Moving your business to the cloud?

According to a survey conducted by analyst firm Statista GmbH, 44 percent of German companies have moved their business to the cloud. During the last couple of years, many cloud providers have developed different applications and the upward trend will remain steady. Our development-team from Sweden designed the business software Fortnox already in 2001, so we can confirm that the trend of moving businesses to the cloud is an upward trend. Especially, the future development is crucial because the requirements for cloud providers are growing continuously. Plenty of new suppliers are entering the cloud market every day, so the competition is increasingly high. Providers of cloud solutions have to stand out with new and innovative products otherwise they will leave the cloud market as fast as they entered it.

The cloud market possesses new dimensions for users

To survive in the cloud market a product has to be easy to use. Furthermore, it is beneficial for a product or program to have interfaces or connectors, so that the product can be integrated into products or programs that have been developed by other suppliers. Users are testing these programs, and they will pick the cherries from the cake.

Together with Univention, Fortnox offers one of these cherries to users. We developed an App that can be integrated in the OX App Suite, so that Univention users have the possibility to use a business software within the App Suite. Due to the cooperation, users only need one account to have access to three different products, the Server- and IT Management-Software from Univention Corporate Server, the Document- and Communication-Software from OX, and the Business-Software from Fortnox. The Fortnox business software provides solutions that allow small business owners to manage all their entire in one place.

All-round solution – for moving with businesses to the cloud

To save time, businesses are increasingly doing things in a modern way. It is taken for granted that they have access to documents from wherever they are, and that they can work with different operating systems from any PC, tablet or smartphone. Nowadays, businesses work online; they share documents with colleagues and they work on documents together. Furthermore, businesses want a real-time database, so that scanned receipts and contact information of customers and distributors are directly available.

Especially, freelancers and businesses that are offering science or technical consulting services really need cloud-based software solutions. Already 89 percent of the above mentioned target group is using an external cloud server. This is the outcome of a survey from Statistisches Bundesamt in 2014. The survey proves once more that the requirements for cloud providers are increasingly high and that the cloud market is growing continuously.

These days, it is important for cloud providers to offer a wide range of products. The Fortnox product line consists of seven flexible programs to cover every business process. The programs assist users in managing their day-to-day operations, because every program is integrated with each other and suitable for freelancers, sole proprietors and small businesses that typically have fewer than 20 employees. The web-based applications include an accounting program that enables users to keep the bookkeeping perfectly organized, an invoicing and order module, a document archive, a timesheet solution, a program for multi-channel campaign management and a program for managing purchases.

Work online with tax consultants and accountants

Additionally, a program with such a product-line has to be widely available. With our accounting software for example, users are able to work together with their accountants and tax consultants in a real-time database. The Fortnox accounting software offers users an ELSTER-interface which simplifies the delivery of data to the tax authority. Further, financial reports like the balance sheet or the profit & loss report can be easily accessed. Businesses can’t go without any of these functions, and that is why Fortnox, OX and Univention now work together.