In early March, 2020…
In March, 2020, a Right Networks blog post noted the coming impact of COVID-19 coronavirus, citing disruptions in daily life that seemed shocking at the time:
“The entire nation of Italy is essentially on lockdown, as is New Rochelle, New York, a suburb of New York City. France has banned visitors from retirement homes and rehabilitation hospitals. Google has joined a list of large companies in asking all North American employees to work at home. The NBA, following a player’s positive test, has suspended games altogether.”
Since then, the situation has become much worse. Nobody knows how it’s going to end or when it will get better as news about the pandemic changes day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
But one underlying message remains: Accounting firms and small businesses that haven’t yet responded to the shock of the pandemic absolutely have to—right now.
With that in mind, here is a message for small businesses that bears repeating.
Why the Cloud Is an Effective Response to a Pandemic
In CPA Practice Advisor, Roman Kepczyk, director of firm technology strategy at Right Networks, outlined in February the steps accounting firms can take to prepare for the fallout of coronavirus.
His advice still resonates for small businesses of all kinds:
- Package useful information for easy access and remind employees of healthy habits aimed at staving off the spread of the virus.
- Make them feel as comfortable as possible given the unprecedented nature of the situation.
- And, of course, give everybody the ability to work from anywhere securely, without the confusion of doing everything over email or overloading a single office server.
Providing employees access to cloud-based accounting and business applications, freeing them from the now-cut tether to the office, could still save many small businesses. Moreover, it’ll reassure employees that their company is doing everything it can to provide an atmosphere in which they can be productive during a lockdown and in which the team can come together to keep the business going, even growing, during a time of crisis.
Preparation Still Beats Regret
Coronavirus has created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty around the world without the promise of a cutoff date. Moving critical business applications to the cloud can help restore certainty and keep employees engaged and productive.
With accounting applications hosted by Right Networks, businesses can:
- Provide secure access to their most important applications from anywhere.
- Benefit from automatic software updates with no action from employees required.
- Take advantage of unparalleled support 24/7/365 from a team of experts.
- Eliminate problems with version control that emerge when working strictly over email.
- Recruit and retain employees by offering work-from-home options even after lockdowns end.
- Keep driving revenue and achieving efficiency from anywhere without missing a beat.
Preparation is always preferable to regret. Coronavirus and the panic surrounding it draws into clear focus the advantages, even the necessity, of moving applications into the cloud.