10 Reasons why you Should Host Tax Software on Cloud

Tax professionals always look for ways to streamline their workflow and boost productivity. Managing multiple clients and complex tax scenarios isn’t easy. Tax preparation and filing software like ProSeries, Drake, etc., offer handy features that allow tax professionals to file taxes quickly and accurately. 

However, if you are working on a local setup, you might encounter performance and scalability issues. As per the latest survey of the Journal of Accountancy, there is a slow and steady trend of cloud deployment of tax software by professionals.

This latest trend is because tax software hosting offers advantages like remote access, bank-level security, business continuity, etc. This blog post will explore ten valid reasons to migrate your tax software to the cloud.

Now, let’s look at the different advantages associated with hosting tax software.

The biggest downside of working on a local tax software setup is that you must always be at your desk working on your client’s taxes. However, with tax software hosting, you get the much-needed flexibility.

You get remote access to your favorite tax software. All your tax firm’s critical financial data is stored securely on the cloud.

As an admin user, you have access to all the data. To foster collaboration, you can provide role-based access to other team members.

If you have a multi-user license for the tax software you use, then your team can collaborate in real time with cloud hosting.

As mentioned earlier, you can access all the data on the cloud and share the required access with other users based on their requirements.

In this way, all team members can work on their respective files without having to waste time requesting access again and again. Such team collaboration isn’t feasible in a local tax filing setup.

Most reputed cloud hosting providers for tax software offer enterprise-grade security features such as:

Tax software hosting providers store all your data in Tire IV and V data centers, which leading bank providers also use. These data centers are heavily guarded by 24x7x365 onsite security guards, camera systems, strict access controls, and key shuffling systems.

All these security measures ensure that your data is safe from unauthorized access and modern cyber-attacks.

When working in an on-premises tax software hosting environment, you must hire an IT security team and deploy advanced cybersecurity solutions to safeguard your tax firm from hackers.

Another scenario where tax software hosting saves money for your business is during the tax season, when demand surges unprecedentedly. In that case, you need more computing power and data storage to cater to the tax filing requirements of your clients.

Hiring an IT team to buy and set up the necessary devices to meet the demands is tedious and time-consuming. However, with tax software hosting, you must connect with your provider and share all your computing requirements.

Your provider then seamlessly allocates more resources to your remote servers. The best part is that you are up and running in a few seconds and can focus more on growing your business rather than worrying about technical hassles.

After migrating your tax software setup to the cloud, you don’t have to worry about business continuity or disaster recovery. Your tax software hosting provider stores multiple backups of your tax firm's data in separate geographically located data centers.

Suppose your business is down due to any unfortunate event, and then your cloud hosting provider can get your firm up and running in minutes. It enables you to run your business with zero to minimum downtime, even during emergencies.

All your financial data is stored securely and automatically backed up regularly in a tax software hosting setup. Regular data backups ensure business continuity in unfortunate events like natural disasters, cyber-attacks, etc. 

In an on-premise setup, you must deploy expensive data backup solutions, which can also clog down performance in the long run. With tax software hosting, you get automated data backups to access your data anywhere.

Drake, ATX, ProSeries, and other reputed tax software support integrations with third-party applications. 

These third-party apps enhance the functionality of your tax software by collecting clients' files, digital signatures, and other tasks. You may also be working with third-party integrations along with your tax software.

So, before moving your tax filing setup to the cloud, ask your hosting provider whether they support that integration in their services.

In an on-premises setup, you don’t have the flexibility to scale your setup easily. However, with tax software hosting, you can easily remove or deploy computing resources as per your business requirements. The best part is that you only pay for resources that you use.

Another massive benefit of migrating your tax software to the cloud is that you can access your tax software remotely with any device you choose. You only need a device with an internet connection to remotely work on your client’s taxes.

Let’s say you have Drake software on the cloud; then, you can access it on your phone or tablet and work similarly. However, you would require a larger screen size to work productively.

Lastly, the main advantage of tax software hosting is that you can leverage it to streamline your tax filing workflow. With the numerous benefits mentioned in this blog post, you can focus more on your business than on trivial things.

You can scale as per your requirements with zero worry about data security and business continuity. All in all, tax software hosting can work wonders for your tax firms as you spend more time catering to your clients' requirements and delivering a delightful experience.

In this blog post, we discussed ten reasons to migrate your tax software to the cloud. So, whether using Ultratax CS, ProSeries, Drake, or any other desktop-based tax preparation software, you can partner with a tax software hosting provider to install it on fast and dedicated servers.  

All you need is a stable internet connection, and you can securely pay your client’s taxes anywhere, anytime, and that too with a device of your preference.