Over the last two years the UK business software market has changed considerably - 2 years ago there were nearly 2,000 software authors - today there are less than 600. Some business software authors sell their products directly but a large number sell their products through resellers. 2 years ago there were 3,500 resellers, today there are less than 1,000.

These changes have brought about a significant problem for companies looking for business software - there are fewer products available from fewer suppliers. The knock on effects are even more worrying - what happens if you buy software from a software author that subsequently closes down - or from a reseller that goes out of business?

Of the 600 software products available in the UK many are in maintenance-mode - the company now owning the product is no longer investing in its development. That company will continue to support the product - add some important functionality as government requirements change, but it will not develop the product any further.

Over the last 20 years we have seen the computing technology change from server-based systems - to networks - to Windows client-server - and now to online (Cloud) computing. Few software developers have kept up with these changes - very often its only new entrants that can effectively implement the new technologies - old legacy code rarely converts to modern technology.

Well that's the good news - so what's the bad news? The bad news is that there are very few software developers providing a total enterprise-wide solution. Most of the software developers are selling specialist applications that bolt-on to legacy systems. Document management, expense management, human resources and payroll, customer relations management are all modern niche software applications. Some will integrate directly with existing systems - but in the most part they are stand-alone.

So how does a responsible company find a software solution that will meet its requirements as well as be around for at least the next 5 years to enhance and support the product? It's not easy - however there is a process of systematically reviewing the products that are available and undertaking due-diligence process to find the most suitable product that will hopefully survive the market changes currently in operation.

It is for this reason that we have developed the UK's first software comparison web-site to enable companies to review the vast array of software packages available and compare their functionality against your system requirements. The web-site is www.softcomparison.com - it has all of the leading packages plus a wide variety of the specialist packages that are available in the UK today. Unlike many of its competitors, no customer registration required - you will not be contacted the next morning by opportunistic software sales people.

In my Softworld presentation, October 13-14 Olympia, I will be taking customers through a well proven selection process - but if you miss the presentation you can download the booklet on 'How to select specialist applications' from my web-site.

September 15, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

As the UK Government finalises its draconian plans to implement XBRL filing of Company Accounts in 2011 and the US SEC has imposed mandatory filing in XBRL on about 500 companies this year, Microsoft loses out on an obscure patent stopping it shipping Word with embedded XML.

So what's all the fuss about? XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) has been around for 10 years - it's a form of XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) which has been around a lot longer. A mark-up language is a dictionary of tags that allows a computer program to describe the text. So Word uses its own 'tags' to describe the text e.g. paragraph, capitals etc. HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) is a basic mark-up language used for web-pages. XML is a generic form of tags enabling marked-up text to be used for a variety of applications e.g. mobile phone text messages, eCommerce etc. It was developed by the WWW (World Wide Web) consortium as an open standard. XBRL takes these tags a stage further and describes the environment that a set of financial accounts have been drawn up e.g. year, period, account name etc. All of these tagging tools are designed to be read my computers - they are gobbledygook to the untrained eye.

To help mere humans read these formatted messages Microsoft embedded HTML and XML tags into its Word and Excel programs to enable documents structured in these formats to be read and exported in its word processor and spreadsheet packages. You can imagine Microsoft's astonishment when a little know Canadian software house, aptly named i4i, patents the idea of linking XML to Word in 1998 and proceeds to sue Microsoft in the US courts earlier this year - and wins an injunction to stop Microsoft selling Word with this functionality. But wasn't XML an open standard?

It's the same problem that the UK Government has with its XBRL filing in 2011- the XBRL is designed to be read by computers - not humans. So how do we, when submitting the return, and the tax inspector, receiving the information, read what we have sent. The latest answer is a new concept called iXBRL - Inline Extensible Business Reporting Language - a bridge between HTML and XBRL to enable XBRL documents to be read by humans. Its new - few applications can use it - initially it may be expensive.

At the moment online filing of Corporation Tax in the UK uses a mixture of XML and pdf (Portable Document Format). Most of us can read pdf files using free downloadable software. But we cannot generate our documents in pdf unless we buy an application (only on PC's -provided free on Apple computers). However most accounting systems now have a pdf generator built in to enable their customers to generate the financial accounts. It is a problem exporting the computation sheet, usually developed in a spreadsheet, in the pdf format. Microsoft still does not provide a pdf converter in its Word and Excel packages.

It's still unclear if HMRC will allow Corporation Tax supporting documents (statutory accounts and computation sheets) in pdf format after 2011 - their objective is to get this information in XBRL. Hence iXBRL - which will certainly not be as readily available as pdf generators are now. I doubt if Microsoft will be an early adopter of iXBRL in its Office Suite.

