Friend starting new accounting firm with 3 staff. He got quote for server 9000 dollars and software extra and 3000 dollars for setup server and printers.
As he is starting new and do not want to spend that much money.
He got i7 laptop with 16gb ram. Can this laptop can be setup as server and connect this laptop to other pc's using wireless modem? I know this may be running slow but he is not minding at the begining.
Can anyone suggest alternative to buying server.
Can I Use Highend Laptop as Server for Small Accounting Firm
Ljpramkish on 29/08/2018 - 22:56
Comments
Or Synology nas.
Thanks for the response. I will explore on Synology. Can you recommend any model where they can run Accounting software with o/s windows and 8GB ram. Thanks in advance
Actually a laptop will have the advantage of having a built-in UPS… but yeah every other factor would prefer desktop over laptop.
Use Office 365 and Azure.
Do not get a server for a new business of 3 people in 2018.
To answer your question about using a laptop, not really.
Thanks. But not sure how much this will cost.
Of course you're not sure because you have no idea what you're doing.
It'll be a lot cheaper than getting that 12k server and unlike a laptop or a Nas it will actually work for a business, both at the early stage and as their business grows
Thanks again. Just checking the Azure and it was so confusing. I may ask some IT expert to check and also install.
@jpramkish:
It's very easy and straightforward when you know what you're doing.You really need to know what accounting software they are going to use and support their customers using.
From there you need to take into account how that software works across different versions. Accounting software is generally very, very, very picky.
You often have to host and deliver multiple versions and editions of the same software at the same time. This is not an easy thing to do and it something you can not do with a laptop or a synology Nas.I do IT strategy, adoption and transformation, primarily working with developers and IT service providers.
So you could say that I am technical, but that wouldn't do it justice. I primarily work in Asia now, but still cover Australia from time to time.Office 365 will give them Email, Office, online storage and other collaboration tools for around $15-$30 per user per month which is very cheap.
Being a new business, they could pretty much set this up themselves or if they get someone to help them it wouldn't be very expensive at all and get them up and running in minutes.Azure, again depends on the accounting software and what they need a "server" to do for their business.
It could be a few hundred dollars a month, it could be a hundred thousand dollars a month and anywhere in between.
It is not really something you can really scope out by talking with a third party that is not involved in the business on a bargain website forum.
This is the correct answer.
Yep. If you only have 3 employees you're better off not having a server and, if you have to ask this sort of question, you DEFINITELY don't want a server at any sized business.
For 3 people there are surely cloud based offerings and a cheap wireless printer should get things off the ground. If needs change and the money is there, engage a professional to work out the best solution.
Server usually means stable, always on, reliable.
Very important if you need reliability- or are running a relational database
Laptops can be reliable, but seldom are. They lack ECC RAM, robust storage, reliable circuitry- often suffer heat problems, and worse, they lack reliable software and drivers in comparison to brand name servers. Reliability cannot be achieved without good design, good build, good software, great maintenance and responsive support.
But laptops are commodity, cheap and have a built-in UPS- so may not be out of the race totally.
For accounting purposes at minimal cost, check out LedgerSMB, no licensing or commercial limitations, straight forward even for accountants to use, also very stable and well-featured as it has a comprehensive web front end for each client to use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LedgerSMB
Avoid the cloud as everyone is there inc those who want to steal your stuff, your clients' stuff (Corporations, Organised crime, disorganised crime, all kinds. Build security in to your work, or accept risking everything you are doing. Also you can't build competitive advantage using commodity software- only process. You need to use the tools that will support where you may go, want to go- not so much where a vendor or three may or may not take you
Thanks for detailed message. Server is very expensive at early stage of business. Once he gets business, he is happy to buy server.
Just get two old ones, one for parts or as a fail-safe.
Retrofit with new hard disks and/or decent SSDs as they are so cheap now.
Old ones can sometimes be better because the new ones can have unresolved software and hardware design faults.
Thanks. I will let him know.
@jpramkish: Accounting firms get stuck with bad IT because they buy industry standard software and end up running different versions and not maintaining any of it properly as any operating costs/time are considered too much.
IOW: They just buy something and do what it says on the box to make it work. All suffer in the limitations and licensing costs they keep having to accept as time goes by.
But they can buy old servers very cheaply almost anywhere. A plan on how to manage each failure they are likely to hit can be written, and executed when a failure happens and the checks indicate a big enough problem.
Buying new is plain crazy these days. Better to make sure what you have is well implemented.
It would depend on what software you are planning to run on your server.
You could pick up a second hand server for much less.Thanks for the reply. Not sure to use second hand servers.
It would also depend if you had a crap ISP that gave you 3 business days knowledge that they're folding then you'd have a curve ball straight to the head
Just something else to consider Telecube/Shittalk are a perfect example.Thanks for reply. Agreed but to reduce spending at initial stage we are looking for alternative methods.
I still don't know how people on whingepool would keep recommending TC/ST as an option. Reading through the threads on there about all their outages and then there was a case where they shut down a customers service because he posted about an outage on facebook AND whirlpool so was "damaging their business reputation"
Use a laptop as server. Technically yes. But to many limitations.
Microsoft azure and office 365. Im not totally convinced of the cloud and everything online. What happens when internet down or server crashes. There is no simple reboot button. More expertice is needed for cloud and more trust needed.
You should be easily able to get a 2k server. With microsft sbs server or whatever they call it now.
Ask whoever is going to supply your accounting package what they recommend for installation. They may not support cloud or they might have a cloud product
Maintaining an Exchange server for email is no small task (frankly you'd be insane to do it for 3 people), Office 365 eliminates all the hassle and just works.
If the internet connection goes down at the office, how will your on-premise server keep receiving mail?
With Office 365, or any cloud service that run in proper data centers this isn't an issue.
There are many more benefits too.You also need to look into how they work, do they even have an office to have this server?
If they primarily work remotely, then why does it matter where the server is?
Again, if the internet goes down at the office and you work remotely, then how do you access it?It's 2018 not 1998, understanding their business needs and how they work is paramount.
How can anyone offer a solution if they don't know the problem?
It's 2018 not 1998, understanding their business needs and how they work is paramount.
How can anyone offer a solution if they don't know the problem?I agree - Diceman is offering a solution to a ridiculous problem.
The chance of cloud email and internet access being down is a tiny tiny fraction of that of a local server being down. And an hour of someone's time to investigate your server's issue could pay for a year of the online version. Basic business functionality is a 'solved problem', no need to replicate it onsite a thousand times, it's a waste of time, money, effort and electricity.
An accounting firm is a simple used case, even in software development we're moving to have things entirely in the cloud as rapidly as we can, and we have way way more complex use cases.
What happens when internet down or server crashes.
In this day and age, if your internet's down you're not doing any business anyway.
Dont use wifi. Your first 1gb back or filevtransfer will kill it. Get a.gigabit switch
I'd recommend getting more quotes but just getting a company to take care of it.
It sounds like neither of you have any IT ability, so any suggestions from here will be a waste of time as you have no idea how to set it up and use it, or deal with it if there's issues.
Yes you can, in your case you dont have the technical skills to do so - so no.
Use "cloud" services like others have said.
Don't use the laptop. It will get too hot then start to throttle and slow down. It will also probably die fairly quickly from being left on for so long. Data could get corrupted too. It would also be a critical point of failure and then stop everyone from working once it fails. It will seriously be a disaster.
Why even bother with a server? Just have a decent internet connection and use cloud software. No server costs, just subscriptions. With 5 staff total it will cost hardly anything and you'll never have to pay for upgrades and maintenance. Get Office365 business accounts for each person for email and office products. You get crap loads of storage with that too (1TB per user from what I recall). You can so easily share everything amongst yourselves too. Then get your accounting software and anything else you need also from the cloud. With Cloud stuff, you also may not have to worry about backups as it could be backed up as part of the service (you need to check that though). Backups are CRITICAL for a business, or your business could end overnight if you lost everything.
