If you do any research about going cloud for the IT needs of your growing CPA business, you’ll find the same things listed over and over and over again. Cost effectiveness, scalability, and pay as you go pricing. Those, along with a few similar advantages, are touted so often and so loudly, that you could easily get the idea those are the only advantages to going cloud. They aren’t.

Here are some of the benefits of cloud service providers that you haven’t heard ad nauseam.

1. You Can Instantly Have a Whole IT Department

Whether you’re just now opening the doors to your brand new CPA shop or have been in business for a few years and are ready to grow, you can literally step into the perfectly-sized IT department overnight. Cloud service providers offer everything from cloud-based or SaaS software to cloud storage to backup and disaster recovery services — and will even help you pick and choose which services your CPA firm actually needs.

You can have the benefits of a fully-staffed IT department without having to hire a single IT professional or even invest in onsite servers and other costly IT infrastructure. Have computers? Cloud service providers will travel.

2. Cyber Security

The cyber security environment today is actually much worse than businesses let on. Most don’t want to admit when someone has breached their security, and in most cases, there are no laws forcing them to. As many as three-quarters of all security breaches are not reported to authorities or in the news, yet even reported attacks are on the rise. Ransomware, which is of particular concern to small businesses like the CPA firm, are up 35 percent.

IT professionals who are knowledgeable and experienced at today’s cyber security environment are hard to come by, and when found, extremely expensive. A cloud service provider can do a much better job for far less money, keeping your own data and the data of your valuable customers more secure than you could with an in-house IT department. You can learn why when you buy the book ‘Easy Prey: How to Protect Your Business From Data Breach, Cybercrime and Employee Fraud’.

3. Your Employees are Going to Be More Productive

The ability to work anytime, anywhere, helps motivate employees and keep them productive. Additionally, SaaS and cloud-based software is typically very intuitive and easy to learn, meaning that workers become proficient much faster and remain more productive as long as you have the cloud service provider’s software.

Whether it’s meeting a client at their home or office, or taking some work home during an extremely busy week at the office, cloud-based storage and software is accessible by desktop, laptop, notebook, tablet, smartphone … if you’ve got an internet connection, you can work with a cloud service provider.

4. Your CPA Firm Can Significantly Reduce Its Carbon Footprint

For many CPAs, going green is important. Partnering with a cloud service provider reduces your carbon footprint, significantly cuts the amount of energy your firm uses, lessens your waste production, and more. If you’re environmentally conscious, a cloud service provider is the easiest, most convenient and affordable way to go green.