Accountants love the cloud

Here is a fascinating indication of the way that cloud services are starting to penetrate mainstream business, for even the most conservative professions are moving towards using cloud delivery in large numbers.

And they don’t come too much more conservative and careful than accountants. Yet a survey of delegates attending the annual accountancy conference, IRIS World 2013, put on by IRIS Software Group, has shown that nine out of ten of them say they have either adopted cloud services or are looking to do so in the future.

The survey also provided more real world evidence that most businesses will end up working with hybrid environment, where cloud is an integral part of their complete information management service. It showed that few accountancy practices have chosen to move completely away from the on-premise model, with just 7 percent of the 300 respondents saying they had moved all their work into the cloud.

It did, however, indicate that cloud computing growth looks set to accelerate dramatically across the sector, with 31 percent of firms already operating cloud services actively planning to add more. A further 48 percent said their organisation was not in the cloud today but that they are looking at adopting cloud solutions in the near future.

Just one in ten of the overall sample said they were not using any cloud solutions and had no plans to do so.

“These are positive results and reflect our own experience at IRIS, where we already have over 68,000 subscribers to our cloud solutions” says Phill Robinson, CEO of IRIS Software Group, which provides cloud services to the UK accountancy and payroll sectors and provides a comprehensive set of compliance applications.

“It is good news that across the market, cloud computing is increasingly being seen as a potential source of competitive advantage and increased efficiency for the practices that choose to embrace it. At IRIS, we are seeing the use of the cloud helping accountants to work collaboratively with clients, establish a single version of the truth, eliminate errors and, by enabling real-time updates and instant electronic approval, smooth out the year-end workload.

“The cloud should be all about enhanced client engagement, business agility and new levels of efficiency,” he added. “The accountancy sector increasingly understands this – and this all clearly comes across in our survey results.”

“That said, we recognise that cloud computing may not be the right solution for everyone, or right for every process,” continues Robinson. ”Our strategy is all about delivering choice for accountants and we will continue to support customers across all platforms whether they choose to consume our applications on their desktops on premise or from the cloud.” 

Economic and budgetary pressures continue to weigh heavily on accountancy practices. The survey identified cost control as the top driver for adoption of cloud-based accountancy software, cited by 41 percent of respondents.

The next two most important drivers, each referenced by 39 percent of the survey sample, were rigorous security and the ability to be continuously updated. The fact that security-conscious professionals like accountants should reference cloud security as a positive driver rather than negative stumbling block is, in itself, a measure of how far the perceptions of cloud services have changed.

Sitting just behind this was streamlining operational efficiencies, highlighted by 38 percent of respondents. Three out of ten delegates also cited ease of learning and use as an important driver, while 27 percent referenced enhanced productivity.