secondary device.

If a hackers attempts to log in, they’ll need access to your mobile device and log in again. If that confirmation doesn’t go through within a set time, access is denied.

FINRA updates with a cybersecurity alert COVID-19

FINRA Announces Security Measures for Financial Firms

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Like other businesses, firms have taken measures to mitigate COVID-19 related risks. These include,  employees and associates working remotely or video conferencing to maintain efficiency while social distancing policies are in place.

Although focusing on the health of members and associate is important, it is also imperative to be aware of the cyber security vulnerabilities that are manifesting as well.

As workers accustom themselves to remote processes, financial firms should take steps to protect themselves and their clients from an influx cyber-attacks on home networks.

FINRA Alert

In March 2020 FINRA released a notice that firms should take appropriate measures to protect client information on business and home networks as well as mobile devices and tablets.

Cyber Attacks On The Rise

Cyber attacks related to financial relief checks went up in the last few weeks, while hackers continue to target vulnerable individuals.

Cyber security firm Check Point reported an average of 14,000 coronavirus-related cyberattacks per day in the past week, six times the average daily attacks in the second half of March. Additionally, this recorded number shot up to 20,000 daily attacks since April 7.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) related scams are growing exponentially as job loss, social distancing and unsecure home networks provide the conditions for hackers. Phishing scams, investment fraud, and fraudulent CDC emails are just a few ways cyber attackers are leveraging the virus.

According to a recent article by The Hill, the FBI saw a spike in reported cyber crimes on its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), as hackers and cyber criminals take advantage of Americans’ move towards primarily online activity.

Home and Office Networks

Establish a secure connection when accessing your firm’s work environment. This can be done by setting up a VPN Virtual (Private Network) or partnering up with a Managed Services Company that can secure your network.

When using a Wi-Fi connection, secure it with security measures like WPA2 or HTTP strict transport security. These measures prevent hackers from accessing your network or infiltrate your site with man-in-the middle cyber-attacks.

Update software and patches regularly. Cloud security and compliance platforms like Workplace, which is used and integrated by Nerds Support as well, automatically run a diagnostics on potential security vulnerabilities on work devices.

Make changes to the user names and passwords of home Wi-Fi routers if they use default user names and passwords.

Always lock your screen when leaving your devices. Whether you are in a shared work environment or alone, it is never a good idea to leave your devices open when unattended and out of sight.

File and back-up your data frequently. For example, Nerds Support backs up all of our client data and store it in an offsite data center that can be accessed through our cloud network. This means that data can never be lost and guarantees all personally identifiable information (PPII) is safe and accessible by the firm.

Common Attacks

Although we’ve gone over COVID-19 related cyber attacks in another blog, we’ll briefly review them here.

Common COVID-19 Cyber Attacks include phishing & vishing scams offering false information or asking for personal information.

Continuity Planning

Understand your firms policies and establish a business continuity plan. In the event of a security breach, an outage, a stolen or lost device, or phishing attack, what steps is your firm taking to remediate the issues?

Contact Information

When using a video conferencing app or service, ensure the appropriate security measures are included in their policies.

Develop a structure for access to sensitive data and systems.

Provide staff with all the necessary contact information. Establish a plan for communication (where and how). Are you communicating through a VoIP system or Video conferencing application?

Assess and Verify

Do not hesitate to alert your IT department or team when confronted with any of the issues we’ve discussed. It is not uncommon for remote workers to overlook these points. Keep constant communication with everyone in your IT team to ensure all protocols are being followed and your systems remain aligned within regulation standards.

If you want a free IT Assessment to verify your systems are secure you can always contact us.

Now is the perfect time to assess your technology. Check if your existing IT is up to standard or consider c0-managed services to strengthen your IT capabilities.

Do you know if the computer you use to access client data is safe? Don’t compromise your firm by leaving security vulnerabilities unchecked.

Outdated technology causes issues for future situations

Outdated System Creating Issues For Those Filing For Unemployment

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Outdated Systems

As the temporary shutdown forces millions of people out of a job, millions of Floridians struggle to file for unemployment due to the Florida Reemployment Assistance Program’s outdated website.

These website crashes leave many Floridians confused and desperate to find work. The system used by the Florida Economic Opportunity is called CONNECT. The CONNECT system runs on a software that dates back to 2013. Some of the system framework used to build the application seems to date back to the time of Governor Rick Scott.

Connect Keeps Crashing

The CONNECT system doesn’t seem to have been designed with an end date in mind. In other words, there was no plan put in place to replace or update it.

This results in slow and unstable connection to the site when users open the program from a P.C. using Windows 7 or newer.

The Cloud is Constantly Connected

To avoid the hassles of running complex software and storing and processing large chucks of data, businesses and government agencies outsource these processes to cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services or Nerds Support. That way, applications and programs are scalable and operate more efficiently.

The CONNECT system was developed before the time of cloud computing was as popular as well known. Governor Ron Desantis himself has acknowledged a flaw with the website.

