Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 134917	2013-09-02 21:27:00	Xero - the dangers of cloud computing	anon463 (17148)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1352549	2013-09-02 21:27:00	In case you've never heard of Xero, they advertise "Accounting software for small business. Online accounting system for invoicing, accounts payable, bank reconciliation & bookkeeping." My worries about cloud computing have been confirmed by cloud computing company Xero. What happens to my accounting information if * the company disappears? * becomes corrupted? * outside parties gets a copy (confidentiality / security) "the company disappears?" I suspect like many cloud computing companies, Xero has failed to turn a profit since it was founded 7 years ago. You may say Rod Drury has deep pockets, but I'd argue he also well known for founding then selling companies when given a chance. "becomes corrupted?" Xero is "agile" as it is looking to add customers, and add features. Unfortunately most companies don't want an "agile" accounting system; they want a stable, predictable system. Would you want to tell your employees this? "sorry I can't produce the payroll checks today. Xero added a new feature last week, and accidently corrupted our information." "outside parties gets a copy (confidentiality / security)" Now you may think I'm talking about hackers getting a copy of your information. While that's a concern, I'm more concerned that developers, or outside consultants get a copy. When you have an accounting system within your own IT department, at least you have a chance of securing your information. In a cloud, you have to trust a company, and all its employees, to keep your information secure. You may ask yourself: what has this guy have against Xero? It's hard for IT professionals not to consider cloud solutions a threat. Xero is located in New Zeaand today, but Xero's wages are well below market standards. For instance a senior team lead gets about $85,000. Recent college graduates get about $45,000. Given that Xero has failed to turn a profit since founded, it must be quite a temptation to move overseas, where the salaries are even lower.	anon463 (17148)
1352550	2013-09-02 22:00:00	Interesting, thats the place my several business people suggested we join - No thanks, rather have my accounts on my own systems. You also have to look at any articles, they are mentioning Xero Personal, not Business which is a different section. To be honest, when first seeing this post, I thought, Hmmmmmm first time poster rubbishing a company -- looked like a grudge, BUT did a little searching and found Xero-culls-personal-finance-product (www.stuff.co.nz). Second to last line in that article says it all I guess "In coming weeks, information will be provided to assist customers in exporting their data and considering alternatives, Personally don't like cloud operations, to many things to go wrong, especially when the internet goes down - you're stuffed.	wainuitech (129)
1352551	2013-09-02 22:22:00	I had a similar thought re: to the free webmail. What happens if you lose your email or couldn't access them when you want and one was away from home ... and it had copies of your passports, etickets etc.	Nomad (952)
1352552	2013-09-02 23:30:00	This is why you look for something like "Google Takeout" so you can take your data with you. Dunno why somebody would join a forum just to try some scaremongering tactics. Most companies intentionally try and run at a loss when starting up, buy up large infrastructure etc... It's just good business sense to do-so! FUD spreading IMO.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1352553	2013-09-02 23:31:00	Short answer to all of this, is don't rely on the cloud. And I don't mean be all put you money etc under your mattress.. But I mean don't have you stuff only in the cloud. Email - use imap/gmvault to take a copy of your email to a local copy Dropbox - for file storage this keeps local copies on your hard drive Accounting, is it possible to have local copies of the data? Photos, keep local copies of flickr/google+ etc.	psycik (12851)
1352554	2013-09-03 00:56:00	It is disingenuous that New Zealand IT companies have made public complaints about a lack of IT talent, in particular Wellington. I've seen IT wages pushed down around 15% to 20% in the last few years. If NZ IT companies want to attract talent, bring wages back to pre-recession levels.	kingdragonfly (309)
1352555	2013-09-03 01:27:00	There is the whole "cloud" argument but I think anyone who is against it will lose out eventually as that's the way everything is going. I've started to embrace it! :D The other argument with Xero is that we pay too much much for it here in NZ. $49 +gst for the plan that most would use. Same plan in the US is US$29 or $19 pounds in the UK. Why do we pay more for a NZ product in NZ? Just following the rest of the IT world and price gouging???	CYaBro (73)
1352556	2013-09-03 03:00:00	You may ask yourself: what has this guy have against Xero? It's hard for IT professionals not to consider cloud solutions a threat. Xero is located in New Zeaand today ..../... it must be quite a temptation to move overseas, where the salaries are even lower. Most if not all of the cloud services used everyday by millions of people aren't located in New Zealand. That said, I do not like cloud computing much either.	Agent_24 (57)
1352557	2013-09-03 03:31:00	Cloud computing ---phhhffffff -- Lots of people seem to think its some sort of new technology, it NOT. In its basic form its nothing more that logging into a remote computer somewhere in the world and having your data stored or applications running. In the past you had to jump through hoops, and have knowledge on logging into servers, these days its been made a lot easier, its simply open a browser, enter in your user name and password or have links / Programs to storage and away you go. "Cloud computing" has been around since the 1950's -- As described at wikipedia The underlying concept of cloud computing dates back to the 1950s, when large-scale mainframe computers became available in academia and corporations, accessible via thin clients/terminal computers, often referred to as "dumb terminals", because they were used for communications but had no internal processing capacities. Funny how it all goes a full circle-- eh ;)	wainuitech (129)
1352558	2013-09-03 03:42:00	Personally don't like cloud operations, to many things to go wrong, especially when the internet goes down - you're stuffed. +1. My accounts are done though Excel, always have been and are backed up on 2 different external drives, one taken offside with me when I'm out.	pctek (84)
1 2