Remote users on Accounting Software

[Mike Simmonds]

I was wondering how many businesses access their accounting software programs / databases from remote locations.

Say for instance one is travelling in the far east and you would like to check to see what the daily sales were for your Cape Town branch. Or you would like to generate a quote or invoice while you are on holiday.

What have or do you use? Where there is more than one location and numerous sales reps in the field, can and does everyone access the same database?

[BusFact]

I've been looking at this for a while now. Currently I use something like Teamviewer to access the PC in the office . However an online (cloud) accounting package is looking more and more appealing to me.

Pastel have an online product which I have yet to try.
I did try Kashoo.com as a basic product. No problems, but I'd like something more elaborate.
There are a host of other cloud type products out there, but the moment your users start to climb so do the costs. For me a typical user would be a sales rep or an accounts clerk who would use the software for less than half an hour a day, and yet they would count as a full cost user in most cases.

[Mike Simmonds]

Something like Teamviewer and Remote Desktop does allow one to access your PC remotely, but really this would be totally impractical in a branch situation.

What would someone like Kashoo charge for 10 users? You mentioned it was not elaborate enough, in what way did it fall short?

[tasch_a]

The question is, do you run a server, or do you just have a few PCs networked together? If you run a server, VPN solution would be a fast simple way of doing it. It's how we run our branches. Basically the way it works is that the info (or the books) sits on the server. You connect to the server via VPN and viola you're on the network. As long as you have some semblance of a decent line speed, you can work as though you are sitting in the office.
The downside is that you do need a server for this. The only solution otherwise would be either Teamviewer or RD or cloud base.

[Mike Simmonds]

Hi tasch

What accounting software are you using? What sort of database application is running on the server?

[geraldenek]

hi mike - i also use to work on a vpn where there was a seperate server for the accounting system and they had microsoft axapta

[Dave A]

One of the problems I've found is the way small business accounting software is typically structured. For most, the database can be anywhere as long as it's accessible because the host machine is used as little more than a file server; all the processing is done on the client terminal side - which if you're trying to connect at typical SA internet speeds poses a real problem, both in bandwidth and responsiveness.

The main reason for this as I see it is the software company wants to ensure a licenced (read paid) copy is on each machine accessing the company file, and this has been the most popular way of making sure they achieve it - at least until recently.

What would make sense to really perform via remote access is to keep the client terminal scripts as light-weight as possible and have as much of the processing as possible on the host machine (which is why scripts like Teamviewer are probably the best way to go for remote access).

I'm now seeing more and more deals which are licenced per user as opposed to per machine. I expect the thinking was spawned by the way cloud services are being billed. In a cloud environment it makes sense, but if you think about it carefully it's hard to justify billing this way in a private network or VPN setup.

Mind you - fair billing structure based on input costs went out the window with almost every payroll program I've come across. They're all billing a differentiated rate by payroll size for a single licence app.

[BusFact]

Something like Teamviewer and Remote Desktop does allow one to access your PC remotely, but really this would be totally impractical in a branch situation.

What would someone like Kashoo charge for 10 users? You mentioned it was not elaborate enough, in what way did it fall short?

Kashoo is realy at the bottom end of the cost scale. An entry level system. Not sure if they even have stock item functionality. I doubt that a business with 10 users would opt for Kashoo. It really does appear to be more for the mom and pop type stores. However that was initially fine for what I was looking for. Then I was distracted by the free FNB offering called Instant Accounting.

I never usually like to promote products offered by the banks, but I have to admit that I am really impressed with this product so far. Again its for simple operations and probably doesn't have the likes of inventory management, but for a simple way of recording the books of a small business, it seems pretty damn good at first impression.

I don't even need to be sold on the remote connectivity aspect, although that is useful. Even in a business where we spend most of our time in the same building, I still want a good cloud/online type package. The advantages of someone else worrying about the backups, the security and the updated sofware is a major plus.

Speed still remains an issue though. That little hang after you enter a transaction can be mighty frustrating.

The pricing structure of online accounting (or CRM or ERP) packages is pretty good if you are a single user. The moment you start having a few users it can get pricey quickly. In my case for example I have a few sales reps who would use the system to capture perhaps 3 or 4 orders a day each. Each of these would be considered a full user. I continue my search for something online that I am comfortable with.

[AndyD]

I never usually like to promote products offered by the banks, but I have to admit that I am really impressed with this product so far.

The problem I have with any bank product is that no matter how good it is I couldn't get it out of my mind that they're greedy and probably going to turn around and charge you for it in the future by which time you're used to it and have adjusted your procedures to accommodate it and it's too much of a headache to change your systems by then. Plus I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the bank having access to all my financials any time they please.

You could probably sum it up as general mistrust of banks.

[BusFact]

You could probably sum it up as general mistrust of banks.

I am so with you on that, but in my case its for a small sideline business, so it would be easy to change accounting packages. And as its debt free, I don't have an issue with them having access to the info.

I wouldn't use it for any main business or one requiring significant effort to convert to another software package.

[SilverNodashi]

Something like Teamviewer and Remote Desktop does allow one to access your PC remotely, but really this would be totally impractical in a branch situation.

Why would it be impracticle in a branch solution?

How many people do you need to connect from a remote branch in anycase?
We use Remote Desktop to access QuickBooks on a central server in the office and it works quite well.

If your accounting package is on a Windows XP Pro / Windows 7 Pro machines then you can easily allow upto 5 or 10 (I can't remember limit) concecutive remote logins with Remote Desktop and give them access to the accounting package.



Generally if your company has a few branches spread-out over the country you would inter-connect them for various reasons like email, printing (invoices / waybills / salary slips / etc) over diginet line / other last-mile solution which should already provide you with a VPN solution.

Otherwise if you're a smaller company (staff / financial wise) then look at getting (at least) 4MB ADSL lines and use a VPN solution to connect the branches together. This would create an internet network where all the computers can communicate with each other and you can easily share the account database between different branches.

[D.Jaslanek]

I'm a permanent travelerHowever I have to work remotely and remote desktop saves me a lot in that situation.Like you can be confident that you will access to all the files and apps that you hold on your personal computer and you can get everything fixed remotely.I use Techinline after many other experiments.The reason why I would recommend using this software is just because its less expensive when it's compared to its competitors. Another plus is easy interface.Anyway, its worth giving a try.
Hope this might be helpful!

[Howie3]

Two sugestions. Sales reps would be best suited to a CRM solution than an acounting package. A well suited CRM will give you the daily figures you are asking for. The other is a workflow automation tool that monitors your database and can send you an email with information on certain criteria been reached i.e.when orders over a cetain value are entered, a report at the end of each day on sales per day per rep per branch etc.