Faster. Better. Cheaper.

At the end of March I watched an inspiring Dimbleby lecture on the BBC by Martha Lane Fox, digital pioneer and co founder of Lastminute.com. It was very interesting to hear her history of the internet to date and her views on the future of the internet. It is clear that we are only at the start of the next "industrial" revolution. One of Martha's themes was "access for all." She highlighed how "phenominally empowering" the internet is and how it allows lots of things to be done, "faster, better, cheaper."

Those 3 words together hit me as a great summary of how cloud accounting solutions are already allowing SMEs to thrive and grow. A core cloud based general ledger solution such as Xero (other cloud accounting solutions are available!) basically changes how an SME can operate. Instead of carting off piles of paperwork to a bookkeeper or accountant on an irregular basis or filling out lines of info on Excel spreadsheets and eventually getting information on how the business performed several months ago, a cloud based accounting solution can tell you how you are doing now. Today. Right now.

Communicate with your customers now. Check who owes you money and send them a statement, now. Check your inventory levels as of right now. Do your expense claim using your mobile phone, right now, take a photo of the receipt, post it on line, bin the receipt. Do your VAT return in 5 mins (including filing with HMRC.) Do your payroll and e-mail staff their payslips. Work closely with your accountant to ensure all compliance issues are managed efficiently.

Add to that "core" general ledger system a range of "Add-ons" that further enhance the cloud offering and link directly to the general ledger. From electronic point of sales solutions like VendHQ (with purchase ordering, inventory, customer loyalty program, detailed performance reporting all included and other features too) to data management solutions like Receipt Bank and forecasting solutions like Crunchboards. Many other add-ons are available; credit control, CMS, time keeping, appointments, to name only a few. Cloud solutions work together to enhance to performance of SMEs and let you know how you are doing. They let you operate faster, better cheaper.