Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/40356
Marc T. Staut, MCP, MCSA, MCTS — 39 National Director of Technology — Reznick Group Bethesda, Maryland Blog URL: http://www.themobilecpa.com Twitter ID: twitter.com/mstaut Education: B.S. Psychology – Virginia Tech Professional Associations/Memberships: Boomer CIO Advantage, ITA, IGAF Polaris Hobbies: Voracious Reader, Home Brewer, Tinkerer with Technology NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? I believe technology should always be used to make people's lives better, so for me there is really only one choice: It's got to be Apple. They design all of their products with the user experience as their top priority. They make technology more accessible and usable to everyone, so it's not just for us geeks anymore. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I'm a huge fan of baseball as a whole, but the Atlanta Braves are my team! What are some ways your firm has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? Going green is a non-stop process of evolution for our firm. Several years ago, we went paperless with a new document management solution, workflow and revised tax/audit/consulting pro- cesses. Since then, we have been systematically eliminating our file rooms, which allows us to better leverage or use less space. From a technology perspective, we continue to invest in a virtualization strategy, which has a major impact on reducing the number of servers needed and power consump- tion. Also, we have a lot of remote connectivity options to staff so they can access their data from anywhere without the need to print out a bunch of files to take with them. Our firm has also participated in several local green initia- tives, been LEED certified in our home office, and we have an internal Green Committee to help drive initiatives. For example, in our newest building, we have eliminated plastic cups from all of the coffee and water stations. It's a small change, but those add up to make a big difference. Cell phone: Apple iPhone 4 Do you embrace cloud computing? Absolutely! The Cloud isn't just something that your IT team is talking about doing in the future. It's here now, and in many ways is most readily available and beneficial to the individual users more so than for companies that are still trying to determine what the Cloud Roadmap is going to look like. I'm rather sick of hearing about "the cloud" like it is something new. SaaS or ASPs have been around for the better part of a decade. And I stored files on the internet even before I first had a webpage. It was a fancy 'new' technology called FTP. But once I started thinking about "The Cloud" as something more than a clever rebranding of old technology, I started to get a lot more excited about it. It is essentially THE "maturation" of the technologies t hat we have been looking forward to for a very long time. Dropbox, for example, has taken internet file storage to an entirely new level. It is simpler, cheaper and more effective than ever. And it makes our lives easier, which is the whole goal of technology. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Cloud computing isn't changing the accounting profession. An ever increasing demand for more mobility and accessibility is driving the adoption of cloud technologies. Additionally, the consum- erization of IT and the support landscape is changing rapidly. People want to bring in the latest and greatest devices, and we need to be able to support as many of them as possible. Every technology we evaluate now, we look for it to be both highly accessible and device agnostic. That drives us and the profession towards the cloud. Security in the cloud is definitely a huge concern. But security of data is critical regardless of who is hosting it. Can you provide the highest levels of data security internally? Probably not. But if you have your data in with a high value target, is it more or less likely someone will try to breach it? Probably more. So there has to be a balance. Before transferring any services to a provider, you've got to constantly ask yourself, "Who owns your data?" And if things don't go well, how do you get it back? That's going to lead most of us to a hybrid solution for the next several years. Some combination of Private Cloud and Public Cloud services will be the way most firms find the right balance of risk and reward. What is your favorite smartphone or tablet app? It's not super exciting, but GoodReader on my iPad is something I use daily, and couldn't live without. It handles nearly every document type, can markup and send out documents including PDFs, and has great integration with Dropbox. Do you foresee the majority of firms still implementing servers for the majority of their computing in their offices five years from now or do you think they will be out- sourcing this component to vendors who specialize in this area? I think it is going to depend on the size of the firm. There is still a much better ROI for outsourcing IT infrastructure in a smaller firm than in a larger one. They can get access to services they otherwise could not afford to have with their budgets. But as the vendors continue to scale their services up to support larger enterprise systems (and we are already seeing this happen), all firms will be moving down this road. In the next five years, the number of on-site servers will dramatically decrease to only one or two per location for even the largest offices. Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+) as a marketing tool for your practice … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Our firm is definitely leveraging social networking, though we are still in the early stages of implementing our long-term strategy. I think each of the major services has a role. I use LinkedIn more professionally, while Facebook is exclusively family and friends. Twitter is about building thought leadership, and sharing ideas with others. Google+ is the really intriguing one right now because it has the potential to be an aggregator of the best of all of the services. What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social networking etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? Social networks shouldn't be about self-promotion or ego building, and every post should serve a purpose and add value to whatever brand you are building. People often forget that they are a tool to build and maintain relationships. Don't do the digital equivalent of things you wouldn't do in person. Not spamming the people you are connected to seems like it should be common sense, but a lot of people do it. And you should always respect how people are using the different networks. If your company uses LinkedIn for professional contacts, you shouldn't be sending all of your co-workers friend invites on Facebook. If your firm uses Twitter to build thought leadership, leave out the updates on what your kids are up to or what you had for lunch. Other than SMS on your cell phone, what is your favorite way to IM with your friends and family? Facebook, and GTalk on occasion, but Google+ is starting to consolidate and take over most of the others for me. What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? It's got to be the smartphone. These days, they closely resemble much more of what I would consider a true "personal" computer than they do a phone. I use it for everything. What isn't on your smartphone? Obviously your calendar and email and tasks are always available. But it is also your personal assistant, your lifeline to your social networks, your media consumption device, your library of books, and you're always-at-hand entertain- ment machine. What are some of your favorite books and websites? Books: "Dune," "Stranger in a Strange Land," "Pillars of the Earth," "Atlas Shrugged," "Shadow of the Wind," "The Dresden Files," and any of the Travis McGee books. Tech Websites I check multiple times every day: Engadget, Tech Crunch, App Advice, Boy Genius Report and CNET. Monitors on your desk? Two external plus the Laptop. 21 Back to Contents Page 3