Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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2013 2012 EXECUTIVE PREDICTIONS YEAR IN REVIEW & The World is Going Mobile. Are You? Where does your data live? For many firms, 2012 was the year when data and applications went mobile. We've seen an unprecedented shiſt to the cloud, thanks largely to the mobile data networks and devices that are making cloud-based data accessible anywhere and everywhere. Paper is fading fast, with consumers printing 40% less of it than they did just a few years ago. It's a bottom-up, consumer-driven push, and it has the potential to create the greatest surge in productivity since the Internet went mainstream. It's that big. But with the shiſt away from paper and the prevalence of mobile connectivity and instantaneous access, firms have a choice to make. Will they try to prop up their old processes with add-ons and patches? Or will they fully digitalize, investing in a more productive, more collaborative, and more profitable future? In my view, it's no choice at all. Digitalization is a necessity for JONATHAN A. BARON Thomson Reuters PREDICTIONS FOR 2013: Jon has more than 35 years of experience providing technology solutions for the accounting profession. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters in 1992, he spent 17 years with Wolters Kluwer, CCH. He was vice president of technology development at Thomson Reuters from 1992-1998 and was responsible for the design and development of the Creative Solutions suite of products. In July 1998, he was promoted to president and CEO of the Creative Solutions business. In 2004, he was promoted to the position of president of the Professional business unit of Tax & Accounting and today is Managing Director, Professional Segment for the Tax and Accounting business of Thomson Reuters which focuses on the accounting, bookkeeping, and tax software market in the U.S. and Canada. Jon holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Siena College and an MBA from Boston University. t CS.ThomsonReuters.com Te mobile web will become invisible. Like all world-changing technologies, the mobile web will become so ingrained in our daily lives that we will cease to notice it. It will become an accepted and expected business tool. You will use it for more and more of the heavy liſting of your day-to-day workday. You will have access to your clients, your applications, and your data wherever you go, and so will everyone you do business with. Firms that do not adapt will be leſt behind. Creative destruction will further divide the profession into "haves" and "have-nots." Creative destruction is the force generated when new innovation rushes in. It can be very disrup- tive to established business models. And business leaders need ABOUT THOMSON REUTERS For more than 30 years, the Tax & Accounting business of Tomson Reuters has been a leading provider of technology and integrated information for tax and corporate professionals in accounting firms, corporations, law firms, and government. Te CS Professional Suite and Enterprise Suite™ from Tomson Reuters represent two of the most advanced, integrated suites available for accounting professionals. With leading products that include UltraTax CS®, Accounting CS™, Workpapers CS, NetClient CS, Practice CS®, and GoFileRoom®, these comprehensive suites are designed to work together seamlessly, allowing every task to flow efficiently from start to finish and eliminating redundant work. Learn more at CS.TomsonReuters.com. myPay Solutions, also from Tomson Reuters, offers payroll processing services designed with the accountant in mind. It's the ideal solution for accounting firms that want all the benefits of providing their clients with payroll services, without the liability or hassle of processing it. Learn more at CS.TomsonReuters. com/myPay. to choose whether to expend energy and resources fighting it, or to use its energy to drive new innovations and seize opportunity. Te term "paperless office" will become redundant. Paper is already the exception rather than the rule. Paper and offices will have less and less to do with each other in the year ahead, and the term "paperless office" will become about as useful as "horseless carriage." It's oſten said that technology creates winners and losers. But the great thing about working in the tax and accounting profession is that you get to choose which path to take. Will you carry the torch of the past until it burns out or embrace a brighter future? It's up to you. firms that want to stay relevant. Customers expect the businesses they work with to be digital. And on the firm side, mobile informa- tion and digital workflow are no longer add-ons to the process, they are the process. With that in mind, we've spent 2012 creating the tools that will help firms access and work with data seamlessly across an ever-increasing variety of devices, including: A new NetClient CS® mobile app. Our new mobile app for NetClient CS is the first of its kind, an extension of NetClient CS portals. It enables accounting firms and their clients to access their services and content on the go, but keeps the firm in control of which services are available. It's branded with the firm's name and logo, and it offers your clients access to tax returns, financial statements, and other documents, as well as online accounting and payroll services, payroll data, and more. New capabilities in Workpapers CS™. Workpapers CS is a comprehensive, all-digital, cloud-based way to gather, organize, and manage workpapers and source documents for digital tax workflow and more. We've added a variety of new enhancements for this year, including a PDF annotation tool that allows users to import PDF images from mobile devices or other sources and add tickmarks, stamps, text, and more. Redesigned, next generation staff and client portals with a clean, flat navigation structure. Tis provides staff of accounting firms that use CS Professional Suite® apps with easier, more intuitive online navigation and provides clients of the accounting firms that use NetClient CS client portals with the ability to access their documents more easily with fewer clicks. It also includes a built-in task center that enables the accounting firm to alert clients of important to-do items that pop up for the client in the portal. 22 December 2012 t www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com