Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/40356
Joe Harpaz — 38 SVP & General Manager, Corporate — Thomson Reuters (Tax & Accounting) Hoboken, New Jersey Education: BS Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon & MS Finance, Zicklin School of Business - Baruch College CUNY Hobbies: Basketball, Tennis, Classic Cars What is your favorite smartphone or tablet app? Sonos. It's a great app for controlling music across the house. I also really like the new Verizon FIOS app that gives you an ability to control your home DVR remotely. As you can see, I enjoy music and movies when I'm home. Cell phone? iPhone. What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? My iPhone. Without it, I wouldn't know where to be and how to get in touch with people. Do you embrace cloud computing? Yes, cloud computing accelerates the ability to get solutions to market and to harness the power of computing at much lower costs. As a hosted solution, ONESOURCE, in effect, is a 'tax technology cloud.' In a pure sense, there is still much to be done, and we continue to enhance our solutions with APIs and SDKs to provide accessibility to our applications through web services and enabling large CPA firms to dynamically provision ONESOURCE cor- porate tax solutions on demand for their clients. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? I think cloud computing is a continuing evolution of web-hosted and SaaS offerings in the accounting profession. Accountants care about servicing their clients (whether it be a corporate tax department or a firm), and the ability to have a streamlined workflow that improves client service is the key. Technologies such as cloud computing are enablers of that. Security is a real concern, and there are daily reminders of the risk of hacking and data theft. What needs to be understood is that this issue is not any different whether a server is hosted Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+) as a marketing tool for your business … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Have you gained any customers or seen other demonstrable benefits from the use of social networking? For our corporate customers, we are at the early stages of social networking. Our customers have also started their own networks on LinkedIn and Facebook. We find that these groups help with informa- tion and best practice sharing. They are also used heavily for job networking across corporations. What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social net- working etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? People tend to forget that, effectively, what they write online is written in stone and likely to be accessible to all future colleagues and potential employers. What are some ways your firm/business has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? As a leading provider of technology solutions to major corporations worldwide, we have implemented much of the automation and technology that brings paper processes to electronic. Most of the ONESOURCE corporate tax solutions provide online reporting, electronic filing, and other tools that make all tax data and compliancy available in an online format. inside a firm, corporation or in the cloud vis-à- vis a data center. There needs to be on-going vigilance to ensure proper testing and monitoring of systems and hardening of environments through utilization of the latest technologies. Unfortunately, nothing is 100% as is evidenced by the high-profile cases of sophisticated hacking of major corporate and government institutions. Do you foresee the majority of firms still implementing servers for the majority of their computing in their offices five years from now or do you think they will be outsourcing this component to vendors who specialize in this area? Everything is going online, and the days of internal server-based solutions are in clear decline. New hardware such as iPads and new software solutions will all require the cloud to function. NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? Apple. A bit cliché at this point, but it is an amazing example of bringing technology, design and new era business models all together in harmony. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I watch as many Knicks games as possible. I don't miss the Super Bowl, NBA Slam Dunk competition and the NBA finals. What are some of your favorite books and TV shows? I am a big fan of all the new USA TV shows such as Burn Notice, White Collar and Covert Affairs. I am a fan of many espionage books and movies and also read the latest business and strategy books. I read the NY Times online, Car and Driver, and others. Monitors on your desk? Two, if you include my laptop screen. Other than SMS on your cell phone, what is your favorite way to IM with your friends and family? I don't have much time to do more than talk or text on the phone. I'm on Facebook, but rarely use it. 34 Back to Contents Page 3