Why cloud for accounting firms; What other firms are doing; How to get started; Minimizing risk, maximizing opportunity

1. Cloud computing and how accounting
firms might take advantage
David Blumentals
Director CRM/xRM Strategy
A/P Dynamics Corporation

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• What is cloud computing
• Types of cloud computing
• Why cloud for accounting firms
• What other firms are doing
• How to get started
• Minimizing risk, maximizing opportunity
• Conclusion – takeaways and predictions

3. About me
• Founded Client Profiles Asia Pacific in May 2008 (Microsoft
Professional Services Industry Partner of the Year 2009, 2010, 2011)
– changed name to A/P Dynamics in May 2010
• 20 years‘ experience in IT and Professional Services (legal and
accounting). With a background in economics, finance and insurance
moved into marketing and business development in 1989
• Since 1997, focused on the successful delivery of Client Relationship
Management (CRM) systems, often integrating with Practice,
Financial and Document Management Systems
• A major project was development of the BankNET financial
management system and 2003 partnership with the Australian
Taxation Office on their Electronic Commerce Initiative to test the
process of electronic lodgement of the Business Activity Statement
from a ‗Web environment‘
• Prior to 2003 involved in many EDI and software development
projects including the first Windows systems developed for payroll,
HR and financial management

4. What do we do?
We use technology to help accounting firms
become more effective business developers – to
increase client billings with less effort
• What we believe in is that it is no longer just enough to be
good at what you do. You must also be good at winning
new clients and have systems in place to retain them
• We can help accounting firm staff to become more
systematic, organized, disciplined, innovative and
tenacious in their business development activities

5. Understanding the cloud

6. What is cloud computing?
A definition
Cloud computing is a complex
infrastructure of software, hardware,
processing and storage that is
available as a service. Cloud
computing offers immediate access to
large numbers of the world’s most
sophisticated supercomputers and
their corresponding processing power,
interconnected at various locations
around the world, proffering speed in
the tens of trillions computations per
second. Access is typically via a
simple Internet connection using a
standard browser

7. Typical uses
Business
 Web content management
 eCommerce
 Email management
 Client management
 Document management
 Financial management
Other
 Internet search – Google, Bing
 Internet banking
 Computer gaming
 Social networking
 Internet telephony services etc.

8. Types of cloud computing
Public cloud Hybrid Private cloud
Software as a service Increase User Productivity
Platform as a service Rapidly Develop Applications
Infrastructure as a service Reduce Server Management

9. By 2012, 40% of enterprises 60% of SMBs are interested
SaaS is forecasted to grow will adopt a blend of cloud in managed services – a
17.7% CAGR (Gartner) and on premises…to meet 100% increase from three
their UC needs (Gartner) months ago. (AMI-Partners)

10. Why the cloud for accounting firms?
NEW REDUCED REDEFINING
ECONOMICS MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

11. Cloud computing for accounting firms
Client communications – email, instant messaging Document management (SharePoint)
Client Relationship Management (CRM) Collaboration – shared access (client
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) portals)
Microsoft Outlook and Office applications Social networking
Outsourcing services
BUSINESS APPS BUSINESS USERS PLATFORM

12. What other firms are doing

13. Examples
From the perspective of:
• The partnership
• Clients & prospects
• Marketing team / business development
Growing the firm
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Brand building / reputation
Key clients
• Client acquisition (new clients)
• Online & offline marketing activities…
Engaging with clients:
• According to their expectations, and
• Via their preferred channel (email or
website)

14. Client communications

15. Messaging, content & thought leadership

16. Collaboration platforms

17. Partner portals

18. Client management (Web & Outlook)

19. Accounting (web-based)

20. Outsourcing eg. www.integraoutsourcing.co.uk

21. How to get started

22. Suitable for small and large firms
For professionals and small businesses,
service plans are designed for up to 25
employees who want:
• A solution without dedicated IT staff
• Essential email, calendar, and website
services
• Free online community support
• Month-to-month subscription
For midsize businesses and enterprises, any
size organization that wants:
• Advanced IT configuration and control
• Microsoft Office Plus, Active Directory
or advanced archiving
• 24x7 IT Administrator support
• Choice between monthly and annual
contracts

23. Pricing guide
• Desktop applications
• Eg. Microsoft Office 365 or Google Apps $5/user/mth*
• CRM and ERP applications
• Eg. Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Salesforce $50/user/mth*
• Email / social marketing applications
• Eg. CoreMotives, ClickDimensions, ExactTarget $200/mth
* - includes infrastructure, server licence and software updates;
accessed via standard Internet connection and web browser

