Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/80319
Have you found business success via so- cial media, either via recognizable ROI, new customers, marketing or networking? Srinivasu Maradana MCP, SCJP — 36 Senior Manager A&A; of Accounting, Audit & Workflow, CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business Wichita, Kansas At CCH, social media has be- come a part of our business operations. Prospects are enquiring about our products on LinkedIn; our customers are conversing in a group about product opportunities and best practices. These Hobbies: New technologies, conversations get translated into new en- hancement requirements where appropri- ate, it gives us an opportunity to see what our customers are trying to solve for. We also have dedicated resources that moni- tor and participate in conversations. Have you embraced cloud computing? LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smaradana Education: M.S., Wichita State University Cloud computing is slowly becoming a part of our life and daily operations. Personally, I use DropBox, Office 365 and SkyDrive for making my files acces- sible from multiple devices. As a software development company, we rely on cloud and virtual environments for development, testing and production environments. We are also considering on demand scale out models for supporting peak processing capacity around filing deadlines. From a customer perspective, CCH is committed to delivering the entire suite on SaaS platform which also opens up the door for third party integration via the CCH open integration platform (OIP). How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how con- cerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Golf, Photography, Sci-Fi Accounting profession deals with sensitive data and when it comes to storing data on the cloud, security concern is at the top of the list of requirements. Key is to work with providers who offer services and infrastructure that adhere to (SOC2) SAS 70. In the consumer market, cloud computing has started to take deep roots; there is high adoption of tools like mint and conducting bank transactions over mobile device. This has opened up a big door of efficiency for the accounting profession to pull transactions into ac- counting and tax systems. Collaborative tools like ProSystem fx Portal eliminate the need for paper exchange. At CCH, we have started to look into Big Data analyt- ics and opportunities that it creates for our customers. What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? A smartphone, it has given me the con- nection to the entire universe and quite a few apps. For work, I am connected via email and Windows IM. When it comes to hobbies like golf, I love GolfCard GPS and SwingPlane. Other apps I like are Google Maps, Skype and Bing. Very recently I picked up Wikitude which is an augment- ed reality browser. 48 | 2012 CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 BACK TO PAGE 4 How mobile are you regarding your work? How have mobile devices and apps impacted your productivity and work-life balance? Mobile devices have definitely helped improve work life balance. Email is the most important thing, before the days of iPhone and BlackBerry, I would be tied to my laptop late into the evening and on the weekends. Now I can respond to or address any critical issues without having to sit in front of a PC. NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? Apple, for its dedication to build products that delight and amaze customers. They added the adjective beautiful to technol- ogy. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I like watching cricket, football and some golf. I would not miss the SuperBowl and Cricket World Cup finals.