Business On Software

Microsoft have this week announced that they will be releasing a version of Microsoft Office which is entirely web based.  The new edition is not designed to compete with their desktop based Office products, but rather to complement it, and allow you to get to your documents and information anywhere in the world.

From early news, it looks like their web based Office offering will be available in straight HTML/AJAX, and also a version that runs under Silverlight for an even richer client interface.  This product line has been designed to work in with their upcoming Office 14 desktop software, where they will be showcasing some truly impressive real time collaboration tools.  This is not your daddy’s Office suite!

Eran Kampf over at CloudAve has a post which goes into a bit more detail, and asks a few questions about Microsoft’s revenue plans around this new offering.

New Zealand based online accounting vendor Xero have recently launched their product for Australian businesses.  This means that our local GST tax laws and conditions are (hopefully) supported.

From a brief look at their online tour, their system looks quite aesthetically pleasing, and should be quite easy for users to learn and understand.  I am hoping to set up a test account on their system so I can have a more in depth look and report on here.

Their service costs just $49 per month, with any additional companies adding $29 per month on top of that.  Cheap as chips when you consider that you do not have to install anything, and any future upgrades are automatically done for you without even thinking about it.

Readers of this blog will know my passion for online based systems, but my biggest question with online accounting systems is the quality of training that the end users will get.  From many years of experience, we find that the level of training the end user has obtained in the early stages will have a great impact on the quality of information going in and out of the software – even true for those ‘easy to use’ systems such as MYOB and Quickbooks.

I will keep you updated with my findings.

UPDATE: Ben Kepes over at CloudAve has done a thorough and informative review of Xero.  Check it out!

Image via Panorama Paul

For many business people, being able to take some of your everyday work technology on the road is invaluable.  For example, making phone calls (only where legal of course!) via a hands free system, finding client sites using GPS, driving safely with reversing cameras etc.

Fellow blogger, Vinnie Merchandani has compiled a list of things you can do to upgrade your old car with spiffy new car features.  The site is US specific, and all dollar amounts are quoted in US dollars, but most of these solutions will work just as well here in Australia, and are available from local distributors.

Vinnie cites that you only need to spend around US$500 or so to turn your car into something less than the USS Enterprise, and when you understand that a new car dealer will charge you around $5000 extra for these ‘features’ then you will appreciate it.

Gotta go – I have an 8 year old Honda CRV that needs urgent upgrading…

I have just heard that Quicken is now providing their online version of their personal finance service for FREE!  I believe the service previously used to be around USD$9 per month.  I think that the powers that be at Quicken have realised that there is some serious competition from other players in the market for free web based financial recording tools, and have reacted accordingly.

At this stage, I believe that this service is only available in the US, but I will do some further checking and let you know.

We are back from leave now!  Had a fantastic time in the US.  Gosh Boston is a lovely city.

Now that I am refreshed and all recharged, I intend to step up the frequency of postings on this blog.

One of the emails that was awaiting my flooded inbox when I got back was a short missive from the Australian Tax Office (ATO).  They routinely send out statistics to subscribers of their software development newsletters, and in this one, they reported that as of the financial year ending 30/06/08, about 16.7% of ‘pay as you go’ (PAYG) submissions were done via their electronic ECI interface.

In raw terms, 32543 submissions were made via their ECI software, and 194513 submissions were done via the usual disk, CD-ROM and other magnetic media.

It is refreshing to see the uptake of electronic submissions with Australian businesses.  This is pointing to a better awareness of managers and owners that electronic data interchanges can save time and cost.  I look fotward to next year’s statistics to see if this percentage picks up again.