You can take action immediately because you have so much more instant information. “Banks are now online, so transactions arrive overnight and you can do your bank reconciliation, over coffee, on your mobile phone. With business data safely online, you are able to connect to a whole lot of things. The first phase was building the accounting features you would expect in standard desktop software, and the next bit is super-interesting. “We are just at the end of the beginning of the cloud. Rod Drury, finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 and founder/CEO of world famous (certainly in the IT world) Xero, is even more absolute about the cloud. “It’s all about feedback, integration and fine-tuning/improving the product to suit needs,” Cotcher says. Reckon deals directly with customers and has a channel of accredited partners who recommend Reckon products to their clients. It’s all about the support structure we have in place across New Zealand and Australia, whether they are using a cloud-based product or a desktop product.” “The biggest factor in our business is the relationship we build with our customers. “The idea is you only pay for the modules as and if you need them – which certainly suits SMEs building up their presence or unsure yet which elements of ReckonOne will best suit their business. ReckonOne (the company’s cloud offering was launched in Australia earlier this year and will be available locally shortly after you read this) has hit-the-spot with its ability to ‘pick and mix’ the modules you want and need, and skip the ones you don’t, claims Cotcher. Businesses are already seeing the benefits of being faster, more mobile, more agile, in the market.” For SMEs – and remember New Zealand is a nation of SMEs, upward of 95 percent – the cloud is now and the future certainly more than just ‘a trend’. “It is certainly more than just a buzzword. We can work remotely, collaborate nationally and globally, have more immediate communication with our customers we can react at speed,” says Cotcher. “Technology has given us many things – and, in amongst that, it has given us freedom. If you are still in the working world, it’s virtually impossible not to have been affected by the connected world. “Our lives are more mobile, our outlook global, even for those who believe themselves to be less technologically savvy. Working with it, not against it – and getting the right support services to work with you to do that – is what will collectively move us forward,” she says. Embracing the advancement and growth of technology in a way that works for your business, by improving efficiencies, mobility and productivity. “Ultimately, if there are any buzzwords,” says Catie Cotcher, GM of Reckon NZ (nee Quicken and QuickBooks), “they should be ‘embracing change’. Software and accounting solutions providers are backing their words with a flood of new products and tens of millions of dollars in R&D as well as 24/7 support services and massive banks of cloud servers. If you are not au fait with the technology (as studies show a number of SME owner managers still aren’t) you now face the reality that even that once-immune-from-change part of your business, accounting, is headed for ‘the cloud’ – if it isn’t there already. It’s discussed across online platforms and traditional media, incessantly. It’s been called the ‘biggest paradigm shift in 20 years’. The world of accounting software continues to adapt, evolve and innovate – with the move to online-delivered solutions by far the biggest trend.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |