When to upgrade, replace or remove your accounting practice server

Written by Helen Brooks, Head of Commercial at Cloud2Me

Many accountancy practices that have been operating for more than 10 years have, (or least had), an office server. Your server would typically sit in the 'comms room’ - aka the broom cupboard. In its heyday, this server (or servers if you include SQL server) probably ran everything in the office, including shared file storage, email and your accounting apps such as Sage, Iris and TaxCalc.

This article explores when you need to upgrade, replace or remove your accounting practice server.

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Why does my office server slow down over time?

Servers slow down over time due to several factors but it usually boils down to long-term issues with software and hardware. Over time, software can accumulate unnecessarily, your files can become bloated, and, thanks to patches and poorly coded upgrades, background processes can consume more and more system resources.

On the hardware side, components such as hard drives, RAM, and cooling systems can degrade over time, especially if they have mechanical parts that can wear out. This can lead to slower data retrieval speeds. Dust accumulation and overheating can further impair hardware performance, causing the system to throttle speeds to prevent damage. Together, these factors can result in a gradual decline in a computer's responsiveness and efficiency, but the biggest killer of performance, by far, is growth! More users logging onto a server will demand more resources from applications, and more application usage results in bigger databases.

When to upgrade or replace your server

There comes a tipping point when applications begin crashing regularly or take so long to open (or process a request) they become unusable. But in reality, if you have waited this long to make your decision to upgrade, you’ve probably already wasted hundreds if not thousands of working hours to slow productivity thanks to your doddering old server.

If you and your team are waiting more than ten seconds for an application to load or process a request, then you need to upgrade asap. It’s not just the loss of those ten seconds, but the frequent drop in momentum and flow that results from someone staring at an hourglass symbol and opening another app, or (even worse) their phone, while they wait. Longer term, having to deal with very slow or inconsistent IT can be a major drain on staff morale, especially if they flag it as a problem and it never gets resolved.

The choice to upgrade or replace is usually quite an easy one. If you, or your IT support company can identify which resource (CPU usage, hard disk space or RAM) is causing the slow down in performance, and you have capacity within your server to make the necessary upgrade, then upgrade it! If it’s just slow performance (as opposed to crashing), then it’s likely to be your RAM causing the problem - an easy fix for an experienced techie.

But if your server is crashing and you’ve already gone through a round of upgrades, then you may have to bite the bullet and replace the whole server. This will almost certainly be quite costly - both in terms of capital expenditure and time. So what are the alternatives to upgrading or replacing?

Remove your server entirely and move into the cloud

The great thing about cloud computing is that because all the hardware resources are outsourced, you never have to worry about upgrading or replacing an office server ever again. If your practice grows and you need more server resources to keep up with demand, these can be applied virtually and in real time. Gone are the days of having to wait a few seconds for an application to load some data - everything is lightning fast, all of the time.

There’s only one problem. Cloud versions of your favourite app are NOT the same as the original desktop versions. Certain compromises must be made, especially if they are being run through a web browser. If you are able to adapt to the new SaaS version of your favourite product, then moving all your workloads into the cloud can be a very cost effective, long-term solution. But there is a ‘third way’ option, that merges the advantages of traditional desktop-based applications with the flexibility of cloud computing.

Hosted desktops (also known as Virtual Desktops or Desktop as a Service) combine the functionality of traditional desktop applications with the convenience of cloud computing. They do this by copying ALL the data and applications on your current office server and moving it to a ‘virtual server’. These virtual servers actually reside on much bigger and more powerful servers, living in various data centres around the UK.

Users access their virtual server through remote desktop apps such as Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS) or the market leader, Citrix. This setup allows employees to access their work environment from any device with an internet connection.

Hosted desktops also improve security and disaster recovery, because the data is stored centrally in secure data centres, reducing the risk of data loss from hardware failures or theft. Hosted desktop providers should also include encryption, regular backups, and stringent access controls as standard.

Finally, hosted desktops reduce the burden on IT infrastructure and management. By outsourcing the maintenance and updates of desktop environments to a hosted desktop provider, businesses can free up their IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives. This model also offers scalability, allowing companies to quickly adjust their resources based on current needs without significant capital investment.

Which hosted desktop provider to use

There are broadly three options available to accounting practices if they want to adopt a hosted desktop solution: in-house; use a local MSP or hosted desktop generalist; or use a specialist accounting hosted desktop provider.

Doing it in-house

This would seem to be the cheapest option but there can be hidden costs with this approach. Most practices lack the size or internal technical expertise to run their own private cloud or use an off-the-peg public cloud provider like AWS or Azure. There is also a risk associated with the fact these cloud providers charge on a resource usage basis, and costs can spiral out of control if you don’t maintain a good handle on who is using what resources.

A local Managed Service Provider (MSP)

This could also be a hosted desktop generalist (i.e. one that provides hosted desktops to any business) may be in a better position, especially with small to medium sized practices. They will have the technical expertise to set up a virtual server with a public cloud provider and most likely already know you and your business quite well. The biggest challenge they may face though are the intricacies of running certain accounting applications. Accountants push their apps a lot harder during busy periods such as Year End and they often need seamless integration with other applications, which can be difficult to manage in a virtual environment.

Use an accounting specialist hosted desktop provider

You are likely to get the best service and performance for your money, and they will have the technical expertise to run their own private cloud (or use one of the public cloud providers like AWS). They will also have the depth of knowledge when it comes to supporting applications such as TaxCalc, CCH, Iris, Virtual Cabinet etc. The three market leaders in the UK when it comes to providing hosted desktop for accountants are Cloud2Me, Iris Hosting and HDUK - there are lots of reviews on google and accounting specialist forums for you to find out which provider is best for your practice.

Whichever option you choose, Practice Managers (especially of practices that don’t have a dedicated internal IT team) should look to outsource as much of their IT system to an MSP or Hosted Desktop Provider as possible. Both will not only keep your systems running smoothly but also give 24/7 wrap around support for when things go wrong. And your days of worrying whether to upgrade, replace or remove your server, will be gone!

If you need more practice management advice and you're considering 20:20 Innovation membership, why not book a demo today?