August 17, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (9)

I was interested to read this week that Google is going to launch its own operating system for handhelds and small laptops to compete with Microsoft's monopoly. Reading the detail if find that like Apple's OSX , Google's new Chrome operating system will be based on the revolutionary Linux operating system - which of course is open source. So the task for Google's engineers is not quite as onerous as it seems.

It also emerges that it is really a means of having a 'thin-client' to allow the user to interface with Google's 'Cloud' computing applications hosted on its own servers - Google Search, Google Mail, and Google Apps. I remember Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, had the save vision in the late 90's. Cloud computing is great if you have easy and fast access to the internet - but a disaster for mobile computing, as I have found out to my cost with Mobile Internet adapters and more recently with my iPhone.

Whilst we can use Google Apps and its other remote applications, will we still be able to share 'stuff' like word documents and spreadsheets with others? I use Google Apps for letters and spreadsheets, my files are stored on Google's servers. I share my prospect spreadsheet in Google Apps with my Marketing Manager and Tele Sales people - who all work remotely. It's great - it allows us all to see the latest version of the information. Of course these applications do not have all the whistles and flutes of Microsoft Word or Excel - but they do have the essentials and my 'stuff' can be easily downloaded to my PC to be used by the Microsoft Office Products. But as I have said before they do require fast internet access.

So will Chrome be taken up by the public? Well it will be free so it will bring down the cost of these price conscious gadgets. But will it work? Most of us are unaware of which operating system we are using with our BlackBerrys, iPhones or the like, but we are certainly aware of which one is used on our PC - no matter the size or portability of that PC. In the past we have found that we cannot always get the applications that we want to work on some operating systems.

My family all use Apple computers - brilliant for Graphics. The Apple OSX operating system must be the second most popular desktop operating system next to Windows (Linux being used more for servers). But even Apple's OSX has a very restricted number of business applications that will run on it. This will be the same initially for Google's Chrome. If Chrome gains market share then software developers will be keen to adapt their applications to run on it - but this all takes time. The answer, Google hopes, will be to use online applications - SaaS et al. As the provider of the UK most popular online software directory and search engine, my team find it very difficult to keep up with the nuances of all the different web-browsers - the worst of the lot being Microsoft Internet Explorer. You get your online applications working for one IE version only to find that you have major problems with the next version - IE8 for example is a nightmare!

So despite the hype, will Chrome be successful? I believe it will - it will have been designed for an online environment - unlike Windows which was designed to hold files locally. Like Linux, Chrome will have a significant effect on Microsoft, bringing down prices and reducing complexity. Certainly Chrome can be portrayed as being the key to 'Cloud' computing where everything is Internet based. We just need to solve some of the practical operational problems first - high speed mobile internet access - and even more important mobile phone access on the tube.

I saw an innovative iPhone application for the Tube - Tube Deluxe which not only gave me a great tube map but also a real-time status of delays and closures. When I got held up yesterday on the Northern Line - I quickly booted this iPhone application only to find that it was not push technology (updated before I caught the tube) but pull technology which does not work when you are stuck in the tube! If the Heathrow Express can have mobile phone technology why can't we have it in the tube?

July 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (3)

I get annoyed that the typical IT hack's view of green IT is to switch off the server at night and don't use standby technology. Some software developers believe it's all about monitoring the company's carbon foot print - recording the miles travelled by its employees by road, rail, sea and air; or energy used for heat and light.

Having a vested interest in wood, see my alter ego, I am ashamed about the huge quantities of wood that businesses use each day in the form of paper. Trees are very beneficial to the world's equilibrium both in absorbing greenhouse gases and protecting the natural habitat - which we see quickly disappearing in places like the Amazon and Indonesian rain forests.

Twenty years ago I was an advocate of the paperless office - it never happened - quite the opposite - we all moved to personal printers. It's not as if we save the paper we use for record purposes - even my small business develops a big box full of paper waste to be recycled each week.

So why can't we start a new Green agenda for IT by cutting back on the amount of paper we consume.

The Government has shown the lead with the electronic filing of returns for PAYE, Corporation Tax and Self Assessment. We have had EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) for over 25 years and it's still not taken off - too many standards! But what is to stop us sending documents as a pdf?

A small local builder's merchant has been sending out its statements to its customers in a pdf format for over 10 years. You would not have thought that small builders and joiners would be electronic savvy - but most of us can now receive e-mails and open a pdf attachment. Just think of the saving both in printing, envelopes but also all the labour in stuffing envelopes and getting the postman to deliver them.

Even I have started to send my invoices out as a pdf - it's surprising the speedy response one gets - I suppose it makes the routing of the invoice for approval around the company easier. It also makes it easier to prompt for payment.

How about putting a warning note on the printer - do you really need this copy?

So my contribution to the Green agenda is to do my bit to cut down on paper usage - what are you doing?

