When I first started in this industry, our business was very much at the forefront of early 80’s technology with every person having their own Commodore PET! The mid-80’s brought us the UK-developed Apricots. Separate keyboards and monitors, there was no stopping the technology boom of the 1980s. Technology’s unstoppable march led us to the advent of Windows in the 1990s. Some would say this was a tipping point for the PC with various iterations of Windows, networking ready available, and something called the Internet appearing mid-decade.
Since then we have embraced and benefitted from a myriad of new technologies such as remote desktops, document management, email and the Internet itself. Services we take for granted and are using today were not available to us 5, 10 or 15 years ago and the process continues. Even the client satisfaction surveys we collect by iPad in reception were not possible three years ago.
As I look back at our technological journey, the one thing that has helped our business at every step is that we have always embraced the latest developments. The Apricot computer may seem outdated by today’s standards, but it had a hard drive that the Commodore did not. In the same way, Windows allowed us to run a simple network when previously we had standalone computers.
Probably one of the most rapidly changing developments at the moment is in the area of Cloud technology. We use different Cloud solutions within Urquhart Warner Myers because they bring efficiency with low costs and the ability for you to access your data anywhere on virtually any device. As more people are using mobile devices and tablets, for some uses, Cloud is the next wave on from desktop as the Apricot was from the Commodore for us all those years ago.
One excellent solution that we and a number of clients are using is Xero. Xero is one of the simplest online accounting solutions around yet is scalable dependent on the size of your business. Having used Sage for a number years, we moved our own accounts to Xero and have taken advantage of the automatic bank feeds and availability through the Cloud among other features. Our clients that have moved over no longer have to manually enter details of every bank transaction, it’s done by Xero. If you don’t want to, you don’t even have to enter your purchase invoices and receipts anymore either.
As we stand here in the middle of the development of Cloud technology, we are at an exciting moment. Cloud is in it’s infancy. As more users become comfortable with Cloud solutions, more will become available which can only be good for all of us. More choice, availability, lower TCO, more updates.
If you want to see how a Cloud solution such as Xero can help your business, get in touch with us today. Jonathan Myers is a Director at Leeds Accountants Urquhart Warner Myers who helps business owners achieve their business and personal goals. He can be found on Google+
