QuickBooks Hosting ProviderQuickBooks Hosting Provider

The transition from manual accounting and bookkeeping to using QuickBooks accounting software is based on one thing – higher efficiency at work. Every business wants the accounting team members to leave redundant tasks and work faster than usual using comprehensive accounting software. It can be about looking at how effectively the team can collaborate when the software is hosted on the cloud or if the cloud-hosted QuickBooks is accessible from any preferred mobile device.  

Still, deciding to switch to QuickBooks cloud hosting is half the job done. The next half is about selecting the right Quickbooks Hosting providers.

Since there are many cloud solution providers in the market, selecting the best QuickBooks hosting provider is not as easy as it may sound. Think about it in terms of daily life example –  

If you prefer buying clothing from a specific brand, it’s certainly not because you like the brand name. Instead, it is because of the product quality, customer experience, cost, and similar other benefits.  

Similarly, a business owner would like to assess cloud service providers first before allowing them to host the licensed desktop software. This is exactly where the scope of making mistakes exists.  

Want to learn from others’ faults without having to do that first by yourself? Here’s what you need to know –

7 Mistakes to Avoid While Hiring a QB Hosting Provider 

1. Making a random decision to select a hosting provider 

Adopting any new technology for business requirements requires careful research before making the final decision. Giving the excuse to proceed with any technology provider randomly may hurt a business in the long run. The same holds with QuickBooks hosting provider selection.

One should keep in mind that migrating licensed QuickBooks software and data to the cloud is not a short-term activity. You would want to continue benefiting from this technology as long as needed. Selecting a QB hosting provider randomly without conducting the required research is not advisable.  It increases the chances of switching to some other cloud provider if things do not work out as expected. It will be followed by the reselection of some other cloud provider and the applicable downtime related to migration if any.

Therefore, it makes sense not to make any random selection of a cloud hosting provider. Instead of relying on any readymade list of Best QuickBooks Hosting Providers,’ do the hard work yourself.

2. Focusing mainly on low-cost hosting plan 

Another common mistake many business owners make is focusing on the cost involved in switching to cloud-hosted QuickBooks. If you are new to this whole concept, you must know that the cost of cloud hosting is in addition to the QB desktop license. It is quite obvious that not every business owner would want to invest in this cloud technology without frowning. Still, tilting the perspective to selecting a hosting plan based only on the pricing may not turn out to be a good decision.

Compare it with any purchase decision to be made in life. No one would want to select a product or service without checking its use case, features, and quality. Finding the best QuickBooks hosting provider with a price scale as a reference is not the right way to approach this requirement.

3. Ignoring cloud hosting pricing 

Opposite to those who focus on buying the cheapest QuickBooks hosting plan, another category of business owners does not consider the pricing aspect at all. If you are one of them, keep in mind that the cost of a cloud hosting plan will ultimately be added to the list of business expenses. Paying more for a plan that has features you do not necessarily need does not make sense.  

The beauty of QuickBooks hosting also lies in the fact that you can easily scale the selected hosting plan up or down whenever needed. In other words, you can simply start with the most basic QB hosting plan and upgrade it during specific periods, such as the tax season. Also, keep in mind that you won’t know about the average cloud hosting cost per user by ignoring the pricing angle.

4. Not checking customer support availability 

Switching from a local-hosted to a cloud-hosted environment does require technical configuration to be done on the server side. If you or any of the team members are not tech-savvy, the chances are you won’t be able to resolve the hosting-related issues that may arise.

Think about it from a different angle –

A QB user faces a hosting-related issue at midnight due to which the software becomes inaccessible. Not getting the required support then only is synonymous with having the software hosted locally knowing the fact that it will be taken care of on the next business day. In other words, the lack of a 24×7 customer support facility undermines the very reason to switch to the cloud environment.  

These days, you can find QuickBooks hosting providers who offer hosting support via multiple modes like call, chat, and email.

5. Thinking of all QB hosting plans to be the same 

Another common mistake you need to learn from is assuming all QB hosting plans to be the same. The truth is – every hosting plan differs from the other in terms of features, remote accessibility, a limited number of users supported, virtual computing resources, and hence, the pricing. Besides this, the difference may also exist in terms of shared or dedicated servers being taken into use to host licensed QuickBooks software on the cloud.

Therefore, it is quite important to compare hosting plans offered by different QuickBooks hosting providers before picking the best one. One should also perform another level of comparison between different hosting plans offered by one cloud provider. For example, Ace Cloud Hosting offers three different application hosting plans, namely Essentials, Business, and Enterprise. Each of these plans is different from the others and hence, suitable for different types of businesses.

6. Not knowing where cloud-hosted data is stored 

When QuickBooks software is hosted in a local environment, it is easy to understand that the data and software files are stored in the computer system. Ever wondered where the data goes when it is hosted on the cloud?

Depending on the QuickBooks hosting provider you select, the data is hosted on the servers located in the chosen data centers. The location of these data centers at the access point may affect the performance of the software. It can be because of the delay in transferring data from the cloud server to the device in use.

Other than software performance, knowing data location is also necessary for several compliance and legal obligations. To know more about such details, simply check the official website of the cloud hosting provider or ask them explicitly. This way, your business can stay compliant with various legal requirements.

7. Sticking to one QuickBooks hosting provider 

It often happens that we only get to realize the cloud service quality offered by a service provider after opting for the services. This is irrespective of the time spent on comparing the benefits with other available hosting plans. In most cases, business owners pay for a hosting plan after utilizing the free trial period of 15 to 30 days (depending on the selected cloud hosting provider). However, this does not mean they cannot switch to some other cloud provider.

For example, if you select a newly-established cloud provider that does not have adequate infrastructure or team to fulfill your business needs, you would most likely face affected performance and delayed support. Instead of continuing to face the resulting frustration, it makes sense to switch to a different QuickBooks hosting provider.  

To sum up, finding the best QuickBooks hosting provider is more about ensuring you do not commit these common mistakes and hence, benefit from a seamless cloud transition.  

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.