April 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is not a new idea; its origins in Bureaux and ASP have been around for many years. But is this new incarnation of this well established principle about to take off?

Certainly at the recent Softworld exhibitions the public were asking to see online business systems. The few SaaS exhibitors were certainly receiving a lot of attention and I was questioned extensively about them in my Master-classes. But are customers just inquisitive or are they actually selecting SaaS applications?

In a depressed market all types of software applications are affected, but the in-house application providers do not yet believe they are losing out to online providers. However established online market leaders, like Salesforce.com and NetSuite, seem to have shrugged off their competitors.

Many of the traditional applications suppliers are trying to re-invent themselves with online applications. But as the innovators explain, it's not as simple as creating a web-based front-end to a legacy application. I know from bitter experience with my web-based software directory, the complex problems that web-based delivery uncovers - especially with incompatible web-browsers.

Customers are slowly getting round to the idea of having their data hosted on a third-party server. They are still not convinced the SaaS pricing model is cheaper - after all, they rarely cost their daily maintenance and infrequent upgrades which are taken for granted with online applications.

The big problem however is the protection of the data. HMRC requires companies to keep their data available for audit for 6 years, plus the current year. If it's held electronically, they want it available in an electronic format. So what happens if you fall out with your online-software provider after 3 years - how will you keep your data accessible? How will you transfer your data to your next service provider?

With shared online services and the move to open source, the future will be quite different to what exists at present. You only have to start to use Google's Apps to realise the opportunities that are now available - in many cases free of charge.

March 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't know whether you are aware, the Treasury is undertaking a PBR Consultation on corporation tax calculations for smaller companies. HM Treasury Simplification Review

There is no doubt that there is a need for change in the way small businesses submit their accounts to HMRC (Corporation Tax) and Companies House (Abbreviated Accounts). Two different formats; different reporting rules and different methods of submission; all very confusing for small businesses. In many cases these complex documents require small businesses to seek the costly advice of Accountants and Tax Experts to prepare their accounts for them.

As a small business owner I keep my own accounts, submit my VAT returns online; submit my PAYE returns online; submit my Corporation Tax online; submit my Companies House returns online and even submit my own Self Assessment online. Other than the online VAT submission to HMRC and the Abbreviated Accounts submission to Companies House, all the other submissions expect the person submitting the information to be a Tax expert. They have not been designed for the small business owner. The online help information - in particular HMRC's Corporation Tax, is decidedly unhelpful and not working when you need it most. Being a logical engineer - not an accountant - makes submitting these documents tedious.

The proposal in the consultation would be to move away from accrual-based accounting to a 'near-cash' method. This would be a challenge for most of us non-accountants who have only just started to understand the accrual method.

HMRC has been in deep discussions with members of the software industry about the way the SME book-keeping and accounting packages could be changed for this new type of reporting. All of these changes would impact on small businesses - which would have to either upgrade or replace their current book-keeping systems. In most cases the software upgrade would also require a change of hardware. Costly for the small business customer - good news for the software and computer industry.

What the consultation does not specify is what form the 'IT Tool', that it refers to, would take to handle the preparation of the returns - could it be XBRL? The Government is determined to promote the wider use of XBRL - instead of sending summary information (as per Corporation Tax) the proposal is to receive detailed transaction information. Do SME's want the Government to have access to their detailed information? XBRL has been around for 10 years - with lots of promises but still little take-up. Everyone accepts that it is a difficult and costly technology to implement. It would stretch resources for both small businesses and the software industry if XBRL was used to implement these proposals.

The proposal would of course aim to take Accountants and Tax Advisors out of the process - I should imagine these folk are not well pleased! I understand that they would like to bury the proposal.

It's a shame really - what Companies House has achieved with its Abbreviated Accounts and its simple online filing facility (utilising XBRL) could easily be the template for a simplified structure for Corporation Tax. Pity HMRC wants to re-invent the wheel!

February 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Recessions are always the catalyst for change. This recession will make companies realise the cost of traditional inefficient manual processes compared with the huge improvements to be gained from on-line technology.

Will your company survive without an on-line business model?

In the last 5 years we have seen major changes - even over Christmas 2008 we saw High Street retail sales drop significantly yet again against a backdrop of increased on-line sales. We have seen how on-line technology has changed the insurance, travel and music industries. Will your industry be next?

But we have a web-presence, you will say - you call a static web-page that is only updated twice a year an on-line presence? Have a look at the sophisticated on-line presence that companies like British Airways, Insight (computer suppliers), Tesco and Incisive Media (AccountancyAge) now have. These are not static web-pages - they are computerised content management engines supported by a team of non-technical administrators.

It's not just on-line shopping carts - it also the use of e-Commerce, Purchase-to-Pay, on-line supplier and customer portals which will separate the survivors of this recession from those, often very famous companies, that will fall along the way.

It's a company's ability to adjust to these rapid changes in the market that will determine its future. Investing in new technology now, which can be written off over 3-5 years, will enable significant reductions in expensive manpower and improve sales immediately - which will result in improved profitability in a deepening recession.

Unfortunately, whilst the diagnosis is simple, the problem is that the software industry has also got to change. Today's online shop developments tend to be specialist developments (bespoke) - it's still a cottage industry with many small bespoke players. There are few integrated content management packages available - Autonomy being a classic example.

By comparison, 20 years ago there were many small developers of computerised accounting systems - I documented over 800 in my Thesaurus of Business Systems in 1989. At that time there were still lots of bespoke accounting systems being developed for the larger companies. Today there are less than 50 major accounting system suites and no-one would consider writing an accounting system bespoke.

The same will happen in the online software industry. Yes of course there are lots of web-site tools available - but they are designed for programmers not for users. The real Business On-line presence has moved from the old-fashioned static web-pages - FrontPage et al - to the sophisticated content management engines, which allow non-technical staff to add, edit and delete content easily. There are very few content management engine packages available.

Having just gone through the process of creating a virtual company (Business Software Intelligence) I can see first-hand how difficult it is to develop web-sites, shopping carts, payment channels which integrate to traditional back-office systems. Lots of independent component developers with little thought being given to integration.

Of course SAP, Oracle and Sage all provide links to web-site systems - but that is PR-speak - the practical problems in implementing those links are horrendous.

The trend to an on-line business model will undoubtedly catch a lot of very famous companies out - both end-user companies as well as from the software industry. It will be interesting to see how the on-line business model evolves in this recession.

January 8, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's been nearly 3 years since the ICAEW IT Faculty undertook its comprehensive survey of the Business Software market in the UK. That was before Mamut started to establish its innovative software from Norway - before SaaS (Software as a Service) became the vogue - before Microsoft Vista tried to replace XP - and before Web2 was muted as the next generation for the Internet.

So what is really happening in the business software market today? Has customer satisfaction increased? - or with fewer players in the market, following consolidation, has customer satisfaction now slipped?

Are Sage Line 50 and IRIS Enterprise still the preferred solutions? Judging by the recent software Awards Access Dimensions and Mamut Enterprise seem to have taken over.
Are companies still replacing their legacy systems with ERP (Enterprise Applications)? - Or has the recent economic downturn stopped any major infrastructure changes?

What has been the effect on the customers of PeopleSoft and JD Edwards after Oracle's takeover? Is SAP managing to penetrate the mid-range market with Business One? What has been the effect of the Agresso takeover of CODA?

With the effect of Lord Carter's report on on-line filing to HMRC for PAYE, Corporation Tax, VAT and Pensions - have companies upgraded their Payroll and Taxation systems to enable on-line filing?

Are companies thinking of moving to on-line applications using the SaaS (Software as a Service) model - or is this just hype like ASP and Dot.com? The recent report from the ICAEW on On-line Accounting Software asks some important questions about data storage and what happens to your data if you decide not to renew the contract. HMRC requires companies that have computerised accounts, to have their data available for audit in electronic form, for up to 6 years plus the current year.

The answer to these questions is we don't know - there is no reliable research available.
So I am starting to do my business software surveys again - now online - short and to the point. If you would like to comment on how satisfied you are with your business system click here.

Dennis Keeling

December 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over recent years the software industry has gagged me from commenting on the software industry and individual products. So it's great to now be able to express an opinion once again.

It's not surprising when you take an opinionated business software analyst and make him head of the software industry's representative body, that he should be persuaded to not upset any of its members. It was said that in the early days, membership of BASDA saved software developers from my comments. Not true of course - but good for drumming up membership revenues.

I retired from BASDA earlier this year after almost 15 years as its Chief Executive. I tried out retirement for 3 months - became a professional wood turner - but got bored! So I have now returned as a Business Software Analyst.

Rather than write those long in-depth reviews of Business Software, it seemed to me that the Internet could make life easier for me and for customers alike. I have spent the last 4 months setting up the UK's first software comparison web-site Business Software Intelligence. The site enables software developers resellers and consultants to enter details about their products and services (its a free self-service model). It enables customers to search for specialist applications and compare up to 5 products in detail. The site will shortly become an Accountancy Age customer feature.

So why Keeling uncorked? Over lunch with the publisher and editor of Accountancy Age I talked about my thoughts and ambitions over a glass of wine. I seem to remember recounting a recent holiday wine-tasting in Bordeaux. We then came up with the idea of a Blog - and discussed names like Keeling Ungagged. The rest is for you to join up the dots......

December 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)