Yes, they’re relatively secure and probably more secure than your own internal network (and definitely more secure than mine). You really don’t need to worry too much about security and uptime. So if you’re thinking of switching to a cloud based accounting system sometime soon then here are five things you ought to know.ġ. The costs are coming down and the functionality is improving. Why? Because the world of cloud based accounting applications is rapidly changing. If you’re an established company with a decent on-premise system then probably not yet. But are these cloud based accounting applications ready for prime time? Should you feel comfortable taking your critical financial information and handing it over to these companies? Can these applications provide the same level of features and functionality that you’re now getting with your old-school, legacy, on-premise, but functioning accounting system? Should you make the switch? For a business looking to take its accounting to the cloud there are at least these six major players providing options for you. For example there’s Sage One, from Sage (another client of mine). Now it has not only evolved as better business system, but it also finds itself competing against other, low cost online accounting applications with a growing list of features. Intuit (my company sells QuickBooks products), was for a while only a glorified bookkeeping application but the only game in town. And now, seemingly out of the blue, there are many. It was just only a few years ago that when a client asked me to recommend them a cloud based accounting application I had few options to offer.