Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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16 February 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com TECHNOLOGY IN PRACTICE By Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP CES 2016: Future Gadgets Tin is In: Lenovo unveiled the Yoga 9 0 0 s l aptop/t ablet hy br id which they compressed into a half inch thick form factor when either closed or fipped into tablet mode. Tis device is hailed as the "world's thinnest conver tible laptop," and while it may be slightly heav y at 2.2 pounds, this is because of the solid feel of the hinge which allows the keyboard to fold completely under the screen to function equally well as a tablet. Tis product could be a "tweener" unit between tablet and laptop when you need a litle of both, with the only negative we felt being t hat t he keyboa rd is so t h i n, you need to have a l ig ht touch when typing. Upgrade Your Headset: Talking on your smartphone, participating in video conferencing, and listening to webinars are all part of a CPA's normal work day and most of us have diferent dev ices to accommodate each of these communication needs. Plantronics showed of their Voy- a ger Foc u s UC He ad set w h ic h a l lows you to replace you r of f ice computer and smartphone headsets with one unit that can easily switch between your PC and taking a call on your sma r t phone when in t he of f ice. T he latest iteration of this headset combines stereo sound with active noise cancelling technolog y that erases all those ambient ofce noises and allows you a mobile range of almost 100 feet (so you can grab that second cup of cofee while lis- tening). It also has a helpful auto- matic mute feature if you have to take the headset of and an audible reminder if you try to talk when in mute mode. Improving CPA Productivity: Study afer study is pointing out how really bad siting all day is, which unfortunately, most CPAs are guilty of. 2016 appears to be the year when Cor porate Wel l ness ta kes prece- dence w it h wea rable f it ness pro- viders such as Garmin upping their ga me to combine comprehensive w e l l n e s s p r o g r a m s w i t h t h e i r Vivoft , Vivosmart and Vivoactive devices to monitor and measure if 1 6 F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 6 • w w w . C P A P r a c t Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP is Director of Consulting for Xcentric, LLC and works with accounting frms to optimize their internal production workfows within their tax, audit, client services and administrative areas. His Quantum of Paperless Guide ( Amazon. com ) has been updated with paperless benchmark statistics and outlines 32 digital best practices all accounting frm partners need to understand. T he year started of with a bang as we cruised the aisles at the annual Con- sumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas w i t h 1 7 0 , 0 0 0 o t h e r t e c h n o l o g y adventurists. CES is the largest con- sumer electronics show in the world where the latest gadgets are launched and provides an opportunity to preview the products and trends that could impact consumers in the near future. 2016 was another record setting year with over 3,800 vendors spread out over 2.47 million square feet of show foor (that's a lot of walking!). Afer three days of press briefngs and product announce- ments, we highlight our list of the top accounting related technologies and trends that could one day make their way into your frm. Roman Kepczyk poses with a Star Wars Storm Trooper replica at CES 2016.