For most of us and certainly for so-called Millennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha, it seems the internet has been around forever. But as we know it in its current form, probably less than 30 years.
Older people may remember early work on it from the 1960s, but it was British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN in Switzerland, who led the development of the World Wide Web.
That was in the late 1980s/early 1990s and it was that system which linked hypertext documents into an information system, accessible from any point on the network. That was how the internet we know today was conceived and became an integral part of our everyday lives.
Other communication technology developed at a pace, and it seems hard to believe that the ubiquitous iPhone has only been around since 2007.
Web technology allowed development of other areas, notably cloud accounting.
Cloud accounting has revolutionised the lives of hundreds of thousands of small and not so small business owners.
The earliest and arguably the first development of cloud accounting took place in 1998 with the introduction of NetSuite, which was reported as being the first web-hosted accounting software system.
Riding on the back of NetSuite’s success came Microsoft who acquired Great Plains, an Application Service Provider and created Microsoft Dynamics GP, which is a global, mid-market business accounting software package.
In those early days cloud accounting as a service was reserved for bigger business. However, by around 2009, new players started to emerge and their solutions were targeted towards smaller businesses. Accounting suddenly became accessible, achievable and understandable for even the least accounting-minded business owners.
Today it is reported that more than 50 per cent of small to medium sized businesses are using the likes of Xero to keep their accounts in order. So, there is no doubt that the cloud is where most business owners prefer to be when it comes to accounting.
Technology is moving at an astonishing rate. There are apps for pretty much everything these days which makes streamlining your finance function a lot easier.
By outsourcing to cloud accounting experts, like GI Outsourcing, you will not have to worry about keeping up to date with the latest apps available and training your internal team on any new software or updates.
A highly professional partner like GI Outsourcing, with its specialist cloud technology teams, will open up opportunities to make your finance function more efficient and provide solutions to any finance problems you experience. There are apps for pretty much everything these days including ones to streamline your finance function.
With an internal finance team there will be limitations to knowledge, especially if there is only one person involved. With outsourcing you will have a team of specialists available to provide the knowledge and support that goes way beyond day-to-day bookkeeping.
Contact our UK-based team of account managers today to find out how we can help your firm.
