Technology

Awards Recognize Technologies That Help Small Businesses Work Smarter

Today’s tax, accounting and legal professionals are under a constant stream of knowledge exchanges. Clients call, email and text their respective professionals with a variety of scenarios and demand quick answers. The professionals are then left to work out the details and are often left scratching their heads on where to turn next.

For a lot of tax and accounting professionals, 2011 was the year when “The New Normal” got a lot less new. We began to see firms adapt successfully and flourish in a changed environment. Firms that have been creative about using all of the information and technology resources at their disposal are doing well. They […]

If you’re reading this review, then you have more than a passing interest in fixed assets … if such a thing is possible. After all, in the glamorous world of tax and accounting, few things may inspire more eye rolls from clients than talking about effective depreciation strategies and methods such as MACRS, ACRS, straight-line, etc. Yet, as a professional, you understand that what they don’t know can indeed hurt them.

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” – Steve Jobs

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Don Codling, unit head for the FBI’s CyberCrime Division, talking about the state of computer and network security around the globe. It was an interesting conversation, not because there was any real news in the current trends but because the state of cybercrime makes it clear we have to re-think our entire approach to security.

Barcodes belong on a grocery store shelf. That’s the common attitude toward this 60-year-old technology. Consumers have long accepted barcodes as the preferred method for a quick checkout at the grocery or department store.

At a global broadband policy conference in late 2011, I was asked to define the state of technology in this year. The answer came down to this: 2011 was the year that reality set in. That requires a bit of explanation, but we can begin to define it with five simple trends that emerged this year: