Quickbooks is one of the most popular accounting packages for small business. But, people who are in charge of keeping the books do not want to always be tied to a computer working on their financials. Therefore, there are some remote access alternatives they should be aware of. This article will highlight some of the best methods for accessing Quickbooks remotely so you can work from anywhere.
- QuickBooks Online. Intuit actually offers a service online where you can access your company financials from anywhere. This is a hosted solution that you will pay a monthly fee for to Intuit. Also, all of your company data will be stored up in the cloud. The upside is your data will be accessible from anywhere and will be properly backed up and maintained. The downside is the access will rely on Internet connections between Intuit and wherever you are. Furthermore, some people may not feel comfortable about their data being stored in the cloud.
- Remote desktop solution. Many people have implemented a remote desktop solution when it comes to Quickbooks. They will install the software on a server or computer in their office. Then they will configure the local firewall to filter traffic to the server when accessed from the outside. This is good because it gives you access to your data from anywhere. Furthermore, the data stays within your environment. However, you will need to make sure you have a good back up plan. Also, if the Internet connection between your location and the business is down then you will not be able to access the data. However, as a backup you can still go onsite to access your files.
- Hosted solution would combine the best of both worlds. In this scenario, you would lease server space from a company. Then you would install Quickbooks on that server and copy your company file to it. Again, you would need to have a reliable Internet connection and the place you hosted with would also need a reliable Internet connection. If either of these went down you would lose access to the server. Ideally, the place you host with would also be backing up your files so you do not have to worry about that. The downside is that you will have to pay a monthly fee for this. But, you will have more control over your data.
As you can see there are multiple ways you can configure Quickbooks for remote access. This will give you the ability to access your files from anywhere that has an Internet connection. Then you do not have to be tied to a desktop all the time simply because your Quickbooks files are installed there.