A thin client (TC) terminal in conjunction with your virtual desktop will give you a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) compared with a traditional solution. You will save money with this solution from the moment you replace you traditional PC, right the way through the whole life of the thin client box (up to 350K hours).
The main benefits of a thin client solution with a hosted desktop for accountants:
Cut costs compared to buying a new desktop or laptop
Rather than having to purchase a new desktop/laptop with the relevant licenses for Microsoft Windows and Office, you can simply replace a traditional device with a thin client solution. You hosted desktop solution comes with MS Windows and (optionally) Microsoft Office 2010.
Energy Saving
Drives energy costs down associated with traditional devices.
Replacing Units
You can rapidly deploy a replacement thin client terminal without having to re-configure the users settings. You can take them out of the box and be connected to your accountants hosted desktop for within minutes. As an accountancy firm this means you will experience increased chargeable hours compared with replacing a member of staff's PC.
Reliability
As thin client devices do not have any moving parts and are a far simpler design than desktop PC's this gives you more reliability. Measured in terms of MTBF (mean time between failure), PC's offer 30 - 40K hours, but thin clients deliver far better value ratings are between 80 - 375K hours.
Flexible Working
If you employ any part time/home workers, you won't need to provide them with an expensive desktop/laptop with Microsoft Windows and Office. You can simply provide them with a TC terminal for home use which will connect to the hosted desktop.
Virus protection
PC's are prone to infection from viruses, with this type of deployment, the risks of being infected are reduced.
Speed
After you switch on your device, you will be working in your hosted desktop for accountants environment within 30 seconds.
Data Security
As there is no hard disk drive nothing can be saved on to this device, all your accountancy practice data is stored on the hosted desktop on the virtual server.
Sarbanes Oxley regulations require data to be protected and centralised, a thin client device in conjunction with your hosted desktop guarantees this.
Sound, Power, Air Conditioning
Thin clients in conjunction with a hosted desktop use a fraction (less than 10 percent) of the electricity required to run traditional computers. As there are no moving parts there's no noise. And as there's less heat, there is less reliance on air conditioning in your accountancy firm.
Ian Cooper is a director of Hosted Accountants, specialist providers of hosted desktop solutions for accountancy firms. His passion is the use of technology for accountancy firms. You can follow Ian on Twitter @iandc6, visit his company website at http://www.hostedaccountants.co.uk
