I don't trust anything that is web based. I know what it is like when some websites take forever to load. Imagine your software doing the same.

Hi Attila

I was just about to post the same question as you and would be interested to see if anyone has any feedback on the software and it's ease of use.  My other questions were
1.  how easy would it be to pass data to accountants
2. is there an additional payroll option like Sage Bookkeepers Club

The costs seem pretty favourable and I like the idea of web based access although I'm aware of the difficulties this could course with some clents, but the biggest plus to me would be off site back ups. 

I don't need to make any decisions for a few months yet so will keep an eye on this post.

Jane

hi everyone,
this software now disappeared from the icb website...

Web based software are more and more in the mood. They are now called "SAAS" softwares and we can be confident with them. There's often a contract that garantees availability and security.

For instance, SAP provides an ERP software called "SAP By Design", which is awsome! In France, Sage and Cegid provides SAAS softwares too. Microsoft is developping a "cloud computing" (the basis needed by SAAS software) called Azure and offers Office services online...

We have to know that Businesses are more and more interesting with this kind of solutions because it is really less expensive, and material prerequisites are really less important...

With the growing of the Internet, it is in the line to look at SAAS software. It is often said that our computers will become Internet box in next future... Without any stockage devices : everything would be stock in a distance server, mostly often secured than our harddrives.

I regret to have not be able to test ICB software, that looks great, and that seems really better than IRIS Openbooks (a trial demo is available after free registration).

I hope I could soon!

I've looked at Sage's cloud Line 50 software and to be honest was scared off by the price - so expensive!!

I've used iris payroll before, and its ok, I guess its what you're used to - Arithmo makes alot of sense price wise, so if I was looking for an alternative, I would def consider that!

P

I do feel the same Bob. I think cloud is great for a lot of things, but I can't see a time when I would keep clients books on a server which I do not have full and sole control of. Like you say, if it all goes wrong you are ultimately responsible.

That said, I know many people are moving to this which is why I am now offering it as an option if clients want to do their own accounts.

Kris

Hi Kris

I can see the rational of your view that by having control of your clients data, you have full responsibility of your clients data.

In the same way (this is my personal opinion), it is in the cloud industry's interest to have best practice methods to keep data secure, otherwise no one will utilise the advantages of cloud computing.

Dalbir

As I said I would not use it for my clients. However, I do understand that this is a useful tool for those who wish to do their own bookkeeping, therefore it is a choice I will continue to offer.

I am responsible for my clients data, therefore I want to ensure not only the safety from a backup point of view, but the security of what is potentially commercially sensitive data. I don't know the screening of employees for cloud accounting software companies. Then there's the service continuity angle. It would be extremely short sighted to believe that there would not be the potential of a data outage and then the time to rebuild. What if I lost internet connection for a day or 2? I'd be sitting twiddling my thumbs. There are a number of considerations here.

Kris

-- Edited by kjmcculloch on Sunday 17th of October 2010 09:48:37 PM

kjmcculloch wrote:

---

What if I lost internet connection for a day or 2?

---

...what if :

- you broke your computer?
- your computer is stolen?
- there is a storm, a fire, a flood?
- your daughter, your son or your dog play with your computer in the wrong way?

And so on ;)

Dear Kris,

Of course I understand your point of view. I have been a computing software consultant for 6 years, and your opinion is mostly common in SMEs. I understand perfectly that it is not too reassuring not being able to see where datas are physically stocked.

Large businesses are more opened with SAAS : theses businesses have huge IT systems and data are available from distance server for years. For instance, when I worked in a (small) bank at the end of the 90's, NO data were physically stocked in the branch neither the head office! Datas were stocked in a server owned by another partner bank, and everything was OK.

I have to say that I do agree with you when you write there is a big risk if the software provider went to bankrupt. That's the reason why the provider must be quite prudently chosen, and an export solution is of course mandatory.

It isn't just about your own servers though, is it? And it isn't just about the data-centre onsite staff. They probably *aren't* the main security hole.

We recently had downtime on our website server while the data-centres UPS's were being upgraded.

A year ago we and tens of thousands of other sites at that centre went down for almost a whole day. A major router failure at our site's server that Cisco engineers couldn't fix right away because a vital replacement failed too and another one had to be flown from Germany.

Then there are times where at random people with particular ISP's can't connect with particular sites because of some kind of DNS problem. We used to get recurring problems with NTLWorld clients being unable to view our website. It would just time-out. We harangued NTL about that endlessly to no effect.

Or the times where the client's own internet connection goes down. How many businesses have backup broadband coming into their offices. We have because we want guaranteed access to our own website server, but most small businesses won't have.

Right now there are a lot of businesses offering competing cloud solutions. Several of them are clearly extremely good products with excellent customer service. But it is unrealistic to expect that all of them will avoid bankruptcy over the next year or two. When a desktop vendor goes bankrupt usually their users can carry right on using the software. The two most high-profile examples of that not happening recently were both because desktop vendors had cloud elements in their software...

• MYOB desktop accounting software will stop working because licencing is real time and in the cloud.
• MS Office Payroll stopped working the day that MS withdrew the product (in the middle of a PAYE YEAR!) because the PAYE/NI calculation elements were in the cloud and MS turned them off straight away. Ironically the cloud elements of calculation were touted as a BENEFIT of that solution yet that cloud element was a disaster for the actual users.

There are many benefits of cloud business computing, including secure offline backups which many small businesses might not set up on their own networks. But cloud vendors often like to paint the security and continuity advantages as all being in their direction, which is very far from being the case. It really is much more "horses for courses".