Everything you ask about hosting accounting in the cloud. Leading experts provide answers.

Moving accounting to virtual servers is a common request to the Tucha team. However, before deciding to transfer programs and data to the cloud, customers often have some questions.

• “Are virtual machines right for my business?”
• “Is it possible to place in the cloud those programs that accountants work now in an office?”
• “What specialists will be able to work on virtual servers?”

If you are currently planning to place your accounting in the cloud and are looking for answers to such questions, this article is for you. Here, we've collected our experience in daily choosing solutions for clients and moving programs and data to the cloud, as well as the comments of Tucha partners – leading experts in business automation, who have been implementing accounting programs for companies for many years and placing them in the cloud from Tucha. Below, we answer all the questions step by step.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) can host the same accounting programs, web applications, and data as on local physical machines in the office. For example, it can be:

• programs accounting records maintenance, tax, personnel, and management records;
• programs for generating reports and maintaining electronic document flow;
• systems for managing relations with clients and planning enterprise resources;
• “client-bank” type applications;
• CRM and ERP systems, IP telephony;
• corporate mail;
• company knowledge bases, archives, documents, files of any format, etc.

That is, virtual servers do not differ from local physical servers in the office in terms of purpose and capabilities for hosting programs. However, they are much more reliable, protected, convenient and have a number of other important advantages, which experts will talk about in a separate article.

Virtual servers can help increase the protection of commercial data and simplify employee access to workspaces across various fields of activity and scales. These can be both small private enterprises with one or two outsourced accountants, and large corporations with a team of accountants.

“Custom programs make it easier to keep accounting and financial records in any field of activity,” says Olena Shatalina, head of the sales department of the group of companies Fort.Group. Based on her personal work experience, the expert believes that cloud services are a valuable tool for all participants in business processes, regardless of the type of entrepreneurial activity. She states, “On virtual servers, you can conveniently conduct tax reporting, quickly monitor calculations, prepare and submit electronic and paper reports, interact with a client-bank, and manage your electronic signature.”

Fort.Group has been working with Ukrainian enterprises and institutions for more than 20 years, and the main goal of the company remains the creation of software for enterprise automation, high-quality customer support, and the implementation of business automation systems. "Our customers include business representatives of all levels," Olena Shatalina adds.

Serhii Onoshenko, a co-founder of the company QWERTY Group, also notes that their clients are engaged in various types of activities, and most of their clients are retail trade, manufacturing enterprises, financial institutions, and other organizations that need accounting of their activities and conducting financial transactions. The QWERTY Group company provides a comprehensive range of services for the automation of business processes using software, from selection and sale to implementation and support. Thus, partners help companies to keep correct and accurate financial statements and prepare them on time, optimize tax burden, control expenses and plan budget, and also provide reliable hosting of accounting programs thanks to the cloud hosting from Tucha.

Clients of the company Intek-Inform, which has been operating since 2009 and provide comprehensive services in the field of information technology, namely, sales and support of accounting software, also specialize in various areas of activity. Yevhen Masenko, deputy head of Intek-Inform, notes, “We have experience in implementing and servicing various spheres of activity: trade, warehouses, retail stores, pharmacies, catering establishments, beauty industry and agriculture. But for the most part, we still focus on the agro-industry because we are best known there, and word-of-mouth marketing is more effective in that sector.”

At the same time, Yevhen Masenko draws attention to the fact that farmers often do not trust everything new and are reluctant to accept innovations, but a lot depends on the management. “From experience, managers are more interested in a new tractor or combine than in a new computer or a remote server. In such cases, to convince customers of the advantages of the cloud, we tell them about the convenience and mobility, data security they receive. Let's say business owners like to look at financial reports while on a business trip or vacation. And you can connect to the cloud from anywhere on the planet, which is very convenient,” says the partner. In addition, specialists of the Intek-Inform company have their own consultation line, which helps clients solve any problem related to accounting, tax, personnel, management accounting.

It is possible to organize work on a server for any professionals who work with accounting programs and data and who need convenient remote access to them at any time:

Accountants — both in-house and outsourced.

In the cloud, professionals can conveniently keep accounting records, create invoices, manage debt control, perform operations with payment of bills and payroll, perform other financial transactions. Moreover, cloud services are useful for accountants to conduct financial analysis, create reports and forecasts, automate many other tasks, such as automatic reporting, integration with banking systems to obtain transaction data, automatic tax calculation, etc. — in short, all the processes that an accountant usually performs daily.

Thanks to the placement of information on virtual servers, specialists can connect to a workspace from any corner of the world, quickly update information in programs and documents, work in a single space with colleagues and easily exchange data with clients.

Thus, cloud services simplify the work of accounting department specialists, help them use working time more efficiently, and improve the accuracy of their work.

For managers and company owners.

Hosting accounting programs and data in the cloud allows managers and business owners to view and control work with data at any time, monitor financial indicators, approve calculations, sign documents, make changes at any time and from any device. Furthermore, clouds facilitate convenient interaction between accountants, managers and other employees who are provided access to the workspace. All changes and updates are displayed in real time, which makes it much easier to share information and work together on tasks.

That is why cloud technologies are a powerful tool for managers and business owners; thanks to convenient remote access to accounting data, they help speed up decisions, manage company finances and resources more effectively.

The cloud is a useful solution for companies of all industries and sizes. Thanks to the ability to transfer all accounting programs and data, or some of them, to virtual servers, every company can now use the cloud and reap all its benefits. We will discuss these benefits in more detail in our next article, together with business automation experts.

If you have questions or a task for us, do not waste any more time: write or call us and get advice on choosing a personal solution.