Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/680172
May 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 17 TECHNOLOGY IN PRACTICE By Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP Survey Identifes CPA Firm Infrastructure and Workstation Trends Tese frms ofen have greater resources to evaluate peer solutions and do more in depth due diligence, highlighting solutions and recom- mendations which are becoming main- stream and eventually flter down to smaller frms. Below, I explore fve IT infrastructure and workstation trends for frms to consider as they evaluate system upgrades this summer: • Server Location: Te survey found that 71% of frms continue to host the majority of their servers and applica- tions within their own ofces in a traditional network environment. A small number (6%) had opted to main- tain their own network environment with internal IT personnel, but utilize a more secure external "colocation" facility to minimize the environmental risks as well as bolster security, Internet access, and power quality, with vendors such as ViaWest, IO, and Barracuda. A surprising 18% had opted to outsource their network infrastructure and management to a third party which would utilize a colocation facility to manage the network and outsource all network maintenance and application updates to the cloud hosting company. Te most listed hosted cloud provid- ers were Xcentric and IV Desk. Te remaining 5% of respondents were able to use the accounting application provider (Tomson Reuters Virtual Ofce/WoltersKluwer CCH A xcess) to host the majority of their applica- tions. TREND: With 3 out of 10 frms already moving their IT Infrastructure to third parties, we see the number of frms hosting their own networks in their ofces to continuing to decline as they transition more to the cloud. • Streaming Backup: Te survey found that 12% of frms still utilize tape backups which we have found to be time consuming and expensive compared to today's digital processes. 48 percent of respondents backed up to another onsite hard disk, which we recommend for more frequent backups and for easier restoration of lost or corrupted fles. Te survey found that 40% of frms that maintained their own networks were utilizing an Internet- based ofsite backup and that another 10% utilized cloud providers that also provided ofsite Internet-based backup. TREND: Te advantage of ofsite Internet-based backup solu- tions is that they can be automated to work every day and do not require the purchase and ofsite transportation of physical media so we see "disk to disk to Internet" becoming the accounting frm data backup standard. • Workstation Dominance: Similar to the Big Tree automotive manufactur- ers, CPA frms consistently selected three brands for the majority of desktop (62%-Dell, 23%-HP, 9%-Lenovo) and laptop (58%-Dell, 20%-HP, 17%-Lenovo) purchases. W hile the survey did not specify how many frms had transitioned entirely to laptops, it did note the 59% had standardized on the 15" laptop models with a built in number pad and a surprising 25% had purchased the larger 17" laptops which natively comes with the full keyboard/ number pad. Just over 10% continued to buy the smaller 14"-15" without the number pad, and less than 5% utilized smaller laptops or other devices such as the Microsof Surface. TREND: Having a full keyboard with number pad from one of the major computer vendors seems to be the direction frms are going on all workstations, and with the micronization of computer com- ponents, the lower weight, and beter batery life has frms choosing laptops with larger screens that are thinner and lighter in weight than legacy laptops. • OS Confgurations: Studies done in the past pointed to improved frm productivity when all personnel utilized the same operating system applications. Te 2016 CPAFMA sur- vey found that 75% of respondents were currently standardized on Windows 7, but roughly 35% said they planned on transitioning to Windows 10 by the end of 2016 (or had already done so for the majority of their computers before tax season started). 23% stated they would wait until 2017 or 2018, and 41% were waiting to confrm compatibility or had no plans to do so. For browser selection the majority (68%) utilized Internet Explorer, followed by 26% on Google Chrome and 3% on Mozilla Firefox. TREND: Microsof Windows 7 will continue to be the dominant desktop operating system for this year, but we anticipate frms will adopt Windows 10 on new workstations afer confrmation of compatibility with all our account- ing applications which we expect this summer. • Firmwide Application Selection: Te 2016 IT survey found that Microsof Ofce 2010 was the dominant group- ware version within responding frms (51%) followed by Ofce 2013 (39%). W hile Ofce 2016 had been released at the end of last year, only 3% had already adopted it. Te traditional accounting frm licensing structure has been to purchase an Ofce version for all personnel and then skip the next one or two releases to optimize the purchase price and internal training. Tis has been an efective strategy as the major accounting vendors ofen take an additional year to work through the compatibility issues with their own applications. With minimal "got to have" features in the latest Ofce versions, we anticipate frms on Ofce 2013 and older upgrading only when they have to. Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt is Director of Consulting for Xcentric, LLC and works exclusively 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 ) outlines 32 digital best practices all accounting frm partners need to understand today and incorporates the latest fndings of the CPAFMA technol- ogy survey. T he CPA Firm Management Association (CPAFMA.com), completed its 2016 Information Technology survey which identifed the latest IT infrastructure and workstation trends within medium and larger accounting frms. Formerly the Association for Accounting Administration, the CPAFMA has more than 1,000 members, of which 140 frms participated in the 2016 IT Survey which was completed in the frst quarter of this year. CPAFMA consists primarily of medium and larger frms with 90% of the respondents being in frms between 10 to 149 personnel and 49% being multi-ofce. CONTINUED ONLINE AT: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor. com/12202413