Working remotely with Caseware Cloud

Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, countless organizations have found themselves unexpectedly transitioning to a fully remote workforce. If you are part of one of the many accounting firms who had to make a sudden change from zero remote work to this new reality, you may consider remote work a mere temporary measure for your firm. There are, however, real benefits to continuing to offer remote work as an option to your employees.

Benefits of remote work

Using studies performed by leading research institutions, Forbes identifies 5 key ways companies can benefit from a remote workforce:

• Productivity: On average, remote workers are 35-40% more productive than in-office employees.
• Performance: Working remotely also increases the quality of work, with employees producing on average 40% fewer errors or quality issues.
• Engagement: Remote workers are also more engaged in their work than their office counterparts, with remote workers displaying a 41% reduction in absenteeism.
• Retention: As remote work becomes more common, more people are looking for jobs that allow them to work from home. In fact, 54% of employees say they would leave their current job for one that offered them more flexibility.
• Profitability: On average, organizations were found to save $11,000 per year for every worker that worked from home part of the time.

Of course, employers aren’t the only ones who benefit from remote work. Employees also enjoy benefits such as the elimination of commuting time and an improved work-life balance.

Considering the benefits to both employees and employers, it’s clear that continuing to offer the ability to work remotely in the long-term can be a great way to improve the performance of your firm and retain top employees.

Once you decide to make the switch, you may find your current desktop solutions don’t provide the flexibility you need for remote work to be successful. Cloud-based software, on the other hand, allows your employees to access applications and files from anywhere, making remote work a breeze.

How does Caseware Cloud help you work remotely?

If you use a desktop solution for your software needs, cloud-based accounting software might sound a little intimidating, but Caseware Cloud makes it easier than ever to make the switch. With Caseware Cloud, you can:

• Assign and track staff work: You may be worried about how working remotely will affect your ability to communicate and manage your staff. Caseware Cloud has many collaboration tools to make sure you can continue to work effectively no matter where you are. You can assign tasks to staff members, start discussions about an engagement or a specific file, and post comments on staff activities such as tasks and file requests. Need to send a quick message to a team member? Use Caseware Cloud’s built-in chat system to easily message colleagues without ever leaving Caseware Cloud.
• Collaborate with clients: Caseware Cloud doesn’t just make it easy to communicate with your team, it also provides tools to help you collaborate with your clients. Not only can you send file requests to clients from within Caseware Cloud, you can also create an account for them on your Caseware Cloud site, allowing them to directly participate in relevant discussions and view files.
• Use Cloud as a SmartSync Server: If you’re already a Working Papers user and want to continue using Working Papers, Caseware Cloud is still a great choice for you. You can upload parent copies of your Working Papers files to Cloud and use it as a SmartSync server. This allows staff members to create sync copies and work on files, while still giving them access to all the great collaboration and file management tools that Caseware Cloud provides.
• Manage time and expense entries: Using Caseware Cloud Time, your staff members can log time and expense entries directly from Caseware Cloud. You can use those entries to create and finalize your invoices and then export them to your online accounting software, streamlining the billing process.
• Perform cloud-based engagements: Using Caseware’s cloud engagement products, you can import data, complete and store documents, send queries to clients, and track engagement progress entirely in the cloud. Using cloud-based software means that as long as your staff members have access to a secure internet connection, they can work remotely and effectively from anywhere.

Ready to find out if Caseware Cloud is the right solution for you? Learn more about the benefits of using Caseware Cloud today.