The best cloud accounting solution for small businesses!

Nowadays, having a reliable IT system in place is imperative for an efficient business workflow. As cloud experts, we've found early on that cloud computing is an integral part of having your IT system work for you, and not the other way around. Cloud email, cloud collaboration, cloud storage, and even cloud accounting are what make up a powerful, productive, and efficient IT system.

Although our founder has a deep passion for wielding cloud technology, by trade he is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant. Both technology and accounting overlap in our world and we're often asked this question; what is the best cloud accounting solution for small and medium sized businesses?

The quickest answer; Xero.

As cloud strategists, we find accessibility is key when it comes to data and management. Xero, along with other cloud solutions, is built around the idea of accessibility. Cloud technologies enable everything to work faster and more efficiently. Even large banks and financial institutions are starting to use cloud storage for their data storage needs over their traditional data centers. With cloud accounting software like Xero, small businesses can do everything, including easy invoicing, inventory, multi-currency reconciling, source document attachment, purchase orders, cash-flow management, and much more. The ability to have these features fully accessible, from virtually anywhere, is a huge plus for small and medium sized businesses. Learn more about Xero features here: https://www.xero.com/ca/accounting-software/

Xero has been at the forefront of cloud accounting for a very long time. It's one of the easiest online accounting systems and offers great convenience for its users without compromising on key features that are normally found in legacy accounting software. It has become one of the fastest growing cloud accounting companies in the world, with a subscriber base of over 700,000, contributing a total life-time value of $1.5 billion. Their success is due to their loyal small business customers across 180 countries. Xero intelligently takes advantage of cloud technology which allows them to innovate faster than ever before and pushes them into new geographies.

There's no doubt that Xero is well on it's way to hitting the billion dollar annual revenue mark with it's rapid growth, making it a top choice for those looking for the perfect cloud accounting solution. Interlock IT is a Certified Xero Partner and a Certified Xero Development Partner. We'll make your transition to Xero painless and can even assist you with custom Xero reports and integrations. Give us a call and let us know what you're looking to do with Xero. We're more than happy to assist! We'll even provide a free Xero trial account; just fill out our contact us form and mention this post in the comments.

If you've adopted Google Apps for Work, we've created Blink Reports for Xero. Blink Reports is the only Google Sheets add-on that allows Xero customers to build financial reports, charts, and virtual dashboards connected to your live Xero data. Contact us today to discuss with us your cloud accounting needs!

Xero integrates Google mail - A Potent Mix

If you are a small-medium business owner, it's often difficult to get a clear picture of where you stand with a particular customer. Our favourite tool to keep track of this is Xero. With over half a million global subscribers and counting, Xero provides online accounting, bank reconciliation, invoicing services, and integrates with a wide range of powerful software solutions and add-ons. Now, with the integration of Google's Gmail, it's more powerful than ever.

Just before the end of 2015 Xero pushed their final major update of the year: Contacts were updated and Google's Gmail service was integrated into the contacts screens. Essentially, this gives Xero users complete visibility of the business they've done with their customers or suppliers, making it much easier to make decisions and develop opportunities. This vital update makes Contacts a hub for customer communication and demonstrates how cloud accounting has opened the doors of opportunity for innovation and efficiency.

Features in this update enable you to:

• Connect your Gmail account to view emails with contacts directly in Xero. This saves emails to a contacts activity tab, adds email to a new invoice, quote, or bill, and allows you to download attachments to the contact record.
• View emails between you and your customers in real time.
• View emails from the email account that you've connected to Xero while they remain invisible to other users in your organization.
• Share an email with other users in your organization by simply adding it to the contact's activity tab

You can see here email messages have been pulled from Blair's account using the contact's email address or emails including the words "GotoMeeting.com"

Connecting Xero to your Google account is simple, here's how:

1. From the Contacts menu, select All Contacts.
2. Select a contact.
3. Under the bar graph, click Email, then click Connect to Gmail.
   
4. Sign in to your Google account.
5. On the permissions screen, select Allow.

You can find further details on Xero's Business Help Centre page and Xero's blog.

If you're already using Google apps and are looking for a great accounting solution to bridge the gap between you and your customers, Xero with Gmail is a robust and ideal solution. We at InterlockIT are proud Xero and Google Apps advocates and are more than happy to help make your business's IT solutions a breeze. Be sure to contact us to learn how we can assist you.

Introducing the new Google bar and restoring Single Sign On (SSO) for Marketplace Apps

Google Apps is a constantly-evolving suite of the best web applications for businesses. As part of their quest to always make everything just a little bit better, Google recently rolled out a new navigation option that replaces the old Google bar.

The new Google bar.

The new app launcher replaces the traditional black navigation bar with a simple grid that is designed to keep the experience consistent across Android, Chrome OS, and the web. The complaint we've heard is that you now need at least one extra click and sometimes two in order to get to services that you used to be able to get to very quickly. As well, all your Google Apps Marketplace applications are hidden under the grey "More" link. We've had multiple customers contact us saying the links have simply disappeared, because it's not immediately obvious where they might be.

Not a big fan of the new navigation system? Not to worry! There is a way to avoid all the hunting, and it involves taking advantage of the excellent Bookmark Bar in the Chrome web browser. If you're using Chrome, press Ctrl+Shift+B (on Windows and Chrome OS) or ⌘-Shift-B (on a Mac) to show or hide the bar; you'll see it appear or disappear beneath the address bar if you've done it right. To add a bookmark to this bar, follow the instructions below (these show you how to add a single sign-on bookmark for Solve360):

1. Click the Chrome menu button () on the browser toolbar.
2. Select Bookmarks.
3. Select Bookmark manager. You can also get to the Bookmark manager by using the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+O (on Windows and Chrome OS) or ⌘-Shift-O (on a Mac).
4. Right-click on Bookmark bar in the left-hand navigation pane and click Add page....
   
5. Name it Solve360 and paste this URL: https://secure.solve360.com/marketplace/?domain=yourdomain.com (where yourdomain.com is replaced with your primary domain name).
   
6. Press Enter. You're done!

Now you'll have one-click access to Solve360 from anywhere in your browser, not just from your inbox. You can also hold down Shift while you click the bookmark to open it in a new window, and Ctrl+Click or click with your middle mouse button to open it in a new tab.

You can configure the same functionality for other services, such as FreshBooks (https://secure.freshbooks.com/google.php?domain=yourdomain.com) and Xero (https://login.xero.com/Signin/SignInWithGoogle?domain=yourdomain.com).

All you need is the URL that the service redirects to as soon as you click a link. Need help finding out exactly what that is? Contact us and we can do all the heavy lifting for you!