Kashflow integration with Dropbox

Kashflow is a great online bookkeping package that we recommend to our clients because of its simplicity and powerful features. Earlier this month Kashflow released new Dropbox integration. It extends the document management functionality that was limited to storing receipt copies up until now. With this new integration, you can now store documents in any part of the package, be it bank statements, contracts, payslips or whatever you see fit. While the extended functionality is welcome, you need to think carefully about replacing the existing receipt storage functionality on Amazon with the new one on Dropbox.

Fortunately you have the option to enable the new functionality while keeping the old behaviour just for receipts. Here are the pros and cons of turning the new functionality on for receipts:

Should I move my Accounts online?

As more of the IT world moves onto the Web, accounting software is following that trend. However, while some segments of the software market have moved happily into the Cloud, there is still some resistance when it comes to putting your financials on the web.

Having your data hosted somewhere else has always been controversial, especially when it comes to sensitive data. Some countries like Switzerland even have laws that make it very difficult to host client data outside your premises (not that it has protected any of those American UBS clients). But that controversy has gone less virulent recently: it’s now common practice, even amongst banks which tend to be very conservative, to host their email or CRM at third party providers. And even the most reticent financial institutions have no qualms about using Bloomberg, even to transact.

As bandwidth becomes ubiquitous and as browsers become more and more powerful, there is an increasing incentive to use hosted service providers. That’s great news because the benefits of using a SaaS (Software as a service) model are numerous, especially if the software is browser based. Here is a quick rundown of why it’s a good idea:

• There is no upfront cost. Most SaaS providers charge on a per month/per user basis. This is great for start-ups and SMEs since no capital is tied up, especially now when funding is so hard to secure.
• If the software is browser based, as most new modern platforms, it’s a guarantee that it will work with most OSes and platforms. You don’t have to be on this version of Windows or have that version of Excel for the product to work. And conflicts with other pieces of software are less prone to happen since interfaces are built at the server level through the SOAP or REST protocols