“Should we use Drake tax desktop software or host it on the cloud?”
It is one of the most common questions that many business owners and tax preparers ask when starting to use this software or at the time switching to the cloud. People want to know which side wins the battle here and where they should spend their IT dollars. But at the same time, not everyone is willing to do the required research to find this not-so-easy answer themselves.
Neither local-hosted nor cloud Drake Tax Software Hosting can be considered better than the other unless you understand what makes them different. Each of the Drake deployment methods has its own set of advantages and challenges. But what is always true is that Drake tax software hosting is the next-level alternative to hosting this software on your local computer.
Still not convinced? Let us prove the benefits of Drake tax hosting in detail.
How Does Drake Tax Software Hosting work?
If you are at the stage of selecting between local-hosted and cloud-hosted Drake software, you might already have a good understanding of tax software benefits. Drake, as advanced tax software, can simplify tax preparation tasks with features like Drake Scheduler, Tax Planner, and others. It does play a pivotal role in improving your capability to handle tax clients in comparison to preparing taxes manually.
Different types of businesses can benefit from installed Drake tax desktop software for use. But that’s not to say local software installation is the be-all-end-all when it comes to growing your business. As you will read below, there are plenty of advantages to switching to Drake cloud for your tax preparation needs.
Pros of Drake Tax Software Hosting
It gives you remote software access
The growth in the cloud industry has given rise to application hosting for different types of businesses, including tax and CPA firms. For businesses looking for ways to access business applications on the go, cloud technology occupies the gap between users and software, nurturing the best of both worlds.
Unlike a local-hosted environment, Drake cloud is easily accessible. This means when your licensed Drake tax software is hosted on a cloud server, it gains the potential of being used outside your office premises. In fact, you can work on tax files and Drake software while you are traveling, at home, or on the go.
For instance, being a tax professional, you have just reached back home after exhausting work hours during the tax season. Five minutes later, one of your clients called to make a slight correction in the tax file before you proceed to file his tax returns. Now that you are away from the office, how will you get things done? Here comes Drake software cloud hosting to your rescue, enabling you to check files or use the Drake application from anywhere.
It promises the security of data
The profit and losses statements account for information, or sales data, how much value does it all hold to your business?
Being in the tax industry or even otherwise, you want to keep the data related to your business or clients completely safe. When you have it all in paper-based format, you want to keep it safe from fire, floods, or other disasters. In the case of digital files, you want to prevent data loss that may result from software bugs or hardware problems.
To prevent losing financial data, you must have robust security measures, which are available along with Drake tax hosting plans. Renowned cloud hosting providers promise the security of data with the help of:
- Data encryption
- Antiviruses
- Antimalware
- Multi-layered firewalls
- Multi-factor authentication, and more
Moreover, these cloud providers rely on SSAE-16-certified Tier-3 and Tier-4 data centers to minimize the risk of losing data and provide data retrieval help when needed.
It provides multi-user capabilities
You may have ten, twenty, or more hard-working tax professionals working for your firm. But if they find it difficult to work together and collaborate on tasks, the resulting lag in productivity becomes inevitable. Not only will you get less work done in more time, but the overall profitability may also suffer. Since collaboration between teams is imperative, understanding the benefit of Drake cloud becomes even easier.
You can ensure accurate tax return preparation and filing by resorting to Drake tax software hosting and evolving the business towards enhanced collaboration. Even if you are traveling for work reasons while the other team members are in the office, you can work together on the same cloud-hosted files and Drake software simultaneously.
With all the errors that often arise with manual tax calculation, time constraints related to tax filing, or redundant file sharing, you can get rid of them all with efficient cloud solutions.
It helps save money
While it may seem like your workplace is already using advanced technologies, there is always some room for further upgrades. With the traditional implementation of Drake software on local dedicated servers, you need to invest money in both computing resources and IT professionals. A considerable chunk of your budget will go into establishing the IT setup and then maintaining the same periodically. To add more weight to this financial burden, you simply cannot ignore other overhead expenses.
Don’t you think it is a hurdle to ensure business continuity with profitability this way?
Drake tax hosting will be a better solution to eliminate these bottlenecks. Whether it is server setup, data security, or maintenance, your cloud hosting provider will take care of it all. In case you encounter any hosting issues with cloud-hosted Drake, simply call or email for assistance.
Cloud hosting is possibly a mechanism using which you can start using the software on the cloud the same day once it is configured. The same may not be possible for a local-hosted application.
You can get data backup when needed
You can start using Drake tax software hosting solutions by focusing on its benefits, one of which is periodic data backups. One of the best ways to secure sensitive client information is to get it backed up in different locations regularly. Drake hosting providers do this without asking for any additional charge. Want to know when this hosting service quality is usable? Consider this example –
Your device crashes because of operating system failure and the stored data cannot be recovered due to the extent of the damage. If the tax season is approaching and you need the client’s data back for tax filing, cloud backups will provide you with a recent copy of the data files to prevent loss of reputation and financial damage to your business.
It can be disheartening to lose all the data at first. But you can benefit from this feature and get the data back to recover from the losses incurred.
The listed benefits might have convinced you to switch to Drake hosting for the better. For more details about selecting the right cloud solution provider, here’s a complete guide.