Cloud computing may be the hot IT topic at the moment, but there are a host of pitfalls which should make any accountancy business wary of jumping into the swirling mists of using storage, applications and servers from a third-party location. Any decisions in this area need to be driven first and foremost by your own business requirements, however, and not by the availability of technology. For a firm with a relatively small number of users, cloud computing may well end up being a cheaper option than buying lots of hardware, software, data storage, IT support and maintenance outright. However, as the number of users grows, it may be that an in-house option becomes more attractive. Ultimately, the 'tipping point' will depend on a number of factors, such as the type of software being used, the number of users, how much data needs to be stored, the type of hardware and the amount of IT support needed.
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