TECHNOLOGY
Software options for accountants James Byrne examines the factors that come into play when you are choosing your accounting software and the company that will provide it.
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hen you’re looking for software to help manage your practice, you’re likely to find familiar, global names and younger, independently owned software. Corporations have thousands of employees, multiple kinds of software and substantial financial investment. So, why would you entrust your practice to an independent?
Big corp. Big prices
It seems the more well-known the logo, the higher up your eyebrows go when you see the cost. (All those employees, offices and investors need funding, after all.) Often, pricing is also based on the size of your practice and the features that the software provider assumes you’ll need, rather than one price and access to every area of the software.
Length of contracts
Long-term contracts are the norm for larger companies, locking you in whether you’re finding value or not. Independent software companies may need your money more – and would love to lock you in forever – but user satisfaction and retention are also more critical. Their success relies more heavily on your success. As such, independent software companies will keep a closer eye on adoption rates and the success of their users’ businesses – and review their performance more regularly.
Additional costs for training and support
Charging for implementation, training and ongoing support isn’t restricted to software owned by large companies, but there’s certainly a trend. Paying for training increases the overall cost and puts you at risk of lost expenditure if you and your team don’t get on with the software. It may also signify complexity and a user experience that’s not too intuitive – though that’s not always the case.
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James Byrne CEO, AccountancyManager
You’ll always be more important to an SME than to a corporation – and that’s exactly how they should make you feel if you need a hand. With a small-to-mid size independent company, you’ll probably know the support team by name and they’ll know all about how you use the software. The larger the company providing the software, the more support staff they’re likely to have, leading to less personalised support and, weirdly, longer wait times. Consider what role support has in the business too. With an independent vendor, the support team will probably work directly with the development team – adding to the agility and speed of development.
The impact of investors
Independent software is always looking to grow, both in capability, user base and team size. That means they’re more likely to invest the profits back into the business to keep improving. No outside investors means that independent software owners only answer to you. Yes, corporations have more funds, but arguably this could lead to decisions that don’t put you first.
The speed of development
A large company means many levels of hierarchy and many stakeholders. Projects take longer to get sign-off and updates to the system are slow to emerge. Although new features may come from user feedback, the final decision will be made at a much higher level. Smaller, independent companies are more agile and able to turn system improvements and additions around in a matter of days.
ISSUE 115 | AIAWORLDWIDE.COM