“The website would be down more than half the time, it would take seven second just to connect through,” he said. ” It may have been okay in 1996, not in 2020.”

Old Browsers Beat Beyond Belief

Considering Windows 7 itself has recently reached the end of life period, you can image how problematic it is for people trying to use the current system.

This is why so many people in Florida struggle to file for unemployment.

This, however, is not an isolated incident.

Labor Department Lagging Log ins

New York’s State Department of Labor also experienced a flood of traffic to their website as people try to apply for unemployment as well.

The governor of New York got various tech companies to work on the infrastructure of the website. Furthermore, it increased server capacity and assigned 700 staff members to an unemployment insurance hotline.

Filing Formula Fixes Freeze

The State Department of Labor also asks to reduce the surge of traffic by scheduling when citizens file. For example, people with last names A- F apply on Monday, last names G-N apply on Tuesday, and last names O-Z apply Wednesday.

In Florida IT experts admit the existing website hasn’t been developed beyond earlier browsers. In order to navigate through the existing site, users would have to use an older, or outdated browser that functions better with the site.

Wednesday, April 8, Florida did provide a second website that was easier to use on smartphones and tablets. This helped ease the influx of traffic but many of the findings from the Office of Florida Auditors have not been addressed.

Word To the Wise From the Web

This should be cautionary tale for businesses with outdated IT or unaudited systems. This period of remote working should be an opportunity to review your IT network and infrastructure and ensure everything from security to data and filing systems are updated.

Even outsourcing some of these tasks to a cloud provider can dramatically increase the productivity and efficiency of your business.

If you’d like more information on cloud, cyber security, remote work or managed services visit our blog or contact us at 305-551-2009.

 

Business employees joining a video conference call

How to Choose Your Video Conference Apps: Zoom, Microsoft Teams & Skype

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The outbreak of Covid-19 has forced business to adapt to remote work quickly. An important aspect of working remotely is video conferencing.  Therefore, utilizing the best applications and services are essential for a smooth remote experience.

The three most popular Video Conference applications are Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. Therefore, we’ll review them here to make sure you have all of the information you need to make the best decision.

Zoom

The Zoom conferencing application works on Mac, PC, Android and IOS. They offer a free plan that hosts no larger than 100 people. There is a paid option for medium and small businesses for $15 to $20 a month. For larger businesses, the application offers a $20 a month plan for a minimum of 50 people per Zoom call.

Zoom has HD video and audio, video recording capabilities, screen-sharing and co- annotation. Gmail, Outlook and iCal support Zoom meeting scheduling. You can set a meeting on your email service by integrating it with your calendar. Hosts can schedule meetings and send notification to attendees.

If you can’t use the microphone or camera, Zoom has a chat feature that allows you to communicate through text. This is useful during meetings or presentations where participants need to ask questions without interrupting the host.

You can sign up for Zoom free by creating an account with email or singing in with either Google or Facebook.

When using Zoom you must keep in mind their recent controversy and security issues. There have been concerns over the app’s privacy risks involving “zoombombing.” The education department in the US as well as several businesses have instructed employees to switch from Zoom to Microsoft Teams while the issues are resolved by the company.

However, you can still use the application if you take simple security measures to protect your meetings. You can use a meeting exclusive ID or enable Zoom’s wait feature “Waiting Room” that allows you to see who wants to join your meeting before giving access.

Microsoft Teams

If your company uses Microsoft Office 365, you already have access to Teams. The application offers the same features as any other conferencing platform like audio calls, video conferencing and chat. As a Microsoft platform it can integrate with other office applications like PowerPoint and excel for meeting that involve going over figures or presentations. It’s also compatible with other office apps like Word for file sharing.

On Teams you can video conference with 250 people at once. Also, you can live present with a maximum 10,000 people. You can talk to colleagues privately or over certain channels. You can even focus attention to a group or an individual with the mention feature.

Meetings can be scheduled through the Teams application itself or on Outlook.

It appears Microsoft Teams doesn’t share the same vulnerabilities Zoom does. It stated in a blog post that it doesn’t use your camera features to track participant attention, or use personal data to create ads. Microsoft Teams, it appears, is making a point to distinguish itself from Zoom in these ways.

Like Zoom you can download a free version but if you have Office 365 it comes included. In March of 2020, Microsoft made the free version accessible to businesses and schools for use without a subscription to Office 365. Microsoft is offering a six month free trial of its new Office 365 E1 for businesses that don’t already have Teams licenses. Moreover, there are business plans that have Teams included start at $5 a month per user.

Skype

Skype can sustain up to 50 people per video call which is good for business meetings. It can also record calls and caption if necessary. Skype integrates with mobile devices and tablets and functions like a VoIP phone service. It has caller ID, voicemail, file sharing, split screen and screen sharing.

Additionally, it has a chat for text communication. The benefit of Skype is these features are available for free upon downloading the application.