Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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January/February 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 23 BRIDGING THE GAP By Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP 6 Criteria for Cloud Evaluation Ultimately mak ing the decision of whether we are cloud believers or opponents. But we should really be judging solutions on their individual merits, just as we've done with on premise solutions. So, what are the key criteria for evaluating a cloud solution? Mobile T h e w o r l d i s b e c o m i n g m o r e mobile ever y day a n d w e c a n n o l o n g e r t a l k a b o u t prepa r i ng for mobi le computing – it is here. W hile not all mobile apps require a connection to a cloud solution, it does simpl i f y things and reduces friction of data fow. As you do your evaluation, you must get a grasp on the provider's mobi le st rateg y. Do t hey have a mobile app? If not, are they working on one? A nd , it 's not ju st about having an app but one that makes life easier and addresses a current pain point for mobile workers. Real-Time We live in a world of instant gratif i- c a t i o n . W e n o longer have to wait for the evening news or the next day's newspaper to learn what's going on in the world. W hy should we have to wait for our crit- ical business data to be updated so we can make decisions? Real-time d a t a f e e d s a n d d y n a m i c d a s h - boards/repor ts are becoming the nor m . Understa nd i ng whet her a solution is tapping into real-time data is a must. We no longer have to setle for solutions that periodically up d at e ou r d at a a nd pu l l s t at ic re p or t s . We w a nt a nd ne e d t he information based on now and with the cloud, we can have it. Hardware Agnostic E v e r y o n c e i n a while I run into a frm that has exited the PC world and is running all Apple com- puters. It's certainly not the norm and not even a large minority. But there is defnitely a movement away from the days of the standard issue PC. Workers access data and sys- tems from PCs, Macs, Tablets and Smar tphones using various oper- ating systems. A solution that works across the spectrum of platforms is becoming more important. A nd the e x pec tat ion is not si mply t hat it works on any dev ice but also that there is a common user interface. Scalability Sca labilit y is one of those tried and t r u e c r i t e r i a w e have been using in the sofware evalua- tion process for years. However, we've primarily looked at it from a perspective of "can it scale as our organization grows?" W hile this is very important we also must look at scalabilit y in terms of our client base. Can it meet the needs of our smaller, simpler clients while at t he sa me t i me cater ing to la rger, complex businesses? Sometimes the answer will be "no" and you'll either need to explore another solution or select multiple tools to serve clients. Open Architecture I n t e g r a t i o n h a s a l w a y s b e e n i mpor t a nt but i s becoming increas- ingly so as cloud solu- tions mature and gain momentum. A n open architecture w i l l be the determinant to f uture success for solution providers. As I wrote in my c ol u m n on c lou d e c o s y s t e m s a c o u p l e m o n t h s a g o, t h o s e t h a t accept that they can't be all things to a l l people w i l l adopt a n open, col laborat ive approach a nd w i l l have an advantage. Tose who hold on to a closed, proprietar y model w il l likely get lef t behind as they frantically try to hold on to market share of their legacy systems. Need for Speed T h e p a c e o f c h a n g e i s i n c r e a s i n g a n d technology is at the hea r t of muc h of it . Select solutions that have not only a willingness to listen and adapt to the needs of the market but also the resources to respond quickly. Speed maters and the pace of innovation will only intensif y making it more important that your solution pro- viders continuously keep their eye toward the future. In reality, selecting a cloud solu- tion is not all that diferent from the traditional process we've used with on premise sof t ware. However, if you combine the six criteria above w it h t hose t i me-tested measures you've been relying upon for years, you' ll end up w ith a solution that meets your needs today and into the future. Jim Boomer is a shareholder and the CIO for Boomer Consulting , Inc. He is the director of the Boomer Technology Circles™ and an expert on managing technology within an accounting frm. He also serves as a strategic planning and technology consultant and frm adviser in the areas of performance and risk management. In addition, Jim is leading a new program, Te Producer Circle, in collaboration with CPA2BIZ and the AICPA. C loud computing continues to be the topic of much discus- sion and debate as frms map out their future technology r o a d m a p s . M u c h t h a t 's writen is about the benefts and challenges of the cloud as a whole. As we evaluate cloud solutions, should our process for evaluation be any diferent than in the past? Tere is a tendency to lump all cloud solutions together and then analyze them on the aggregate. cpa_23_Boomer.indd 23 2/5/14 2:27 PM