Despite being more convenient and way cheaper than desktop programs, some people still choose to avoid online solutions because they think they are less secure.
And even after many years, the biggest concern regarding online systems is that users have absolutely no control over the servers (the cloud) that their precious business data is stored on.
But believe it or not, running your accounting in the cloud is actually more secure than you would imagine – even safer than keeping everything on a hard drive on your computer.
Granted, desktop accounting systems are still pretty convenient since you only have to purchase the software and you’re given full control over everything. But this is exactly the problem: the desktop program has to be protected by you and you alone. If you neglect the basic security processes – like updating, creating backups, or activating password protection – you can easily end up with your accounting in ruins. Not to mention force majeure cases: nothing can protect your computer and your data if the damage is done by fire, flood or theft.
With an online accounting system your only task is to password-protect your data and carefully manage permissions for your books – while the rest of the security concerns are handled by the developer.
Earlier we went into details about how online accounting companies secure the data of their users. But if we have to summarize all those things into a few words, those would be bank-level encryption, continuous accessibility and protection against data loss.
The most important aspect here is the first: bank-level encryption. Online accounting systems use the same 256-bit SSL encryption that internet banks use, which manifests with the appearance of a lock sign and the HTTPS communications protocol in your browser’s address bar. Translated to plain English, this means that absolutely nobody can interfere and steal your data while you are dealing with your books. To make sure that you are secured further, your network traffic is continuously monitored even when it goes through multiple firewalls and routers.
With an online solution, ‘downtime’ is a non-existent term: since data is stored on multiple servers at different locations around the world, you can rest assured that your work remains uninterrupted even if any of those servers go down. Your data is secure even if there is a problem at your side, too, thanks to continuous backups and updates (which desktop programs lack), meaning that data loss is out of question – unless you delete certain records yourself.
Last but not least, there is the issue of access to your account. As an admin you can determine who gets access to the account and what those people can see. You can also opt for a two-step authentication process during which an access code is sent to your phone in order to verify your identity. And speaking of phones, all online accounting apps ask users to provide a password before accessing the account, which is often substituted or completed by the latest mobile security features such as fingerprint verification.
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