Network Security Experts Found a Way Into Moss Adams’ Cloud Network
We’ve learned this week that benevolent hackers found a vulnerability over at Moss Adams a few months ago and detailed their findings in a blog post on Tuesday. Via VPNOverview: VPNOverview’s security team in April discovered an improperly stored virtual machine (VM) image that belongs to Moss Adams, one of the largest public accounting firms […]
We’re One Meltdown Away From a Bunch of Crusty Old CPAs Saying ‘I Told Ya So’ About the Cloud
If you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what a severe outage of Internet-based services might be like, this CFO article cites a report that tried to ballpark it: A cyber incident that takes a top-three cloud-services vendor offline for three to six days would spawn customer financial losses of about $7 billion […]
Infrastructure-as-a-Service Giants Own the Cloud with Lavish CapEx
Another day — another glitzy article about infrastructure-as-a-service from the Wall Street Journal. You may recall my skepticism about the sustainability of this business model last summer. Still, as 2016 numbers show, the capital expenditures of the top three cloud computing companies show no indication that they’re worried about going all in: Combined, Amazon, Microsoft […]
A Big Part of the Cloud Business Model Is on the Verge of Breaking
The sky is falling. Or, should I say, the cloud? No, I’m not Chicken Little. You might want to pay attention to this one… The no frill infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) business model is in trouble. Maybe you will agree with me…maybe not… but everyone seems to be looking at infrastructure providers with rose colored glasses. It […]
Now That The Cloud Is Mainstream, Where Do Hipster Accountants Go From Here?
Five years ago, hipster accountants were all over the cloud. We were working on clients’ books from coffee shops and Xero was this sketchy startup from New Zealand that no one had heard of. There were meetups and secret forums filled with the cloud elitists and, almost everyone in the scene had beards (except me, […]
Next-Gen Cloud Accounting: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) Ecosystems
Let’s face it. Cloud computing is so 6 years ago. We agree it’s a technology trope that has to go. And yet, accounting software executives are still enamored with everything cloud. Enough already, right!? Unfortunately, the accounting profession’s captivation with cloud is not merely lip service. In 2014, QuickBooks Online generated more than $800 in […]
#WhatsNext: Will the Cloud Save Accounting?
Our old pal Jason Blumer asked me to be a part of a new project he was starting this year called #WhatsNext. Essentially, it's conversations about the future of accounting that we'll have LIVE, once a month on various topics. He gave me the standard Carl the Greenskeeper pitch (e.g. "There won't be any money…total […]
Jason the Hipster CPA Was Using the Cloud Before It Was Cool
Come on, people. It opened for Wilco in '94. Attention accountants everywhere: please stop talking about the cloud. #YesteryearsNews — Jason M. Blumer, CPA (@JasonMBlumer) November 19, 2013