Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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TIPS & TRICKS 4 Tools to Help Boost Your Business Clients' Productivity B Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor Isaac is the Editor for CPA Practice Advisor, having joined the publication in September 2002. Through his experience in the areas of consumer and professional-level software and peripherals, as well as knowledge of the public accounting fi eld, he provides reviews of technologies used by accountants and their business clients as well as contributing a regular column that provides helpful information that ranges from improving search techniques to when to upgrade a computer to computing security issues. He can be reached at isaac.obannon@cpapracticeadvisor.com. WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAS IMPACTED YOU THE MOST? Send an email to editor@ CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/fb) to share your thoughts about how technology has shaped your practice over the years. CPAPracticeAdvisor.com or go to our Facebook page (www. 8 February 2012 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com Building a successful small business is a great accomplishment, one that oſt en requires dedication, long hours and persistence. Thomas Edison's quote about genius being "one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspira- tion" holds true for entrepreneurship, whether building a bet er mousetrap, developing more desired goods, or off ering services that customers may not yet know they want and need. Just as modern tax and accounting practices now fi nd the need to con- tinually assess their workflow pro- cesses and the tools they use for client service and fi rm management, so too must small businesses keep their eyes and minds on their own processes, and technology that can help them level the playing fi eld against potentially larger competitors and surpass others. Among the myriad lists of common traits among successful entrepreneurs is the ability to not only adapt to change, but to manage those changes strategically. To proactively seek out the "bet er, faster, smarter" ways of production or service, and to keep the customer experience at the forefront of decisions that might aff ect them. What are these tools? Where can you fi nd them? T e answer to the fi rst question, of course, is that there is no shortcut list of hardware, technology and apps that magically help every kind of client. The answer to the second question is all around us. T ere are literally thousands of technologies geared toward the small business market, which can make fi nding the right fi ts challenging. In this column, I highlight a few business-focused gadgets that I think can have a dramatic benefi t to some of your business clients, and I identify the types of businesses that each one is best suited to, along with how it can help. Square Card Reader & App (www.squareup.com) Target Small Business Type: Small retailers and service businesses wanting a simple and mobile way to accept credit and debit card pay- ments. Overview: Consumers are con- tinuing the long trend toward elec- tronic payments instead of carrying and using cash. Whether grabbing day-to-day items, making larger pur- chases or charging expenses, there's no doubt that paper money is losing its popularity and the days of the paper check are numbered. T is means that small businesses really must accept plastic in order to be competitive. Whether it's a traditional store, kiosk at the mall, taco truck, consultant, plumber or a yard maintenance ser- vice, having the ability to quickly and securely accept payments takes the headaches out of invoicing and gets the revenue into the business' bank immediately. Until recently, a small business wanting to accept electronic payment cards was faced with the prospect of difficult and potentially expensive merchant account services programs. But with Square, all they need is a