And just as a comparison. I work in IT with a company size of about 70,000 employees (soon to be over 100,000). And we are shifting more and more to the cloud ourselves. Big or small, it's the way to go. Just don't skimp on your internet connection. NBN 100Mb plan would be fine for 5 people for a small business. You might want a business account though, it has a better turn-around time if the connection goes down.
And don't use wi-fi unless you cannot avoid it. You may need a professional grade router/wi-fi access points and a person who knows how to configure it to have reliable office wi-fi with 5 people. Run some cables to the desks instead. And if you don't buy a pro grade NBN router, get the best consumer grade one you can and buy TWO of them and configure both, then put one back in the box. Then you'll always have another on hand so your business can run if the first one fails. As i expect this will be a small office, you should be able to handle any cabling and consumer and router setup yourself - or if you or your mate isn't comfortable find a mate who knows a bit of IT to do it for a case of beer or whatever. And if you cable the office, use wi-fi for maybe a meeting room when someone needs to walk away from their desk to talk to a client, so just one or two people are using it and it's not critical. Make sure you have good/up to date virus protection on the laptops too, and that the router is secure. Also keep Windows up to date at all times, especially the security updates.
Thanks. I will ask him to buy prograde NBN router and also cable it to each desk. Can you recommedn any good router for this?
It has been suggested a few times already in this thread, but for such a small business go with the cloud. There is really no need for paying depreciating hardware upfront and the hassle of tinkering it (or paying someone else managing it). At the end it's a good idea to ask what do you need the server for?
- For running applications? Maybe an online/cloud equivalent? Or run that desktop software on Azure or AWS?
- For local storage? Good idea to have long term archiving remotely (on the cloud) and just get a NAS for LAN storage.
- For printing? Which decent printer these days don't have print server built in?
I'll rather invest in some redundancy for Internet connectivity just in case there's an outage. For example all the 1/2 price starter SIMs :)
Thanks Scotty. Spending lot of money at the initial stage is not good idea, when there is alternative around. Will see how the internet connection works at that office and go with cloud.
The suggestions for cloud are correct
Don't forget - nearly all modern accounting software is could based anyway - MYOB Xero QuickBooks - all cloud
My good friend runs an accounting practice - 2 principals, 2 jnr partners, 8 local staff and 4 in Manila
They use GSuite and Cloud software
They have a networked drive for some shared local document storage and back up (although most in the Google Cloud)
If you do want a dedicated local machine for shared storage then get a $250 Dell desktop from here - better specs, longer life and more fit for purposeThanks for your suggestion. I will ask him to compare Azure, AWS and Google and go which ever is cheaper and easier to use.
I believe they do have 'practice software' for business management as well as the 'accounting software' platforms like Xero
Don't know what the Management Software is called but there are a couple of industry options
Everything is cloud based which makes the use of virtual offices and OS staff much easier
Your friend will not want to be paying Aust wages for simple bookkeeping tasksThanks. I am suggesting him to go with cloud because most of here suggesting cloud and it is cheaper. If business grows and he wants issues, then go with physical server.
Think about what you need
Accounting software. This is probably your most important consideration. If you already have one in mind then ask what they recommend. For example you might get a 3 person licence and to get it. You have a dongle that plugs into usb. This licencing method woyld not work with the cloud.
Authentication
File storage
File transfer
Backups
Disaster recovery. Backups are different. If you make a mistake and want to go back a week. Backups will do it.
Printing
Desktop applications
Remote access
Email. Cloud this one
Internet reliability
Internet speed
Antivirus
File storage spaceThanks. I have checked with them. The software can be installed in cloud. printing is not a major deal. Security will be purchased along with cloud. Mostly going with cloud option and 365 for emails and other office works.
I don't think you have much choice. Microsoft no longer offers small business server. You would have to go with full Windows Server, or be pretty good at Linux. Whether or not you want to be cloud-based, you basically have to suck it up anyway.
Yes it can work, but I would consider getting a desktop.