Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/643338
February 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 15 FROM THE TRENCHES imagine a CPA frm that has any cli- ents as guests in a conference room that wou ldn't ow n one or more of these presentation boards. I ntel 's open i ng key note for t he conference was packed with all sorts of technology. You can read about it from other sources. For accountants, the new SkyLake processor chip is making all current generation com- puters faster. Te facial and object recognition of Intel's RealSense will get quite a bit of press this year as products using the technolog y are released. Te RealSense camera is the only certifed login device for the new Windows 10 Hello feature besides the Microsof Surface. You'll note my face was scanned and placed on the large statue in the Intel booth using this technolog y. Intel has shipped their TrueKey password management which is sufcient for personal pass- words, but won't be ready for use by accountants for business pur poses until sometime in 2017. We have admired YubiKey since it frst came out 8 years ago, and there i s a n e w v e r s i o n t h a t h a s b e e n released. Tis hardware token helps lock up passwords with multi-factor authentication. Te hardware fob is relatively low cost, and makes pass- word m a n a gement produc t s l i k e LastPass more secure by enabl ing multi-factor authentication. Higher performance home wire- l e s s f r o m n e w c o n s u m e r g r a d e p r o d u c t s l i k e T P L i n k , B e l k i n Li n k Sys, DLi n k a nd A mped were also every where at CES. As we sug- gested in 2014 and emphasized in 2015, it is time to replace all older 802 .11b/a/g/n ha rdwa re w it h t he new 802.11ac/ad units. Tese result in higher throughput to computers, tablets a nd phones as wel l as pro- v id i n g b e t t e r s e c u r it y. B u s i ne s s 802.11ac is commonly available now. Buy the Right Supporting Technology Many of us buy ex pensive tablets, computers a nd ot her components t r y i n g to g i ve ou r u ser s a bet ter ex per ience. Some of t he upg rades named above are less than $100 and a simple tool like the iR izer is only a r o u n d $ 4 0 . W h i l e y o u m a y b e think ing that if you are work ing in the cloud, hardware doesn't mater, that may be only partially true. Hardware doesn't mater as much, but if it is slow, hard to use or is doing d a m a g e t o y o u r t e a m m e m b e r s because of poor ergonomics, hard- ware maters a lot. If you sk imp on hardware for your team members, you are paying for this in lost produc- t iv it y. Consider a l l ha rdwa re a nd sofware components for your users, a nd pick appropr iate solut ions to maximize their productivity. How Nonprofi ts Can Reduce Operating Costs. Designed specifi cally for nonprofi ts seeking to reduce operating costs and improve management fl exibility, the AccuFund Accounting and Business Operations Management Suite, is available in cloud or on-premise versions. Access AccuFund's core accounting functionality through any windows-based browser, from anywhere, to help you: • Access your strategic reports • Accelerate management decisions • Improve team performance and organizational productivity • Lower IT costs and enhance data security Let AccuFund help you increase your operational effi ciencies and lower your costs while generating more detailed strategic reports and streamlined operating processes. Learn more at try.accufund.com/accufund-cpa or call today 877-872-2228 ext. 215. For more information, please visit CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10014841 A CES attendee looks at mobile devices. Randy Johnston at CES 2016.