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#FutureOfWork Archives - The Latest on Accounting Tech for SMEs

Pioneeer to Sell Apple CarPlay Stereo to All Car Owners

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iPhone users no longer have to wait to buy a new car just to get Apple’s cloud-connected CarPlay media player. When CarPlay was released at the Geneva Motor Show a month ago, it was only available for new Ferraris and Volvos.

Car stereo manufacturer Pioneer has announced it will sell aftermarket in-dash multimedia receivers to support CarPlay, allowing drivers to upgrade existing vehicles.

CarPlay compatibility was made available for the US market halfway through the year via a firmware update to the five 2014 NEX in-dash multimedia models, which ranged between US$700 to US$1,400.

CarPlay was listed as coming soon for the Australian market on Pioneer’s website.

The Pioneer device featured LCD displays, Siri voice control to make and receive calls, compose and respond to text messages and use Apple Maps for navigation. iPhone users could also listen to music, podcasts and iTunes Radio. These features were only active when an iPhone was connected to the CarPlay interface.

Digital Divide Widens Between Online-Savvy SMEs and Late Adopters

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Online-savvy businesses experienced more revenue growth in the year to February 2014, reached more customers and created more jobs compared to businesses that didn’t use online technologies, MYOB’s March Business Monitor survey reported.

Cloud technology was used by more than half of the 1,032 SMEs studied and over 40 percent with a website and a social media presence reported increased sales. SMEs without a website or online presence spent more time finding potential customers, the survey found.

Cloud computing usage shot up to 33 percent from 16 percent in six months, followed by websites and social media sites. While the use of tablets had risen by 25 percent, the use of smartphones dropped slightly.

“What’s clear is that businesses with an online presence reach more people and are more engaged with their customers. For example, those with a website are 56 percent more likely to see annual revenue rise and those who use cloud computing are 30 percent more likely to do so,” said John Moss, MYOB chief strategy officer, in a blog post.

Western Australia were the most connected with 37 percent of businesses using cloud computing and 19 percent with a business website and social media presence. South Australia was the least likely to use cloud computing, have a business and social media website. Businesses were increasingly using search engine marketing for promotion and were adding the ability to purchase within their site and on other websites.

Job opportunities for Australians looked to increase with online businesses. “Eighteen percent of businesses with a website and 18 percent with a social media site are planning to increase their full-time staff this year. That’s a considerably higher number than the 7 percent of businesses without a website and the 9 percent without social media who are looking to hire this year,” Moss said.

The top two online services were email and online banking which were used by over 70 percent of respondents. A third of businesses surveyed used social networking, while a fifth of respondents bought products and services online, used email marketing, internet telephony and file sharing.

LinkedIn was the most popular business social media platform followed by Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and YouTube respectively.

The finance and insurance industries used cloud computing the most at 42 percent, while retailers and hospitality markets had the most business websites and social media activity at 25 percent. Those in agriculture, forestry and fishing were least likely to be involved in the online sphere.

“We strongly believe it’s time for more business operators to take a look at the benefits of easy-to-use online technology,” Moss said.

Central Coast Electrician Takes Nine-Month TeleWorking Holiday

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Business owners know it’s hard to balance work and family time, especially between dropping kids off to school and assigning tasks to staff. Paul Christie doesn’t face that problem.

In what could be a record stint of teleworking on the road, Christie ran his small electrical company on the Sunshine Coast from an iPad while travelling 30,000 kilometres with his family in a bus-sized campervan around North America for nine months.

Christie oversaw the day-to-day running of his business using business management software simPro after a day’s travelling with family across 27 states in the US and Canada. “The kids will go to bed and I’ll do an hour of simPro,” Christie added.

Christie used to be tied to an office with “piles of paperwork and timesheets” but found he could work from anywhere after moving to cloud software.

“All of our workers go to each job with an iPad and are able to access everything they need. The software ensures no leads are lost, job progression is monitored and each job is invoiced on time,” Christie said.

If businesses understood the cloud and let go of old ways of doing things, there would be less pressure to physically be at work, Christie said.

Plumbers, electricians and other trade service and contractor industry companies used SimPro’s Software Enterprise to assign and manage jobs among employees. SimPRO was founded in 2002 and was used by 1,500 businesses with 20,000 users worldwide.

Cloud for Cows – Apps Farmers Use to Manage their Herds

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Farmers were more likely to pray for rainclouds than cloud programs. Yet even rural businesses were not beyond the reach of cloud software providers cultivating the agriculture industry.

After a hard day’s work tending the crops, milking cows and herding livestock, the last thing farmers wanted to do was go through the pile of paperwork at home that came with modern-day farming.

Cloud software could help a farmer to plan their crops or manage livestock for sale and slaughter, assign health and veterinary tasks, and track fertilizer and chemical usage.

Below were a few cloud providers BoxFreeIT came across out in the field.

CloudHerd was a free livestock management application that allowed farmers to manage and trade livestock online. The software extracted details about animal performance and property information that was imported and sold in online auctions. Farmers could also share links to the sale page for other parties to increase sale interest.

Farmflo was founded in 2012 and dug deeper as it managed the farm in the cloud. Features included real time inventory levels, crop locations, weather reports, wastage tracking and calendar planners. Crop timelines allowed farmers to see what even had taken place, track planting, spraying, fertilizer application and harvest.

FarmWizard Ltd was an agriculture software solutions company founded in 2004 that focused on cloud computing technology. Its farming apps included Beef Manager, a beef cattle management software, Milk Manager, dairy cattle management software, Sheep Manager, sheep management software and Global Supply-Chain Manager, a farm planning software. The applications allowed farmers to update and share data with consultants, insurance firms and other relevant parties.

Xero has released a blueprint showing how its online accounting program could assist farms to manage their finances. Farmers could use the software to share financial data with other stakeholders such as financial advisors, banks, off-farm shareholders and rural advisors. Farming providers MyFarm and Cashmanager RURAL were integrating their apps with Xero.

Updated Microsoft SkyDrive renamed as OneDrive for Business

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Microsoft has renamed its updated cloud storage service SkyDrive Pro as OneDrive for Business and for the first time sold it as a standalone service.

Updated features included real-time collaboration with other employees from within Office via a web browser, increased file size of 25GB per employee and offline synchronisation. One-click administrative controls allowed users to create new Office docs, and upload and share files straight from search results within the drive.

Company employees were able to buy OneDrive for Business as part of Office 365 or SharePoint Online plans.

OneDrive for Business would be available between April 1 and September 2014 at US$2.50 per user per month in all licensing agreements/programs or US$1.50 per user per month for customers already with Office with SA or Office 365 ProPlus in various agreement types, said Julia White, general manager of technical product management for Office 365.

Existing Office 365 users would be automatically transitioned into the OneDrive for Business interface. OneDrive for Business was also included with most Office 365 and SharePoint Online plans with no additional cost.

Microsoft’s plan for OneDrive for Business included advanced auditing, report features, data loss prevention, higher storage limits, and encryption at rest which would be rolled out through 2014. The storage service was backed by an Office 365 Service Level Agreement.

 

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Digital First covers news and opinions on accounting technology and is read by tech-savvy accountants who understand the importance of technology in establishing competitive advantage.
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