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Online Bookkeeping Solutions Blog

The Online Bookkeeping Solutions Blog is an timely collection of interesting and helpful information for those companies who want to outsource their bookkeeping solution and utilize bookkeeping services by subscription. Outsource your bookkeeping to a cloud based solution backed by experienced CPA's.

Business As Usual: Disaster Preparedness for Small Businesses

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Natural disasters do not discriminate. Hurricanes, flooding, blizzards, tornados, fires…. they can happen anytime, and can be potentially devastating to your business.

According to Diana McClure, Business Resiliency Manager for the Institute for Business & Home Safety, “Of the small businesses that are forced to close due to a disaster, at least one in four never reopens.” But, says McClure, “It’s all about planning ahead.”

If a natural disaster strikes your location, do not let it shut down your business. I recommend that you start thinking NOW about developing plans for your business in cases of emergency.

When everything is fine, a natural disaster is probably the last thing you think about. But consider this. Earlier this month, heat-related power outages were widespread across Detroit. Joplin, Missouri just experienced a devastating tornado. Not to mention disasters larger-scale such as Hurricane Katrina or the Japan Tsunami.

Start developing disaster recovery plans for your business by determining your areas of vulnerability, and thinking of ways to address those risks. For example, if you’re in a region prone to tornadoes, what would you do if one struck your office? Maybe the answer is to open a second office in a different region. Maybe your business develops a “work from home” policy. And maybe these are not the right answers for your business. But the key is to start thinking about it now.

Another huge area of consideration is your business data. You need to make sure it’s protected. If it’s all stored in the office, and there’s a fire, your business operations could be in great jeopardy. I recommend using an Internet service for storing data online so that it will not be lost in the event of a disaster. I also recommend storing the contact information for both your employees and business vendors online, along with your business data.

Finally, test your plans! I would advise testing at least once a year to make sure all your back-up plans are functional, which will give you the opportunity to correct them if they’re not – before it’s too late.

 
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How To Move Your Business To Cloud Computing

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cloud computing refers to the set of hardware, storage, networks, interfaces, and services that work together to provide aspects of computing as a service, wherever and whenever you need it.

Major technology businesses have laid a strong foundation for cloud computing, such as Microsoft and Google.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace

Microsoft Office Live Workspace works with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, storing files on Microsoft’s servers. When you save a document to Microsoft Office Live Workspace, you can view it from any browser, share it with other people in your workspace and open, edit, and save it on your desktop with Microsoft Office applications.

Google Docs

Google offers a suite of online applications similar to Microsoft’s. If you prefer to work in Google Docs, simply download a tool and you will be able to work from your desktop files while experiencing the benefits of collaborative files backed up by Google servers, accessible from any browser.

Applying Cloud Computing To Your Business

Flexible and attractive to businesses, cloud computing can completely change the way companies use technology to service customers, partners, and vendors.

Migrating your financial operations to a cloud computing environment eliminates many of the constraints from the traditional computing environment, including space, time, power, and cost.

A few benefits of moving your financial data to cloud computing:

  • You can have as much or as little of a service as you want
  • The service is fully managed by the provider
  • Secure offsite data storage
  • Access to your data whenever you need it
  • Monthly billing so there is no up front cost and you can stop at any time

With the right tools and provider, you can have your company’s financial data in the cloud in no time.  How have you benefited from working in the cloud?

 
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How To Secure Your Flash Drive

Ray Kirschner - Tuesday, February 22, 2011

USB flash drives are becoming more common everyday. With the increasing amount of data they can store, they are actually quite useful in transporting business files and other sensitive information.

However, since USB flash drives are so small and portable, they can easily be lost, stolen, or misplaced. If you store sensitive information on your flash drive, then you need to protect it by encrypting your flash drive. This makes the files on your flash drive password protected and only accessible by you or someone who knows your password.

The TrueCrypt technology provides step-by-step instructions on how to encrypt your flash drive. To view and follow these instructions, click here: http://www.truecrypt.org/

By encrypting your flash drive, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that if you ever lose it, your information will never be exposed.

However, from the standpoint of a business owner, encrypting a flash drive is pointless unless everyone within the company does it. We recommend having a documented quality assurance process for your employees to adhere to when taking a flash drive out of the office.

The basic steps a business owner should take to create a company-wide flash drive encryption policy are as follows:

  1. Encrypt a number of firm-owned flash drives for transport of business files
  2. Make employees sign out if they want to use these devices
  3. Implement an administrator of the company’s flash drives who will insure their timely return and confirm that all files on the encrypted flash drive have been removed so that the device can be reissued to another employee

 
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Make Your Business Paperless

Ray Kirschner - Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The paperless office is on the rise. Most offices either already have the tools to go paperless or can acquire them at a low cost. The barrier is mostly the will to do so. Some people don’t see the need, or have a hard time giving up paper, or simply find it hard to change their habits. But there are significant benefits to be gained from operating a paperless office.

Benefits of a Paperless Office

One of the biggest benefits of getting rid of your paper files is the cost savings. Consider the following example. If it takes five minutes to retrieve and replace a paper file and an employee works with ten paper files per day, that’s 216 hours a year – over five weeks’ time – spent walking files around. At $20/hour, that’s $4300 per year. A paperless method would eliminate these costs while still ensuring employees can find and work with all of their necessary documents.

Other benefits include increased security, better disaster recovery protection, environmental benefits, and remote access for your important documents.

Getting Started – Making the Move to Paperless

Having a proper plan in place to take your office paperless will help keep you from ending up in a messy situation. Here are some tips and tools to help you along the way.

  • Instead of printing and storing important documents in filing cabinets, save them online.
  • Look into a document management system to help keep the office’s files organized efficiently.
  • Convert previously “paper-orientated” tasks to digital ones. For example, make electronic to-do lists? and use a projector screen in meetings instead of paper handouts.
  • Instead of exchanging business cards, connect via LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. Social networks keep your contacts’ information current and provide a better storage methodology for keeping your contacts’ information on hand.
  • Use a scanner to convert paper documents like faxes, invoices, etc. into digital formats. You can then shred your old documents and eliminate even more paper clutter.

Keep in mind, a paperless office doesn’t happen overnight. Schedule time realistically for your office’s migration to the paperless world. Dedicate a certain amount of hours per week towards tasks such as scanning documents online. Make a calendar of when you plan to implement the various components of going paperless, and be prepared to educate your employees on the new ways they should be conducting their work.

Realize that less paper is just the beginning of the payoff

The most immediate impact of a move to a paperless office is the reduction in the cost of printing, mailing, shipping and storing paper. Over time, lots of other benefits should become apparent, such as:

  • Less time spent looking for paper lost in the shuffle
  • Fewer hours spent looking for bills, documents, and copies of client documents
  • The ability to access all sorts of information from computer files in a matter of seconds, instead of searching through your office

Do not be daunted by the process of switching to a paperless office. In the end, the cost-savings, better organization, and other benefits are well worth investing in this endeavor.

For those of you who’ve already taken some paperless initiatives in your office, what results have you noticed?

 

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