The SpiderGroup Blog

It is a problem experienced by businesses all over the world. More than one person needs access to SAGE but it’s only installed on one computer in the office…..can ‘The Cloud’ help?

Accounting Software

The small business finance software market is now very mature. Dominated by SAGE line 50 with current estimates indicating a 1/3 dominant market share. Quickbooks and MYOB vie for second place however are often regarded as more ‘useable’ than SAGE line 50.

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Since the worldwide success of the Apple iPhone, smart phone manufacturers have been desperately trying to take back some of its market share.

With devices recently released from big names such as Sony Eriksson, Samsung and HTC the latest addition to the market is the BlackBerry Storm.

Already widely being compared to the iPhone it is RIM’s first real attempt at a touch screen device.

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I have been involved in website development for over ten years, from code monkey to project manager and even the poor mug who wants a snazzy new website but doesn’t quite realise what he’s getting himself into!

Today you can go online, find a nice template, pay pennies, plug in some content and by the end of the day you have a great new website that you can show off to your friends and colleagues. You can have flashy animations, interactive blogs and integrated email web forms, all without needing an ounce of knowledge about web design.

“So what’s the problem?” I hear you say….

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What is the ‘Cloud’?

Cloud computing is a recently coined but popular term for the delivery of information and services to one’s computer, over the internet (or ‘cloud’). Why ‘cloud’? Well, if you’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing network diagrams you’d know that the internet is generally depicted by a cloud. My guess is that the Internet has become such a vast, unfathomable network of information and services that no one can really explain it – so we just call it ‘the cloud’ and take for granted all the really clever, interesting and weird stuff that happens in there.

Personally I’m not sure that l like the term, I run a business and the image of my information floating around in some vast cloud makes me a little uneasy, fortunately I know better and if it’s the term that’s going to stick then I need to join the party. Whether it will stick is another matter, the most recent fad was calling it web 2.0 and the slightly less catchy software as a service (or SaaS), not to mention on demand services and application service provision (ASP). But all these terms essentially refer to same thing; the delivery of services and information over the internet to billions of consumers and millions of businesses all over the world.

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It has been confirmed, the UK is heading into a recession and you just need to listen to Mervyn King’s gloomy forecast at the end of last month to realise that times are going to get tight for small businesses in all sectors as we move into 2009. BBC Website - The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King: 22nd Oct 2008

But does this mean that UK businesses should button down the hatches and ride out the storm which, according to some predictions, could last well into 2010? Or is there some opportunity to be gained by owners of small businesses who are prepared to think on their feet and react quickly to minimise their expenditure and explore new market opportunities that may be hidden in this global economic slowdown?

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Google Aps is simply not an enterprise level suite of applications yet. (It may well get there but isnt even close yet)

Firstly it is still in Beta testing mode - this means you have no service level agreement with Google. They can take the whole system down without warning, meaning guess what…..none of your staff can work! They also state in the terms and conditions when you signup that they cannot guarantee the safety of your data and are free to use your data for marketing purposes if they please. Brilliant!

Once you are in, you’re locked in - People for years have complained that they are locked into Microsoft’s software stack. Well if you start using Google Apps you’re now in a similar situation! Any smart company should put in place a plan for the future. What if you come to realise you didn’t want to host your application on the Google App Engine anymore? Good luck, almost everything you are given access to is proprietary — that means all your data is locked into a format that isn’t like a traditional relational database. This could turn into a disaster for your business if you rely on a custom built app.

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It has taken us a little bit of time but we have put together a new site which we hope more appropriately reflects the company and the stage of development that we are now at. We have spent a great deal of time and effort working out how to express to customers and potential customers exactly what it is we do. We are technologists at heart so we cover a broad range of technologies but never the less we have subdivided our offerings into 3 clear areas of specialism to help describe how we can help you and your business.

You may notice that we have implemented some new ideas to ensure that we communicate better with our audience such as a blog to work alongside our news letter. We hope that the blog can server to inform people about important issues in the IT industry and keep people updated with exciting things that we are getting up to.

Enjoy!

We provide a number of solutions via the SaaS model. There are a number of easy to understand benefits although a provider must be chosen carefully.

Some benefits:

1. Lower costs with Pay-as-You-go
Subscribing to a SaaS application removes the overhead associated with implementing conventional software. Traditonal software implementation would involve purchasing and maintaining servers, housing them securely, and installing and maintaining the software. The upfront investment in hardware, specialist IT skills and the software itself can be huge - whereas using a SaaS provider means paying a PAYG subscription.
- This point is particulary prevalent in these financial times, business is still going but large upfront cash investments are best avoided

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As you probably know Apple recently released the latest version of their smart phone, the iPhone 3G. Having been one of the people who queued up early in the morning to receive their new shiny toy I have had one for over a month now and thought it was time I shared my experiences.

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