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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 27 2007, 9:08 AM EST (current) | dahowlett | 476 words added |
| Feb 27 2007, 8:40 AM EST | dahowlett |
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When I think about how the market has moved in the last 6-9 months, the emphasis is shifting to the service element. One way that is being expressed is through the current debate around XAPL. While I'm not convinced end users care less about the technical aspects, a recent article by Sarah Perrin in AccountancyAge pointed up the divide that exists among professional software vendors. On the one hand you have Digita's MD Jerry Rihill quoted as being gung-ho, while IRIS CEO Martin Leuw was apparently 'standoff-ish.'
Service in this context means 'shared data.' XAPL provides a way to make this happen, very much like BASDAs eBIS-XML industry initiative of the early 2000's. The difference is that if Companies House and HMRC push it, then it will happen. The real adoption push needs to come from practitioners who understand the value of sharing data. So for example if I'm preparing a Winforecast projection then I may well want to access industry data from Companies House, supplement that with local data (if available) from HMRC trading benchmark data and GoogleMaps to assess competition. From the accounting side, I will want to spit out XML data (could be XAPL compliant) from the accounts package and/or the accounts production system for comparative and background purposes. These data can then be assembled in a spreadsheet enabled wiki (for example) to start building out a practice template for assessing investment or new business opportunities. Once inside the wiki, that template can be re-used for other projects, shared among anyone interested and communicated to the client in real-time. It will be event driven. This will massively collapse time to decision and so provide the smart user with a significant edge in say an auction environment where an asset purchase is under way.
While this may sound like Fairyland, the reality is that smart 3rd party vendors like Teqlo are working hard to expose these services as drag and drop components into an assembly palette. We're maybe 6 months away from seeing business class services of the kind I describe but they will come. Vendors who fail to recognise the potential and value of this kind of co-opetition will be left in the dust as smart vendors assemble services for re-distribution among their communities of interest. Smart practitioners will be all over these services because they add so much client value. I'd go so far to suggest that practitioners may even be preapred to toss out incumbent suppliers in order to get these shiny new toys.
The real shock to the system will come in cost. These assembly services will not cost hundreds or thousands of pounds but be $5-30 a pop per user. Price will not be a barrier. The potential for value delivery - huge.
Saas is dead, long live services.
I provided a specific perspective on this topic at AccMan.
Service in this context means 'shared data.' XAPL provides a way to make this happen, very much like BASDAs eBIS-XML industry initiative of the early 2000's. The difference is that if Companies House and HMRC push it, then it will happen. The real adoption push needs to come from practitioners who understand the value of sharing data. So for example if I'm preparing a Winforecast projection then I may well want to access industry data from Companies House, supplement that with local data (if available) from HMRC trading benchmark data and GoogleMaps to assess competition. From the accounting side, I will want to spit out XML data (could be XAPL compliant) from the accounts package and/or the accounts production system for comparative and background purposes. These data can then be assembled in a spreadsheet enabled wiki (for example) to start building out a practice template for assessing investment or new business opportunities. Once inside the wiki, that template can be re-used for other projects, shared among anyone interested and communicated to the client in real-time. It will be event driven. This will massively collapse time to decision and so provide the smart user with a significant edge in say an auction environment where an asset purchase is under way.
While this may sound like Fairyland, the reality is that smart 3rd party vendors like Teqlo are working hard to expose these services as drag and drop components into an assembly palette. We're maybe 6 months away from seeing business class services of the kind I describe but they will come. Vendors who fail to recognise the potential and value of this kind of co-opetition will be left in the dust as smart vendors assemble services for re-distribution among their communities of interest. Smart practitioners will be all over these services because they add so much client value. I'd go so far to suggest that practitioners may even be preapred to toss out incumbent suppliers in order to get these shiny new toys.
The real shock to the system will come in cost. These assembly services will not cost hundreds or thousands of pounds but be $5-30 a pop per user. Price will not be a barrier. The potential for value delivery - huge.
Saas is dead, long live services.
I provided a specific perspective on this topic at AccMan.
