Check the news any given day and you might see a report about hackers accomplishing a data breach, or of a ransomware attack encrypting all company data until it pays up. These are the well-known types of cyberattack, but there are less common cyberthreats accountants should be aware of, as well.

There is almost a malware malaise now. You’ve heard so much about the threat of a virus invading your networks or systems. Someone clicks on a perfectly innocent looking email, and the result is computing chaos? It’s not fair!

You also know to put a firewall around your technology; it’s as if you’re in a military movie. You have to “protect the perimeter.” Ensure no one can breach your cyber protections to secure personal data and intellectual property.

Still, a watchful eye for phishing emails and social engineering attempts isn’t enough. Installing security tools and upgrading anti-virus software also won’t cover everything.

Knowing where less common cyberattacks are coming from could help, though.

Many businesses were teleconferencing before COVID-19. After all, meeting virtually saves both you and your client time, and busy business owners often don’t want to spend the time to make a trip to your office. The coronavirus has hastened the move to e-accounting, but this approach presents some new problems, which we’ll address in this article.

#1 Speed

First, let’s consider speed. You may have a promised internet speed such as “up to 15 Mbps.” But internet connection speed, which impacts your experience, reflects bandwidth and latency. Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred per second, whereas latency is how long it takes for that data to get from source to destination. You need both to be good to be able to handle many video calls at once. Yet a lot of consumer-grade hardware is not built for several of your staff to be on the same call with a client.

Tip: Switch to a business-grade router. Optimize its settings to ensure security from bandwidth leeches and improve signal strength.

#2 Quality of Service

Large downloads can also impact your connection with a client or team member. If you’re on a video call and someone else in the office downloads a large file, your call could lag or drop. Likewise, if you’re working from home during a conference call and your teen is playing Grand Theft Auto, that could also cause issues.

Tip: Use smart networking hardware. You can rank the activities your business values more to improve Quality of Service (e.g. configuring video conferencing to take data preference ahead of file downloads).

The public cloud services market has grown dramatically, and, according to Gartner, migrating to the cloud is a top priority for a third of companies. Analysts predicted the market would reach $266 billion in 2020. Accountants enjoy cloud computing, too. This article rounds up the advantages of available cloud services.

Cloud computing can help accountants:

• improve productivity;
• empower employees;
• optimize operations;
• reduce operating costs;
• backup better;
• scale effectively;
• add security.

Let’s talk about each of these in greater detail.

#1 Improve productivity

Cloud computing centralizes access. Files are available on any connected device, in real time. Avoid version control concerns as files pass among your team members or between you and the client. Everyone can work on the most recent file that is instantly updated in the cloud. The files are accessible on other devices if needed, too.

#2 Empower employees

The cloud enables on-demand access to computing resources. This includes software, networks, servers, and storage applications. Accountants can work from wherever they are, on their own timetable, from their own devices. With the widespread adoption of remote work, cloud services have become even more appealing.

Cloud technology
has grown to new heights in recent years. Ten years ago 'the cloud' was jargon
almost nobody was aware of, today it is a phrase used almost daily in offices
worldwide.  More and more businesses today are taking advantage of the huge
benefits cloud services have to offer.

The sudden and widespread adoption of this new technology has raised questions too.  Some want to fully understand what the cloud is before committing their vital company data to it.  Most want to find out what the cloud can do for them. Everyone wants to know, is it safe?

What Is The Cloud?

The Cloud is an
abstract name for an engineering principle that allows you to store, retrieve,
and work on your data without worrying about the specifics of precisely where
or how it is kept.  Storing your data on the cloud essentially means saving it
on a server without worrying about the fine details.

Your data may be
stored on a single computer, or distributed across multiple servers all around
the world.  Most often it's stored across one or more data centers as close as
possible to your physical location.

From the
perspective of the end user, the big idea behind the cloud is that where data
is stored ultimately doesn't matter to you.  Your cloud server takes care of
retrieving your data as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The economy is one more victim of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The global lockdown has many businesses feeling the pain. As finances grow tighter, business leaders are looking to improve cashflow. These key areas can help IT curtail spending.

First, take a look at the way you’re working now. Chances are it’s changed. If users are working from home, you may have migrated business applications to the cloud. This offers opportunities to reduce costs:

• You may no longer need licenses that your on-site server isn’t using.
• There may be overlap now with the new cloud-based solutions and your old software.

By auditing your software usage and revisiting your license fees, you can identify savings. You may also have had to let people go. That means the computer systems they used no longer need active software licenses.

Cloud-based Savings

If you haven’t already done so, moving business applications online offers benefits. You can offer users access to a Microsoft Office package in Microsoft 365, or a similar setup in Google’s G-Suite, all for a small monthly fee. Your employees get to use the most up-to-date software, wherever they are, and you save money.

You might also take voice calling online. With Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications, you add features and greater mobility. VoIP can offer call recording, voicemail to email transcription, and more. Plus, packaging communications and cloud collaboration tools can lead to big savings, quickly.