Software and services: life in an old dog

Despite all the saas/on-demand hand waving on this and other websites there is no denying that the incumbent vendors continue to do OK. Sure, the on-demand snowball is rolling downhill and gathering pace but that doesn’t mean the world and his dog will suddenly have a flash of vendor driven insight and switch. At least not in the broad financials market. As I’ve said many times before, the time horizon over which customers change an accounting package is 7-10 years.

Financial applications have come a long way in the last 15 or so years. For example, the apparent lethargy with which the market greeted Sage 50 Accounts 2009, accusing the software vendor of bloat should tell anyone that we’ve reached a level of maturity where customers could care less about new features. But that doesn’t mean those same customers want less or that vital new functionality is missing. Just that it ain’t going to be towards the accounts app where they cast their gaze.

Instead, we see far more interest in areas like CRM where the likes of Salesforce.com has done a sterling job of building up a $1 billion business that customers continue to be happy paying for. Where Salesforce has been really smart though is in providing a platform upon which others can add applications.It provides them with a huge universe of potential customers

Enter stage left Internetware, founded by ex-Sage people building add-ons for the Sage 50>200 lines and ACT! after markets. Earlier today, the company contacted me talking about Connect, a service that provides seamless synchronization between Sage apps and a company’s online application or e-commerce website. It removes the data error problems associated with rekeying data into the accounts program, updating on a batch basis. According to Adam McCrory of Internetware: “In terms of benefits it means that your sales people can see (with permissions) balances, credit limits, turnover, account status and also product inventory levels, on order, available stock etc.”

OK - so it’s not real-time but can be set up as a daily routine. For many businesses, that’s good enough and good enough can be just as much a winner as bleeding edge. For sales people out in the field, it means they can be more accountable for and to their customers while in the field.

The company already has a number of connecters and is beta testing Connect for Salesforce.com which should be available to buy in 4-6 weeks. For those that don’t want to swap out their accounts package, this is a decent alternative and at a projected price point of £10 per month per user, that’s got to be worth the investment for those businesses using Sage plus SFdC. As the guys at Workday say - accounts do not drive business - but they are still a necessary part of everyday life. Being able to preserve investments in existing accounting applications, hardware and training while driving business where it matters makes common sense.

Check out the screencast here.

Software + services? You betcha.

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