24. Comparison of on-premise v. cloud
Based on 10 user CRM system On Premise Cloud
over 3 years
Software licences $9,500 na
Software updates $7,125 na
Monthly subscription ($50 per user pm) na $18,000
Computer hardware (est.) $5,000 na
Additional software (SQL) $2,000 na
Systems maintenance (est. 2 hours pm) $3,600 na
User training, help & support same same
$27,225 $18,000
Average cost per user per month $76 $50
Time to install 1 day 1 hour

25. Know your desired outcome
What do we want out of our systems?
• Increase revenues and profits?
• Get better information about our clients, referrers, staff, alumni?
• Manage marketing investments better?
• Track business development opportunities?
• Measure performance of our practice areas?
• Gain consistency/repeatable processes across practice groups?
• Manage time and billing (practice management)?
• Track documents and emails (document management)?

26. Know your firm and critical processes
What makes our firm tick?
• Are we doing the same steps each time?
• Do we have redundant processes between practice areas?
• What can be – or shouldn‘t be – automated?
• Will we have to change our firm to use these new systems?

27. Know when to connect with an expert
What do we need help with?
• Documenting what makes our firm really run?
• Determining if cloud computing is a fit for our firm?
• Learning from the experiences of other projects?
• Adapting systems to our firm needs?

28. Minimizing risk, maximizing
opportunity

29. The Internet, cloud and social media
= a world of opportunities
Look what’s at our fingertips
News
Blogs • A way to communicate with
colleagues, clients, prospects,
partners, friends, family
• Access to business applications
– use anywhere, anytime
• A means to learn, meet
people, and collaborate

30. Ready to use?
• The main advantage attributed to cloud computing is that the IT
service is ready to use. In other words, the firm doesn‘t have to adapt
to use the technology
• Also the cloud service ‗consumed‘ can be scaled up or down
according to need, all the time benefiting from the economies of scale
produced by a shared service
• Lastly, different pricing models can be used by the cloud provider,
including ‗pay as you go‘ or fixed plans
• So buyers of so-called cloud services have made up their minds about
the cost benefits of effectively outsourcing their IT resources and
paying according to usage—but are the potential risks understood?

31. Understanding the risks
Gartner, suggests seven specific security issues:
1. Privileged user access. Who manages the data, specific information
on hiring and oversight of privileged administrators and controls over
access
2. Regulatory compliance. Firms are ultimately responsible for the
security and integrity of their own data, even when it is held by a
service provider
3. Data location. Storing and processing data in specific jurisdictions,
and contractual commitments to obey local privacy requirements

32. Understanding the risks
4. Data segregation. Data in the cloud is typically in a shared
environment alongside data from other firms. What is done to
segregate data. Are encryption schemes designed and tested by
experienced specialists
5. Recovery. What will happen to your data and service in case of a
disaster? Can a complete restoration be performed, and how long will
it take
6. Investigative support. Investigating inappropriate or illegal activity
may be impossible in cloud computing
7. Long-term viability. Ideally, the cloud computing provider will never go
broke. But you must be sure your data will remain available after
such an event

33. In closing

34. The benefits of cloud are clear
Less
Resources
OpEx
Agility
Scalability
Control Savings
Capex Reliability
Security
Utility
Bandwidth
Efficiency
Transparency

35. Takeaways
• Cloud computing offers greater efficiencies and
cost savings for business
• Cloud computing, through online services like
CRM and social networking, can fundamentally
change (and help improve) enterprise
relationships with clients, partners and staff
• There is, however, a heavy organizational
change required to make sense of the services
available and the fit with the firm
• We are early in this transformational journey
with cloud computing still in its infancy.
Business and IT need to form strong alliances
and alignment to support the bottom line

36. Predictions
What will your firm look like in 2015?
• All of us will be smarter
• We will do more work as telecommuters, support more outsourcing
• We will see less computer servers in the office and more in the cloud
• Unified communications will integrate a multitude of channels
• Tablets will increasingly replace PCs and notebook computers
• Devices will become more ―interconnected‖ together with applications –
the ability for my purchase order to turn into your invoice and my payment
to become your cash receipt
• Applications will have sufficient intelligence to make decisions, as
assessed by the firm‘s CRM system
• Software will help distinguish invoices, letters and other forms and route
them automatically to relevant departments
• Fast search and BI will be supplemented with ―predictive analytics‖

37. Thank you!
More information, Q&A
David@xRM4Accounting.com