Hosted Desktops for Liverpool Accountants
Access Sage, Xero, CCH, and Your Entire Practice From Any Device, Anywhere.
Your team needs to access practice management software, client files, and HMRC tools from the office, from home, and from client sites. A hosted desktop puts your entire practice environment in the cloud so your staff can work from any device with an internet connection. Same applications, same files, same speed. No VPN headaches, no “it only works on my office PC” problems.
Covering Liverpool: Eric’s on the Wirral and supports accounting practices across Merseyside, Chester and the wider North West. Setup, migration support and ongoing management, remote first with visits by arrangement.
Why Accounting Practices Are Moving to Hosted Desktops
Tax Season Doesn’t Happen at the Office
January deadlines mean late nights and weekend working. Your team needs to access Sage, CCH, or Iris from home without USB drives, VPN issues, or “I can’t connect” calls to IT. A hosted desktop gives them the same environment everywhere.
Your Server Is Getting Old
That server in the back room is approaching end of life. Replacing it costs thousands upfront, needs maintenance, and ties you to physical hardware. A hosted desktop removes the server entirely. No hardware to maintain, no cooling to worry about, no single point of failure.
Client Data Security Is Not Optional
HMRC, GDPR, and your professional indemnity insurer all expect client data to be protected. A hosted desktop centralises data in a secured cloud environment with encryption, MFA, and access controls. No client files on personal laptops. No unencrypted USB drives.
New Starters and Leavers Are a Headache
Setting up a new starter should not take two days and a trip to the office. With a hosted desktop, a new user gets a login and immediately has access to every application and file they need. When someone leaves, one click revokes all access. No chasing down laptops.
What a Hosted Desktop Looks Like for Your Practice
Your Applications, Hosted
Sage, Xero, CCH, Iris, QuickBooks, TaxCalc, and any other practice software you use. Running on Azure Virtual Desktop with the performance your team expects. No “cloud version” compromises.
Your Files, Centralised
Client files, working papers, correspondence, and templates all in one place. Accessible from any device. Backed up daily with immutable copies that ransomware cannot reach.
Microsoft 365, Secured
Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive with security configured properly. MFA enforced. Conditional Access policies that block logins from untrusted devices or locations. DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to prevent email spoofing.
Printing That Works
Local and remote printing configured so your team can print from the hosted desktop to the printer in front of them. Including at home. Yes, it works.
Security Built In
MFA on every account. Endpoint protection. Email filtering. Credential monitoring. Continuous threat detection. Not bolted on as an afterthought. Built into the platform from day one.
Backup and Recovery
Daily backups of all data. Quarterly restore testing with published results. If the worst happens, you know exactly how long recovery takes because we have tested it.
How We Set Up Your Hosted Desktop
Discovery
We audit your current setup: what software you use, how many users, where they work from, what data needs migrating. We identify what can move to the cloud and what needs to stay local (if anything).
Design
We build your hosted desktop environment on Azure Virtual Desktop. Your applications installed, your files migrated, your security configured. We test everything before your team touches it.
Migration
We migrate your data, configure user accounts, and set up devices. We can do this over a weekend to minimise disruption. Your team logs in Monday morning to a familiar environment that works from anywhere.
Support
Ongoing management, monitoring, patching, and security. We handle the platform so your team can focus on clients. If something breaks, our senior engineers respond fast, working remotely first, with on-site support arranged when it is genuinely needed.
Hosted Desktop FAQs for Accountants
Will Sage/CCH/Iris work on a hosted desktop?
Yes. We install the full desktop versions of your practice management software on the hosted environment. It runs exactly as it does on a local PC, with the same speed or better. We support Sage, CCH, Iris, Xero, QuickBooks, TaxCalc, and most other accounting software.
What happens if the internet goes down?
If your office internet drops, staff can switch to a mobile hotspot or work from home. The hosted desktop is accessible from any internet connection, so you are not dependent on a single line. We can also configure offline caching for critical files if needed.
Is our client data secure?
More secure than a local server. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit. MFA is enforced on every account. Conditional Access policies block logins from untrusted devices. All data is backed up daily with immutable copies. Your PI insurer and HMRC will be satisfied with the controls.
How long does the migration take?
Typical migration for a 10-20 person practice takes 2-4 weeks from discovery to go-live. The actual switchover can be done over a weekend so your team starts Monday in the new environment with minimal disruption.
What does it cost?
Pricing depends on the number of users, the applications you need, and the amount of data. It is a fixed monthly cost per user that replaces unpredictable server maintenance, hardware replacement, and break-fix bills. Contact us for a quote specific to your practice.
Can we keep our existing IT provider for day-to-day issues?
Yes. We work alongside existing IT providers as the specialist cloud and security layer. Your IT handles user issues and printer problems; we handle the hosted desktop platform, security, and backups.
Ready to Let Your Team Work From Anywhere?
We can assess your current setup and tell you exactly what a hosted desktop would look like for your practice, what it would cost, and how long migration takes.
Get a Quote
Tell us your user count and the software you use. We will come back with a fixed monthly price and a migration timeline specific to your practice.
Request a QuotePrefer to Talk?
Call us directly. We support accounting practices across Liverpool, Wirral, Chester, and the wider North West.
0151 452 3060