NetSuite, Manufacturing, Ecosystems and a Better Way to Compete
We’ve covered NetSuite substentially @ CloudAve – to the point that I’ve run into trouble with my title: I already used NetSuite vs SAP … Round #n. A Game Changer? so what should I call this one? NetSuitevs SAP Round #n+1? All right, let’s get serious: NetSuite launched a Manufacturing Edition today. Dennis Howlett has [...]
Integration is Good… When You Actually Do It (Part Two)
A month or so ago I wrote a post critical of the integration one vendor had made with the Google apps marketplace. Yesterday I was perusing Twitter when I came across this tweet: I’m actually a user of Xero for three of my businesses, so I was looking forward to seeing what their inclusion on [...]
A Tale of Two Generations – Sage Languishes while Financial Force Innovates
Software is undergoing a generational change – I thought I’d pull out an example to show what the old generation is doiing and contrast that to what the “cool kids” are doing. I was interested to read Dennis Howlett’s post about Sage recently. In his post Dennis reflected on the signals he’s getting from his [...]
There’s a Reason It’s Free – Get Over It…
I’ve been mulling this post around in my head for quite some time now – an eight hour flight across the great Australian Desert seemed as good a time as any to finally put pen to paper (fingers to keys?) and write this post. We’ve been hearing much lately about privacy concerns with free services [...]
NetSuite vs SAP … Round #n. A Game Changer?
In my recent Suites post I said there were exactly 1.5 (one and a half) integrated full business solutions (SaaS Suite, SaaS All-In-One, SaaS ERP, SaaS SMB ERP – take your pick or create a new one) offered as a service. The one in that equation was NetSuite, and the half is SAP’s Business ByDesign. [...]
Contextual Gadgets – ManyMoon Unlocks Google’s Value
Since the Google Apps marketplace launched, I’ve been a little disappointed at the somewhat limited integrations that have been created by apps on the marketplace. While I’d love Google to have an even richer common set of data, there was little use made of the data that is currently provided. All that is changing with [...]
Integration is Good… When You Actually Do It
Recently at the SuiteCloud event (see disclosure) I attended a presentation looking at the NetSuite integration with Google apps. At the session a development company, Daston, showed off its custom built functionality that allowed for a one way creation of calendar and mail events hin NetSuite, from within Google applications. I watched the demonstration and [...]
It’s All About Support – Granular Is Good
The other day I had one of those nightmare situations that only those who are similarly detail-focused (some would say retentive) as myself can appreciate. Now I’m a stickler for detail – it really offends my sensibilities when things aren’t stacked in order, when things don’t match and, most of all, when the numbers in [...]
Personal and Business Finance – Blurring the Lines
I posted a year or so ago that: the distinction between personal and business finance is pretty blurred It was a call for micro and small business accounting vendors to offer a personal finance service in the acknowledgement that most micro businesses have an increasingly blurred line between personal and business expenses. As I said [...]
MYOB Goes SaaS…. Again
I wrote almost a couple of years ago now about MYOB’s (see disclosure statement) first foray into the world of SaaS. I wasn’t overly impressed, saying at the time that: MYOB has the experience, the money and the clout to bring a product to market with the features that users need. Under this measure MYOB [...]
The FourSquare Spy Guide – Customer Dashboards for SMB 2.0
I’ve been writing about FourSquare for business recently by promoting the potential benefits to businesses with customer foot traffic. Now with their release of a Customer Dashboard for businesses, they’ve taken the concept of social location-based networking to a whole new level. A level that businesses need to understand as it will significantly impact their [...]
For SMBs, Automation is King. Saasu Delivers Some
Small and medium businesses are inherently time poor. As such any tool that automates their processes is a good thing. Those who aren’t involved in business would look at automatic bank feeds (such as those offered by Xero) as a fun toy, but little more than that. This fails to appreciate just how much of [...]
The Skinny on Google's New SMB Application Marketplace
Last week I speculated to some impending announcements from Google about application stores specifically tailored to the small and medium business market. Well, readers didn’t have to wait long, Google has just launched what is essentially an SMB application marketplace – A place where (they hope) customers will discover, purchase and deploy integrated third party [...]
Google Launches Apps Marketplace
I’m at the Google Campfire One event where they’ve just announced the Google Apps Marketplace. The site is live now, feel free to browse. The speculation is now over, this is Google’s answer on whether they will enter the Business Applications market – they just did, with an entire ecosystem of Partners. The new Marketplace [...]
Google, Intuit and App Stores – Tying it Together for the 96%-ers
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m on the advisory board for Glue conference in Denver in May. I’m also moderating one or two sessions. One session in particular has me really excited. My background is small business – as readers will know, I own and run a handful of small businesses in varied industries and so [...]
