The Benefits of Online Software

As accountants, it is vital that we keep up to date with business and industry trends, online software is a key one we’ve noticed!

Web-based software is growing in popularity at an exceeding rate, and there are good reasons for it, with the development of ‘the cloud’ or SaaS (software as a service), most businesses are now making the switch from traditional software to web-based in an attempt to keep their processes efficient and up to date. Here’s why:

It’s cheaper.

Desktop software is notoriously expensive but web-based software involves no physical aspect and is therefore cheaper, as well as having the opportunity to pay as you go. Adobe’s Creative Cloud is an excellent example of expensive software such as Photoshop which has been made more affordable by providing it in a web-based format.

Setup is fast.

No more CD ROMs and hours waiting for things to install, it’s all online waiting for you, ready for you to start using straight away.

It’s always in the background.

Unlike desktop software which stops doing anything the second you close the window, web-based software on the other hand is always working, always ticking away checking your schedules, keeping itself up to date, sending emails, checking off payments, whatever you need.

You can access it from anywhere.

With traditional software, you can only use it on your computer. If you lose your computer or if you are at a meeting and need to access it but it’s only on your desktop computer at the office, then you’re fresh out of luck. But with web-based software, you can access the program from anywhere with an internet connection. For commuters especially, this means getting more work done on the train to and from home instead of having to spend precious family time doing your accounts or raising invoices.

You can upgrade for free.

When the company who owns the software fixes a bug or adds new features to the program etc., you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to worry about losing data or downloading more files or buying the new version of the software, it just upgrades for you. You always have the newest version of the software without ever paying a penny extra.

Better customer service.

As most online software companies sell on a monthly basis instead of one large fee as with their desktop counterparts, the companies pay more interest in maintaining your business. They don’t want you to cancel after a few months, they want you to be a long-lasting customer, and so you may find that many of these web-based software businesses are far more helpful in their support services which is always appreciated when dealing with new software.
Online software is better in more or less every way to traditional desktop versions, with it being more accessible, cheaper, always current with the most advanced versions and easy to set up with excellent support to go with it. Making the move from desktop to web-based will be a refreshing step into state-of-the-art technology and yet another way to push your business forward.

QAccounting has a very useful expenses app that you can read more about, or of course, you could get in touch and speak to one of our accountants!

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