6 Core Tech Strategies for Your Firm

From the June 2010 Issue

Another busy season is chalked up in the history books, and it is time for firms to evaluate opportunities to improve their firm processes while they have the luxury of the slower extension season to make sure they get things implemented right. To help firms get a jump on deciding specifically which technologies they should be looking at, the Association for Accounting Administration (CPAAdmin.org) surveyed 115 member firms at the tail end of busy season to find out what technologies they were already using, and which they felt would be the most important for firm administrators and partners responsible for firm technology to push through over the next few months. The survey focused on six core working areas, encompassing the following: Security, Firm Productivity, Network Infrastructure, Firm-wide Management, Mobility, and IT Governance/Compliance. The findings are outlined here.

SECURITY
The top security technology for firms to evaluate this year was Encryption, which included hard disk encryption, file encryption and email encryption. Thirty-seven percent of respondents had already addressed the topic and implemented solutions in their own firms. From our experience, we have seen medium and larger firms implement solutions such as TrueCrypt, Sophos, PGP and DriveCrypt.

While many firms have utilized passwords on attached files to protect that data, not many have been utilizing end-to-end email encryption, which will probably change due to laws passed in Nevada and Massachusetts promoting encryption. There was a tie for the second most important security technology with Remote Access Security and Security Awareness reaching the same point total. Fifty-one percent of firms already felt they had adequate remote access security, and 29 percent were doing security awareness training.

A great resource to help firms develop a security training program that is “understandable” is StaySafeOnline.org run by the National Cyber Security Alliance. This site provides definitions and tools to help businesses understand security practices in the office and at home. While six other security items had varying percentages of adoption, it was noted that 60 percent of firms felt they had implemented adequate firewalls and Internet security. This leaves 40 percent of respondents with a major concern that we would suggest they have an independent third party evaluate immediately!

FIRM PRODUCTION
The second area of technology addressed in the survey had to do with those tools that promoted better client service. Not surprisingly, respondents voted Portals for Client Delivery the number one technology, with 45 percent of participants saying they had already implemented a portal solution. I have seen good adoption of products such as LeapFile (www.leapfile.com), FileGenius (www.filegenius.com) and ShareFile (www.sharefilecpa.com) as stand-alone tools, but I feel that for those firms that have already implemented a document management solution, it is worth paying a little extra for the integrated portal solution to minimize administrative time for transferring and managing files (see www.CPATechAdvisor.com/go/2775 for more on portal technology).

Promotion of “Next Generation” accounting products from Thomson Reuters (cs.thomson reuters.com) and CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business (www.cchgroup.com) that have been re-written and based on a central core of data was the number two firm production technology selection. With only 14 percent of respondents already installing them, you can bet many of us will be talking to those firms over the summer to see which products are ready for adoption this year. The third most important production technology selected was developing an Electronic Data Retention Policy that would support the firm’s transition to “less paper” technologies, which just over one-third of firms had implemented. There were 11 other process improvement topics discussed with scanning technology being already utilized by 47 percent of firms and 38 percent already having a document management application in place.