centralized scanning is common, backup appliances less so.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
accounting firm operations and technology survey
the 2021 accounting firm operations and technology survey has turned up interesting findings in how firms are maximizing their use of technology.
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here are some highlights, but note that percentages related to “all firms” are heavily skewed to firms of under 10 employees, which accounted for 66 percent of respondents:
- twenty-two percent of solo practitioners replace their desktop computers every three years, though 54% wait as long as they can.
- thirty-three percent of larger firms (51-100 personnel), and almost as many very large firms (100+ personnel), replace desktop computers every three years, and approximately the same amount waits four years.
- twenty percent of all firms replace laptops every three years, though the number is 69% for the largest firms. forty-seven percent of solos and 43% of small firms wait for necessity to hit them.
- twenty-nine percent of solo practitioners and about half of small and medium-size (11-50 employees) firms replace their servers only as needed.
- twenty-seven percent of large firms and 15% of very large firms replace servers every four years whether they need to or not.
- fifty-four percent of solo practitioners have two monitors on their desk, and another 11% have three. forty-six percent of those at large firms have three monitors.
- checkpoint is the research solution preferred by 45% of all firms, though another 32% just use the internet to check government sources, and 29% go to other internet sources.
- small firms tend to have scanners only on individuals’ desks, though 23% also have a centralized scanner. twenty-one percent of medium-size and large firms have a centralized scanning operation and a scanner on everyone’s desk. thirty-eight percent of very large firms only have a centralized scanner while 30% have a centralized operation and a scanner on every desk.
- twenty-one percent of all firms are not likely to use cloud-based tax and accounting apps, way up from 8% in 2020. but only 7% were very likely to do so in the near future.
- only 12% of firms report having a technology purchasing budget, down from 16% in 2020. only 33% of large firms and 38% of very large firms had such a budget. the likely explanation for the low numbers is more use of cloud solutions and leased hardware.
- the top choices for it education: it provider recommendations (32%), peers (24%), accounting industry websites (23%).
- thirty percent of solo practitioners preferred to learn from industry websites. fifty-four percent of small firms preferred industry events. thirty-four percent of medium-sized firms relied on provider recommendations. thirty-one percent of large firms preferred seminars.
- few small firms have a per-person tech purchasing budget, though over 30% of larger firms do.
- fifty-seven percent of medium-sized firms increased their tech budget in 2021, as did 42% of large firms and 36% of very large firms. eighty-three percent of solos did not change their budgets.
- thirty-one percent of all firms hire external it consultants as needed, and 21% use a managed service provider. twenty-eight percent handle tech themselves. only 9% employ at least one full-time it person.
- web portals are very popular, ranging from 43% of solos to 100% of large firms and 93% of very large firms.
- the larger the firm, the more likely it uses an internal mail server – about 10% at small firms and over 40% at larger firms. forty percent of solos just use a free personal webmail account such as gmail or yahoo.
- the cloud is the preferred backup spot across the board, used by about 36% of small firms and up to 46% for the very large firms, and another 15% use a cloud vendor to handle backups. backup appliances are used by a fifth of small firms and a third of large firms.
all of these statistics relate to performance during the pandemic. it will be interesting to see how they change if the pandemic ever ends.