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Reviews For Your Firm HOSTING PROVIDERS Cloud9 Real Time Read the full review and see expanded ratings for this product online at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10986958 range of applications (currently BEST FIT reported as over 400 programs) and Cloud9 hosts numerous applications and databases used by accounting profescustom virtual servers for a wide range sionals, law frms, non-proft organizaof industries, including accounting frms, tions, and other businesses. law frms, and general small businesses. Te company reports that 65% of their • A standardized app hosting package is also available, with a more limited users work with professional tax and ofering that includes QuickBooks, accounting firms. Also, as one of two providers in this review which offer Sage 50, Microsof Word and Excel 2010, as well as SpringAhead, Bill. hosting of Canadian tax and accounting applications, firms with operations in com, and SmartVault. both the US and Canada may be particu- • Cloud9's President/CEO is a former accountant with years of experience larly interested in this company's oferoperating his own practice, and the ings. company hosts an impressive listing of applications for accounting profesSTRENGTHS • Ofer custom server hosting of a wide sionals. • The company provides hosting to f irms and their clients, w ith the income from client Quick Books hosting ofseting the frm's total IT expenditures. • New user setup is not automated, and may require intervention of tech support personnel during normal business hours (6A-6P weekdays, excluding holidays). and Sage 50 hosting are priced at $39.99 per month per user (Basic) and $49.99 per month per user (Plus), and do not include Intuit hosting fees of $5 per user per month. Users who prepay for these standardized hosting services receive a year of service for the price of ten months of hosting (e.g. $399 and $499 for Basic and Plus hosting, respectively.) Since Cloud9's virtual servers are confgured to meet individual needs, the POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS company prices these services on an • Data centers a re located i n t he individualized basis. Southwestern U.S. SUMMARY & PRICING Standardized oferings for QuickBooks 888-869-0076 www.Cloud9RealTime.com FIR ST -HA ND SPONSORED CONTENT Taking His Firm & Clients to the Cloud When he became a partner in the Ocala, Florida accounting firm Crippen, Trice, Ford and Torres, LLP (www.ocalacpa.com), Mike Torres, CPA, went on a mission to help make the practice more productive and to increase clients. Like most small businesses, most of the firm's clients are QuickBooks users, but serving them often required moving their data files and accountant copies via flash drive or other method, as well as other inefficient processes. So, his first goal was to find a more effective way to manage these clients and their books. The solution he found has helped transform much more than his client accounting needs, but almost everything in how the firm works, from internal processes to various client services. He turned to Cloud9 Real Time, a company that allows accounting firms to run virtually all of their software programs online, including write-up, tax preparation, practice management and even Microsoft programs. READ THE 2013 REVIEW OF CLOUD9 REAL TIME 8 August 2013 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com Mike's first step, he said, was getting everyone in the firm get used to running their programs via the Cloud9 Real Time servers. Aside from the initial log-in that starts on the firm's website, every other aspect of their programs are the same, so there's no relearning of these critical programs. It also allows the staff to have anytime, anywhere access to any of the programs they need access to, including Thomson Reuters' CS Suite, Ultra Tax plus their hosted Microsoft Exchange services with Cloud9. They even set up their entire server in the cloud. After getting the firm of about 30 staff using the system, they started moving clients to the cloud, giving them access to QuickBooks via the same convenient, hosted method that then lets the client have access to their own company files from wherever they are. Clients simply login to their QuickBooks via the accounting firm's website. Mike said he also appreciates that the system allows firm staff to have direct access to real-time client data anytime they need to. Another big advantage is that all of the data, whether client QuickBooks files or company data, is always backed up on servers with the highest security ratings. "Having the ability to monitor information in real time, to be able to see their financials more than once a month or quarter, has really been a great benefit," Mike said. "We are now able to give much more proactive advice and suggestions to clients, and to help them make changes where needed." In the three years since starting with Cloud9 Real Time, the firm has moved nearly 50 of its clients to the hosted services and it has helped them move into providing a greater range of services, including virtual CFO, day-to-day back-office functions, full payroll and payables management. It has also become a key focus of new business development, helping them bring in and manage more new clients each month than they did before, and without increasing staff. "Hosting our files and our client' QuickBooks files through Cloud9 Real Time has helped us eliminate nearly all of the tedious, after-the-fact work and focus more on helping our business clients be more successful."