Blog - Archive for 'Accounting Software'

Cloud Accounting Software

[This post was originally made on the AccountingWeb 'Cloud Accounting Discussion Group' forum.]

A different perspective on the cloud from an accounting software developer

As an established business software developer, including accounts packages, we are keeping a close eye on the cloud accounting software market and wanted to make some comments from a developer’s viewpoint that wasn’t based on trying to sell our cloud application.

There are obvious benefits to cloud-delivered software, but for most established businesses and accountants, the benefits aren’t significant enough and there is not enough pain being experienced with existing systems to make them jump over to cloud applications. Yet. No doubt this will change but not at the speed interested parties say it will and maybe not for all markets. Accountsportal’s estimate of 5-10 years seems realistic. Getting some decent Broadband speeds might be a start.

Talking to our customers, mostly established businesses, many aren’t bothered about cloud computing even if they know what it really is. And I’m not talking about people who don’t know much about IT.  Accounting software is a tool at the core of their business. It works and they aren’t going to change just because they can access the software from home if there’s a rail strike or someone can’t get a child minder? They deal with these things already. (VPN’s aren’t that expensive or difficult to set up, and remote access software is child’s play.) The view is often that the cloud model is too new and unproven, security is not adequate (even if theirs is worse!) and broadband is too slow and unreliable. This will change, but it will take time.
 
There are early adopters in all markets and there are clearly benefits to cloud accounting software for many businesses, particularly sole traders and start-ups. However, I wonder how many of them will end up moving to more established desktop applications as their business grows? Ridiculous? Well, that depends on many factors including new operating systems and how quickly the functionality of cloud accounts packages develops.
 
From what we’ve seen, there isn’t anywhere near the level of functionality in cloud accounting software that you can get with desktop applications. We feel one reason for this is that the development tools for developing cloud applications are not as advanced or mature as those for local applications. What is available is fine for basic book-keeping, CRM, document management systems etc, but not for more advanced accounting. Looking at Microsoft’s Silverlight last year it was clear it just wasn’t up to the task. With the latest version, a lot, but not all, of these issues have been addressed.
 
One comment was that this discussion wasn’t about technology. Of course it is. People don’t trust new technology and IT firms very much where their business is concerned. Unfortunately this is based on experience. They aren’t bothered about getting cloud software just because it’s new. In fact that’s more likely to put them off. Keeping their business functioning is too important and many are sensibly cautious.
 
There are also issues about broadband speeds and data centres being able to deliver the reliability and access people need. I saw a message recently: “Twitter is over capacity.Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again.”! How is a business going to feel if that starts happening to them when they’re trying to allocate 5,000 order lines?  Admittedly, they already experience down-time with existing systems, but at least they know what demands are going to be put on their IT systems and they are in control of dealing with it.
 
Another advantage to Cloud-based applications is the developer being able to update the software version at a single point and not having to upgrade each customer individually. True, but is this a benefit to the customer or the developer? One customer of ours doesn’t install the latest version of their CAD software until they see the first Service Pack. If the developer is in charge on when the cloud-based application is upgraded, how much hassle could a ‘buggy’ release cause businesses who have no control about when they start to use a new version?
 
Are cloud applications the future? Certainly in some markets, but maybe not in others.  Cloud-based Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) software is ideal for global organizations, but that is completely different to accounting software for UK SME’s. We are developing cloud applications, but our customers tell us it will be some time before they’re interested in a cloud alternative to accounting software. As we’ve said, it’s a naturally cautious market. Are accountant’s who don’t embrace cloud accounting software right now going to disappear? I’m sure any accountant who has survived the technology changes of the last ten years will adapt to cloud computing as and when they feel it is appropriate and what their clients want and need.
 
We think we’re being realistic about what our customers’ needs and expectations are. Others may disagree, but experience tells us that it’s going to happen when businesses feel that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and this will take longer than people think.

Posted on 28/04/2010 in Accounting Software by Simon Harvey (No comments)

Sage Charge £400 for Data Corruption Fixes

We’re definitely doing something wrong here. Following on from our last blog about networking issues with the Sage Line 50 2010 upgrade, forum users on accountingWEB.co.uk have also been complaining about being charged £400 for overnight data corruption fixes. Presumably those will be the ones caused by the software not running properly on a network. Meowwww. 

Actually, to be fair, anyone can get data corruptions, more often than not caused by dodgy networks themselves. However, we just include the fixes in our support!

 If you’re would like to talk to us about changing your accounting software, just contact Simon Harvey on 01458 444010.

Posted on 23/03/2010 in Accounting Software, General Business by Simon Harvey (No comments)

Sage Line 50 Networking Nightmares and Fighting Dogs

As a small software developer in the very serious market of accounting software, we sometimes feel that we’re punching way above our weight in terms of the scale and the quality of the software we develop.  We’re proud of that, but  it sometimes feels like we’re always playing catch-up to the big boys and their massive programming resources. And,  like any small company, it’s sometimes easy to underestimate what you’re good at and be a bit self-critical.

It was therefore rather…refreshing, to read about the problems Sage have been having with their 2010 Sage Line 50 upgrade on AccountingWEB.co.uk. One issue in particular seems to be the quality of their network software, which has been discussed at length by users on the Sage Line 50 forum:

“Every Line 50 upgrade in recent years has been problematic causing days of downtime. We are due in [sic] install 2010 this afternoon and if we have similar problems to those experienced in recent years it will be goodbye to Sage… When will they actually write a network product rather than adapting the standalone product to run on a network?”

Are we talking about the same Sage here? The vast software developer that claims to have 500,000 users? And their bread-and-butter accounting software doesn’t work on a network properly? Blimey. We’re not doing so bad after all. For one thing, our network accounting software actually works and for another we don’t charge on a ‘per-user’ basis. You can just add new users to the network versions at no additional cost. Do not adjust your monitor. You did read that correctly.

Another point made on the accountingWEB.co.uk site was “the current attitude of the company appears to be to treat end users with contempt.”

Hmmm. With their networking ‘issues’ and their customer service being savaged, maybe we should feel a bit better about what we do.  Maybe all smaller companies should feel better about themselves when they’re competing directly against a corporate giant. Maybe it’s not your size or resources, but the attitude you have to what you do and how you treat your customers. But I think most of us already knew that.

What’s the expression? “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

If you’re having problems with your Sage Line 50 accounting software, are fed up with Sage’s customer service or feel like you’re being charged through the nose for support and software, contact us and we can have a chat.

Posted on 23/03/2010 in Accounting Software, General Business by Simon Harvey (No comments)