Multitasking is a staple of virtually all job postings, and a word that often comes up when talking about the process of switching between applications on a PC, smartphone or tablet. It may be part of everyone's vocabulary today (not to mention a key selling point of devices such as the iPad Pro), but what does it really mean to "multitask"?
The ability of a person to effectively focus on two things at once is widely disputed. Speaking to National Public Radio's Ira Flatow a few years ago, Stanford psychology professor Clifford Nass explained that constantly trying to take on more than one task is a recipe for distraction.
"People who multitask all the time can't filter out irrelevancy," Nass told Flatow. "They can't manage a working memory. They're chronically distracted. They initiate much larger parts of their brain that are irrelevant to the task at hand."
Unfortunately, most accounting teams have to attempt multitasking whether they want to or not. They have to keep their eyes on multiple entities, regulatory frameworks and currencies from moment to moment, which naturally heightens the risk of a mental mistake that will mess up the company books and slow down processes.
Software should multitask where humans cannot
In the context of Nass' remarks, this workload by itself would be daunting. But its difficulty is greatly amplified by the widespread reliance of SMB accountants on pre-Internet tools like QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics:
- For example, QuickBooks only accounts for one company per database file. Its inability to multitask on this front means that human accountants, who are more prone to errors when handling data, have to pick up the slack and routinely switch between logins, redo entries and manage complex intercompany transactions.
- Legacy financial software is also difficult and expensive to customize. It is hard to reconfigure it on the fly in response to shifting requirements. Like a person who is struggling to juggle a bunch of tasks, it cannot adjust to the situation at hand, except at great cost (concentration for the person, customization costs for the software).
- As Nass explained, human multitaskers often utilize huge parts of their brains that are nevertheless irrelevant to a specific task. Likewise, finance teams working around the limitations of QuickBooks et al. have to throw the proverbial "kitchen sink" at their problems, using Excel sheets that require extraneous copying, pasting and exporting.
As we can see, when it comes to accounting, the status quo involves humans who have to multitask — with QuickBooks and Excel mostly — in order to make up for the shortcomings of their financial software. If anything, this situation should be reversed. Cloud software, which can perform many tasks in concert, should be multitasking to take pressure off of actual humans.
How to solve the multitasking dilemma of buying financial software
One big issue remains before cloud financial applications can ride to the rescue, though: How can your company select the best platform for its requirements? This challenge is a multitasking exercise in its own right, as potential buyers have to analyze costs, user interfaces, deployment options and other characteristics, often on very short timetables that cause details to be overlooked.
The sheer amount of information to comb through can seem overwhelming, which is why it needs to be broken down into discrete categories. The first thing to decide on is a delivery model:
- On-premises: This setup is usually what an SMB starts with. Traditionally licensed software is deployed on the company's own hardware. The organization has a lot of control over its programs, but integrations are difficult, each instance requires its own built-out environments and the entire model was built with 1980s client-server computing.
- Hosted: Similar to on-premises, but with a third-party data center and an online delivery layer such as Citrix in the mix as well. It is sort of like the difference between buying and renting a cable modem: The day-to-day results are more or less the same, although you have less control, and there are some additional complications in working with the vendor.
- Cloud: A cloud solution is built from the ground up for Internet connectivity. Accordingly, all necessary resources — i.e., computing power, storage and networking — are supplied by the cloud service provider over an IP connection. Implementation is relatively quick, plus costs are eminently manageable thanks to subscription billing. User interfaces are intuitive and similar to what end users expect from the Web.
There are more details to each of these categories, but settling on one of them will immediately simplify your purchasing process and save you the trouble of multitasking as you decide between a bunch of possibilities. Given the financial limitations of many SMBs as well as the common need to seamlessly manage multiple entities and obtain real-time financial information, cloud is more often than not the soundest option.
Concentrate on what matters with cloud accounting software
For a human, the main drawback of multitasking is that it makes it hard to give your full attention to tasks that require it. So you end up moving numbers between Excel sheets and logging in and out of QuickBooks, but you might make a few data entry errors along the way. On top of that, you cannot get the reports you need, when you need them, because your financial software is too limited to effectively multitask between entities.
Multitasking is easier said than done.
Enter a cloud accounting application, such as Intacct. While a person can strain the limits of their patience and concentration juggling tasks at the end of each month, cloud software can automate crucial processes such as consolidations, collections and period closes. This efficiency can result in a substantial payoff. According to Nucleus Research, cloud-based accounting implementations see an average of 1.7 times the return on investment as on-premises alternatives.
The exhausting multitasking of traditional accounting workflows is not confined just to closing the books or reconciling transactions, either. There is sometimes the need to find and set up special hardware, software and/or VPN connections while you are getting started, or to figure out how to integrate your accounting tools with Salesforce.com and other popular business applications. This is a ton of extra work that has to be done in conjunction with actual accounting responsibilities.
"Simplicity is baked right into cloud software."
With cloud ERP software, in contrast, simplicity is baked right in. It does all the multitasking for you behind the scenes, using automation as well as out-of-the-box integrations and APIs to simplify your workflows. Need a custom report on the spot? It is available on demand. Trying to view another entity's transactions? Doing so is as straightforward as connecting to the Internet and logging in.
You may still think of yourself as a multitasker, and of course there will still be situations in which you will have to navigate multiple challenges simultaneously. Even so, you and your team can save precious time, money and concentration by using cloud software to get a handle on complex processes.
