how many do you have? horizontal or vertical?
by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless
talking about hardware may seem like an odd place to start a discussion on optimizing your firm production. however, without a solid framework in place to promote a stable working environment and take advantage of today’s technologies, your firm’s ability to effectively implement solutions will be severely restricted.
more: roman kepczyk: inside the quantum of paperless | two tech trends to watch
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pushing your it infrastructure, which includes all of your file servers, cabling, applications, workstations and internet connectivity beyond basic limits will lead to more “dinking” time by your professional staff. (“dinking” is the technical term for the massive amounts of time wasted by your personnel when computers lock up or don’t do what is expected and when they have to “dink around” trying to figure out a solution.)
even though people are an accounting firm’s biggest asset, and consequently largest expense, very few firms effectively track the lost down time caused by it issues, which usually ends up being buried within chargeable time to the client. the cost of your personnel’s down time dwarfs the cost of having and supporting the proper it infrastructure.
remember, the sole purpose of your it infrastructure is to enable people to convert information provided by clients into useful business products such as tax returns, audit reports and other financial reports as efficiently as possible. therefore, the firm has to start with a solid core.
the best place to start the discussion on hardware is with monitors as it is the easiest place to see an immediate return on your it investment. your monitors are your windows into all digitally stored information and are the foundation for improving every aspect of firm production. transitioning tax production processes from physical to digital requires that all input screens and source documents be simultaneously viewable in a convenient format, which today means more screen real estate per workstation.
dual monitors have been considered the standard in firms as far back as 2009, with many firms adding a third or fourth monitor along with maintaining their older screens. the 2018 cpafma it survey pointed to many firms replacing their older 17-inch and 19-inch screens with oversize monitors (28 inches or larger), effectively giving them triple/quadruple screen space. the survey found that for this busy season 58 percent of firms planned to utilize triple monitors and 22 percent planned to go beyond this with either quadruple monitors or dual oversize screens. an added benefit of using oversize dual screens is that they fit better into cubicle areas where there may be vertical space constraints because of built-in shelving.
before firms can effectively transition to front-end scanning or use digital workflow processes, they must have the additional screen space for tax personnel working in these applications. in the past, personnel have asked why they just don’t buy one huge 40-inch display screen and open multiple windows, and the main reasons were cost, screen clarity and ergonomics, but this is in the process of changing. today, we are starting to see firms implement curved and 43 inches or larger flat-panel monitors with higher 4k resolution. partners must remember that older monitors had resolutions of 1080p or less, and spreadsheets and images become less “crisp” as the screen becomes larger. firms should be buying monitors with the highest “cost-effective” resolutions (3k: 2880×1620 pixels and 4k: 3840×2160 pixels) as they traditionally use them for four or more years.
“eighty percent of responding firms utilize more than two traditional monitors.” – cpafma 2018 survey
while ultrahigh-resolution “curved” displays were introduced in 2014 and 40-inch flat panel displays in the last few years, the cost still needs to come down some to make them economically competitive with dual oversize screens. windows 7 and 10 have made connecting multiple monitors easier than ever and optimizing usage with snap assist capabilities.
to begin, not all monitors are created equal. today’s standard is at least 20 inches and should be flex or “pivot” capable. this enables viewing in a vertical or “portrait” mode and horizontal or “landscape” mode. the cpafma 2017 survey found that 40 percent of responding firms utilized at least one monitor in a vertical mode. seeing an entire scanned source document without scrolling or having to shrink the image into a smaller space increases productivity immediately.
while it is easy to get users to dual screens by plugging an external monitor into the workstation’s existing video port, getting to three or more screens requires additional video ports (dvi/hdmi/usb) via a docking station and if not available, specialized hardware such as displays with integrated displaylink and displayport video capabilities (or in the case of older monitors, the use of external screen splitters). dual oversize screens minimize the need for these additional hardware configurations and will be effective if the firm invests in ultrahigh-definition monitors.
recommended action: identify all tax professionals and document the number of oversize monitors that will be needed to bring all users up to the screen capacity of at least three monitors.