Seeing through the software vendors

Separating vendors’ hype from reality is one of the biggest challenges facing buyers of business or accounting software, and the lack of independent advice compounds the problem, writes Guy Dresser.

The market for financial software is moving fast and the only thing one can be sure of is that tomorrow’s products will be very different from today’s. New technologies such as workflow, EDI and Internet integration will have a huge impact. But as relatively inexpert buyers, choosing between new products and tarted-up old ones will prove difficult.

A characteristic of the software industry is that suppliers will criticise each other behind the scenes, but few will go on the record to name names and highlight bad practice. These same executives are then poached by their rivals, often those about which they had so little positive to say, and they then go on to bad-mouth their ex-employers.

One company appears to be breaking the mould. Great Plains Software has published Tricks of the Trade, which examines some common vendor promises and claims to expose some of the biggest lies.

Managing director Neil Robertson knows a thing or two about sales tactics, having worked as an Olivetti salesman, later a reseller for Tetra and Multisoft, and most recently at accounting software house Kewill.

‘This IT industry has been guilty of pulling the wool over the eyes of unsuspecting accountants for too long,’ he said. ‘They should be questioning whether the technology they are being sold is state-of-the-art or state-of-the-ark.’

He says the biggest misconception on which other vendors trade is whether a software package is a genuine Windows product or merely has a graphical user interface.

As the accountancy profession moves slowly but surely from character-based software into Windows, this has become an issue. Software analyst Dennis Keeling attacked many vendors a year ago for marketing Windows products that were simply revamped versions of their character-based software with so-called ‘screen scrapers’ – essentially a picture on screen which looks like Windows, but which merely provides an interface between different products. Windows’ key advantages, such as multi-tasking, proper integration between applications and modern code, are simply not there.

‘Integration is really important,’ said Robertson.’It’s all very well having accounting software in a separate box working on its own. But the whole point about Windows is that, if you want to include a segment from your spreadsheet and put it in a word processing package, you can. Windows technology is designed as a workflow tool, but some of the so-called Windows packages just do not work like this.’

Tricks of the Trade, available free from Staines-based Great Plains, reflects his frustration at apparently having spent millions developing a Windows product, only to find it competing with non-state-of-the-art packages. Being leading edge is not necessarily a good thing for an end-user, unless you are prepared to take a risk to gain some competitive advantage.

But buyers should be clear about what they are being sold – if they don’t want a new Windows product, that’s fine. But it is not acceptable if they are misled into believing that their 15-year-old product is a new generation system.

Learned Information’s 1997 Computer Users Year Book has just been issued. It has information on hardware product specifications and suppliers, computer and network sites, software consultants and developers. It costs u250 plus u10.50 p&p. Contact: 01865 388100.

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Middle-market businesses are failing to benefit from falling costs of computer networks, according to a Deloitte & Touche survey. Some 74% of FDs say their overall IT costs have not come down and average spend per network user continues to rise. It found 40% of companies connected to the Internet had yet to see how it could help them.

Sage is to hold 28 roadshows, in association with Microsoft, BT, Compaq, Dun & Bradstreet and Midland Bank, to focus on ‘next generation technology’ and to brief business users on the future direction of Windows-based business solutions. Contact Sage on: 0191-255 3000.