Cloud Newsletter - March 2012

March 2012

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS... PG. 2____________________________________________________________

Can I Convert My Bills, Transactions and Restaurant Reservations to the Cloud?

Letter from Partner

BEWARE OF IMPOSTERS!PG. 1

TAKE I.T. TOTHE CLOUD

1 | SingerLewak March 2012

PA R T N E R L E T T E R

BEWARE OF IMPOSTERSBY BOB GREEN, CPA.CITP | PARTNER AND PRACTICE [email protected]

CLOUD-BASED SYSTEMS WEBINAR SERIESSEE AVECTRA’S CLOUD EXPERTS AS RELATES TO YOUR INDUSTRY!

Hello Friends and Colleagues!

This month’s theme: Beware of Imposters!

So... no surprise, thanks to Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others - the concept of Cloud Computing is becoming more and more “trendy” and more real every day. Web experi-ences on Tablet computers and iPhones and Droids seem to be ingrained into so many of our lives, both for pleasure reasons (of course you know that) and busi-ness reasons.

When it comes to business software (accounting, customer management, manufacturing, etc.) delivered over the internet – beware of imposters. The reality is that there are many old line software companies that are not yet providing true Cloud Com-puting software to their client base – but are telling people that

they are, and do so via a watered down approach called “Cloud Washing”.

Cloud Washing refers to the weaker end-user experience of having older software products delivered to the users over the internet in a way that is not as efficient, nor ultimately as afford-able, as a pure Cloud Comput-ing software product is. Why? Because: 1) these old line soft-ware companies have not been able to keep up with the technol-ogy or investment required to

migrate their software to pure Cloud Computing technologies; and 2) these companies are losing business to Cloud Computing software companies that are able to offer their competitively func-tional software for low, budget-able monthly user fees - kind of a “pay for what you use” approach – rather than the more tradition-al non-Cloud approach of paying for a big software license fee up front, plus 18+++% per year, for “maintenance”.

The Lesson? Ask the right ques-tions when you’re looking for new business software... If you’re buying Cloud Computing software – be sure it is from a publisher that is truly commit-ted to best practices, appropriate investment in R/D, and current technology. If you want to know how to ask these questions, or just chat about this type of buy-ing decision, we’re happy to help.

In December we became business partners with Avectra - a software company that provides internet-based business operation software – meaning, it manages membership services and data, provides for online registration for events, and enables online capabilities for selling memberships and other

“merchandise” for nonprofits and other industries. Upcoming webinars will be posted in future news-letters. For past webinars, go to:

WWW.SINGERLEWAKSYSTEMS.COM

March 2012 SingerLewak | 2

CAN I CONVERT MY BILLS, TRANSACTIONS AND RESTAURANT RESERVATIONS TO THE CLOUD?BY RICK MARK | SERVICE AREA [email protected]

The cloud takes on many forms today: from Dropbox to Quick-Books to Flixster to OpenTable and more. It seems that more and more of what we do each day is available on some sort of mobile device or our computers. Telephone calls are becoming far scarcer than ever and so is paper! But is it safe and what are the prime benefits?

The most easy to recognize benefit of the cloud is the ability to store data electronically, away from your computer – where vi-ruses and bad things can happen (like a crash). Recovering data can be very expensive, and losing it altogether – well let’s not go there. The cloud was built on the premise of redundancy and safely storing data. Today the cloud has expanded into fully operational business applications, personal management and more. Now, convenience is the buzzword when it comes to cloud consider-ations.

The ease and convenience of electronic transactions of all kinds is another winning benefit. With the advent of today’s super tablets and fast connectivity, it takes longer to write checks, call

a restaurant for a reservation, rent a movie at one of those rental stores (do they still exist?), and even make appointments for your automobile maintenance. It’s all about freeing up time to allow us to either relax more or work more. After all, the subtleties of our lives take up a lot of our time – getting in digital control is very important – efficiency is king!

If you are one of those who want to embrace this technology or you have already started but don’t know how to get in deeper, let’s look at a few solutions that help to bridge the gap for you.

The best timesaver out there has been around for a long while now – electronic banking. ALL major banks and many smaller ones too, offer electronic bill pay, account management, and even have dedicated and secured

mobile apps for your iPhone and many Android phones too. You can pay bills at will or schedule fixed payments automatically – imagine, never writing a check again! These services are very se-cure now, compared to what they were 4-5 years ago – and you can take the info with you on your phone…how cool is that?

What about the need to get reser-vations quickly? Not only getting them at the time you need them, but at the time you WANT to be at the restaurant. As an example, in recent travels, I called a res-taurant for a reservation (the day before in fact) and could not get a reservation at the time, or time-frame, wanted. I remembered OpenTable and installed the APP on my phone and searched for places to eat at the time we wanted. Would you believe the restaurant we wanted originally had a spot open, suddenly? I quickly made the reservation and the next day – we were very happy and enjoyed the meal!

So whatever you think you can do manually – look into the digi-tal way of doing the same task. You may be very surprised at the quantity of minutes you can save.

B U S I N E S S T E C H N O L O G Y I N S I G H T S

W W W.SINGERLE WAKSYSTEMS.COM

BOB GREEN [email protected]

818.999.3924 ext.4659

J IM HART [email protected]

818.999.3924 ext.4656

RICK MARK [email protected]

818.999.3924 ext.4623

SingerLewak is a leading regional accounting services firm in California with offices in Los Angeles, Orange County, Woodland Hills, Monterey Park, San Diego, Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Serving California since 1959, SingerLewak has established a reputation for excellence as professionals with unparalleled expertise in the Accounting and Management Consulting industry. Providing the services of a large firm with a blended environment of practices, industry specializations and particular attention to hands-on service, SingerLewak continues to demonstrate leadership and industry growth year-over-year. Our client relationship approach and industry excellence is renowned.

We are nationally recognized as active community and professional services partners, working among many sectors of the business world. Our core services deliver results whether it’s auditing, accounting, entrepreneurial business services, tax preparation, business manage-ment, SEC filings, transactions, enterprise risk manage-ment, forensic accounting, business valuation, litigation support, or consulting.

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