Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/40356
Dan Nicholson, CPA — 30 (continued) Cell phone: Droid 2. opportunities to countless young people similar to me to move into leadership positions quickly and define their futures. To me, UPS is as much a shipping company as they are a technology company. They are able to leverage their technology infrastructure globally on a daily basis. The consistency with which they do this is almost unmatched. Other than SMS on your cell phone, what is your favorite way to IM with your friends and family? Google Gtalk What is your favorite smartphone or tablet app? Picking a favorite app for me is like choosing a favorite child — it's virtually impossible. My favorite apps really vary based on the circumstances. We use Google Apps to run our email boxes and calendars. As such, I use the Gmail app constantly throughout the day as I move between meetings. Conversely, when a squirrel is in Dan Zitting, CPA.CITP, CISA — 29 Founder/CEO — Workpapers.com & Partner — Linford & Company LLP New York, New York Blog URL: http://www.workpapers.com/blog Twitter ID: twitter.com/danzitting Education: BSBA (IS & Finance) from Colorado State, MS Accountancy from Notre Dame Professional Associations/Memberships: AICPA, ISACA, IIA, ACFE Hobbies: Travel, Golf, Skiing, Writing code and Enjoying NYC What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? My MacBook Pro. The iPhone is the obvious answer, but my Mac is where I design software, write code and do the client work. That is where the "real" magic happens. NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? That's easy — Orchards ACE Hardware, in Loveland, Colorado. It is my dad's hardware store, where I grew up working. It is a model of what great businesses should be. The team there is 100% customer focused, operationally excellent, and gets far more done per person than almost all the large corporations I've been involved with. Do you embrace cloud computing? Yes. We built the first ever fully cloud-based audit management system, Workpapers.com. Most vendors are moving in that direction. However, we did it from day one, because that was exactly what my firm wanted — a fully hosted, painless and affordable audit management system we could use to run our projects and our firm. We couldn't find a vendor that offered this, so we built it ourselves. Other organizations soon wanted to use it, too, and Workpapers.com was born. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how con- cerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? I hope we are changing the profession by helping accountants focus on accounting again. Our customers can forget entirely about IT, servers, software, "upgrades," etc. The security issues should be carefully considered, as this is our clients' data, after all. But most reputable vendors can protect that data even better than is possible internally. Workpapers.com is developing programs, aligned with the guidance of the Cloud Security Alliance, that are bringing an entirely new level of security and transparency to our cloud-based solutions. Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+) as a marketing tool for your practice/business … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Have you gained any clients/ customers or seen other demonstrable benefits from the use of social networking? We market and com- municate through social networks (especially Twitter and LinkedIn) and have found "real world" customers, vendors AND employees/contractors there. I think we're ahead of the curve, overall, but still far from realizing the full potential possible of these powerful tools. What are some ways your firm/business has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? Linford & Company is 100% paperless. We keep all of our audit documentation in Workpapers. com. In the case of hard copies received from clients, we tick mark, scan and upload, but try to avoid that if possible. Everything administrative is stored securely on cloud storage and synced across the team with Dropbox (a mar- velous tool). What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social networking etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? Stop thinking "MARKETING" and start thinking "COMMUNICATION." We fall into the same trap, but your marketing voice generally falls on deaf ears in social networks. There is too much of that there already. Cell phone: The iPhone 4 (with the forthcoming Workpapers.com mobile app). The ultimate audit tool is right in my pocket! What is your favorite smartphone or tablet app, and why? Set the Workpapers.com app aside (due to my overwhelming bias), and it is easily Golfshot GPS. It is thoroughly used at every opportunity! How many monitors do you have on your desk? One (27" Apple Cinema Display). I've tried everything from one to six and find additional monitors are very useful for a limited set of tasks, but entirely distracting for most "everyday" work. 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? No chance at all that they will continue to implement servers. Some may be slow to come around, but why endure the brain damage when there is accounting work to do? My firm hasn't owned a single server in four years, and our daily workflow is fabulous. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? The Denver Broncos, Notre Dame football, the Yankees in October, and Sundays at the majors. What are some of your favorite books & TV shows? Everyone in business should read "Rework" by Jason Fried and "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh. Everyone on "Spaceship Earth" should read Buckmin- ster Fuller's books, and everyone should stop watching so much TV (although Entourage and Weeds are just too good to miss). Other than SMS on your cell phone, what is your favorite way to IM with your friends and family? Skype is an amazing tool I use every single day with people across several countries, but I use it almost exclusively with voice/video, not as IM. I honestly hate IM and just find it totally distracting. the yard and our dogs cannot resist the urge to express their excitement, the Android LightSaber is surprisingly effective. They either respect The Force or dislike the sound the LightSaber app makes. 10 Back to Contents Page 3