The Cloud has fundamentally shifted the way the world operates on a massive scale \u2013 bringing flexibility to many aspects of our daily working lives.<\/p>\n
In embracing the Cloud, we equip ourselves with the ability to accomplish things faster, more efficiently and with better collaboration.<\/p>\n
The way software operated before the Cloud was disjointed and inefficient, but Cloud technology brings everything together in a single place, where work can happen collaboratively in real-time with a variety of time-saving integrations.<\/p>\n
The Cloud has overcome many of the frustrations with legacy systems, created almost endless space to store data and it is more secure.\u00a0Likewise, the ability to back up and recover data which helps prevent critical data loss has also improved.<\/p>\n
However, despite these innovations, many practices continue to use systems that are purely desktop or paper-based. While such approaches of course allow for \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d, these firms risk falling behind the curve and generating a huge amount of inefficiency and waste \u2013 and may fail to attract millennials to work for them.<\/p>\n
Never has the ability to share, collaborate and monitor workflow and progress, regardless of physical location, been more critical.<\/p>\n
There are also a number of important legislative changes on the near horizon, such as the expansion of Making Tax Digital in the UK, which will make the need to become a truly digital practice more urgent.<\/p>\n
In the future, operating without Cloud services will not just be a matter of being behind the curve, it will restrict the competitiveness of a practice. Whilst making the move to the Cloud across an entire practice may seem challenging, the benefits are significant.<\/p>\n
Most practices have seen how Cloud accounting has changed their entire way of working with clients, now it is time to bring this shift into the way the wider practice works through the adoption of digital working papers, and the automation and integrations that come with this.<\/p>\n