Simplify and Improve Your Office System: Put Your Workstations on a Diet, and Let Your Server Do the Heavy Lifting

The sudden failure of even one or two employees' PCs can seriously compromise a small or medium CPA firm's ability to timely meet its clients' needs.  Inexpensive, energy-efficient PC replacements-known as diskless thin clients--fail less often than PCs, and, when they do, can be loaded with all necessary software in minutes.  To minimize workstation downtime, some firms are installing application servers, which contain all software the entire firm uses. This configuration enables deployment of economical, low-maintenance employee workstations.  An application server is neither a new nor universally appropriate IT solution, but it may be the best option for many organizations that can't afford any significant interruption in an employee's productivity. Firms should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of this approach before adopting it.  Converting to an application server environment involves technological challenges of varying levels of complexity. While CPAs can resolve many of these issues independently, they should consult with their IT advisers on those this article identifies as esoteric.  Talk about pressure--and not just in tax season. Keeping office computer systems up and running in small and medium CPA firms is an enormous and unending responsibility. Without reliable computing and communication capabilities, your staff, your clients and your business are dead in the water. To mitigate the risk of downtime for individual employee workstations, consider a configuration that simplifies hardware and software maintenance and administration, and improves disaster recovery. This article introduces such a setup, which also can lower costs, boost security and even shrink your organization's carbon footprint. Almost all firms use PCs as their standard workstations, with each computer's hard drive containing most if not all software its owner uses. In that configuration, users often store on networked file servers all the data they share with their co-workers. But there's another network configuration worth considering--one that employs application servers, which provide access to the software, such as Microsoft Office and key tax and accounting programs, your entire staff uses. This setup is neither new nor appropriate for every business environment, but it may work for your firm.  While traditional networked file servers hold all shared data, application servers store all shared programs. So, for example, instead of every PC having a copy of QuickBooks, the software resides only on the application server, where each user can access it from his or her workstation. For CPA firms that can't afford downtime on even one workstation, application servers work well for two reasons. First, all software maintenance is easier because it's done on only one machine--the server. Second, because the server performs all storage and computing, workstations are uncomplicated, inexpensive devices you can replace in minutes after a failure, quickly restoring employees to productivity. Moreover, simpler, smaller workstations consume less energy and take up less landfill space when discarded, endearing them to cost- and eco-conscious managers.  Application servers are a good fit for more organizations than ever before. Below, we'll discuss the new and improved benefits--and potential limitations--of this approach. Before you make any decisions, though, speak with your IT staff about how well an application server could satisfy your firm's needs. See the sidebar "Consult With IT" for issues to discuss. Note that this article covers two kinds of tasks. Some are complex evaluations you should make only with your IT staff's support. But others are less complicated aspects of setting up an application server and its workstations, which can be normal desktop PCs or diskless thin clients--desktop machines with no hard drive. …

Field of study: Business