RSS feedsOnline accounting technology uptake is set to boom in 2006, with practitioners looking to the internet to help drive revenues and save costs.
With Sage announcing its entry into the online accounting market, interest in using the internet to work with clients is increasing among practitioners, and providers are clamouring to gain a share of the growing market.
Sage launched Sage Hosted Solutions at the end of last year, claiming that it allows practices and their clients to share information in real-time over the internet.
Based on Line 50, it has been trialled online with a number of firms, and is set to launch in 2006. Users will be charged a monthly fee of £44 for Line 50 Accountant.
Sage confirmed there will be an initial one-year contract, then a monthly rolling licence.
Brendan Flattery, MD of Sage accountants’ division, claimed the move was part of the company’s strategy to link accountants, clients and other relevant third-party organisations.
But Goodman Jones LLP, a practice based in central London, has extolled the virtues of using a web-based accounting application by Twinfield.
GJ business systems partner Philip Woodgate believes the profession is crying out for a better way to collaborate with clients. ‘You can’t beat sharing the same data, it’s got to be easier this way,’ said Woodgate.
Twinfield’s application is based on the software as a service (SaaS) model. The accounting application is built bottom-up specifically to operate on the internet. It requires no software implementation on practitioner/client desktops, and provides real-time access between both parties to their accounting information.
One of the big advantages of this model is that there are no implementation costs, and practices are not tied down to long-term service licence deals. Instead the service is based on an ongoing subscription.
Industry commentators have suggested that SaaS is a more attractive propositi on for users than working on an existing product such as Line 50 through the internet, due to its custom-built nature and lack of licence costs.
Woodgate said that cutting out software maintenance costs was a ‘big issue’ for practices, and SaaS crucially enabled the firm to provide more forward-facing business advice to clients rather than just historical bookkeeping services, by having up-to-date client data shared between both parties to hand.
But Rob Lambden, MD of internet-based accounting provider Online50, refuted that already-built applications hosted via the web are not as attractive as SaaS.
Lambden argued that his company provides the same level of service to users as SaaS providers, and Sage’s own entry into the market would stimulate growth for both models. ‘The market will grow bigger than the share they take,’ he said.
