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22 Oct 2009
Online - it's the way of the future. I hear that so much in my technology travels, but it has never been more evident to me than at the recent Softworld exhibition in
The
This is in stark contrast to the many onlookers who swarmed to the online zone, not least because of its bright lights and enticing shiny red boards.
The more popular discussion groups centred on cloud computing, with one in particular chaired by Richard Anning, head of the IT Faculty. He had a panel including members from NetSuite, salesforce.com, FinancialForce.com and Mamut.
It was standing room only, with people straining to hear how this technology was growing and able to offer all the things that "on-premise" no longer provides.
It made me wonder how long it would be before "on-premise" software becomes legacy.
But the interesting aspect to come out of that roundtable was the honesty that not all cloud providers are created equally, according to Mamut, while FinancialForce.com stresses this is a new technology and may still has challenges to overcome.
It's a refreshing change to hear the fears of the software industry as it ventures into new territory.
This is my first blog and comments are always welcomed. The previous blogs were written by John Tate co-founder of Tate Technology the IT consultancy
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Visitor comments Add your comment
Hi Rachael,
I popped into Softworld on the afternoon of the first day. Visitors seemed thin on the ground.
The vendors at the stands for the on-premise (I'll avoid calling them "old-fashioned" here!) products seemed incredibly downbeat and unmotivated.
You'd have thought they'd be trying to engage with the few visitors that were there to make the most of the exhibition. But instead they stood around looking depressed, unapproachable and only seemed to speak to each other – the fellow damned? : ).
Compare that with the space set aside for the online players. Admittedly visitors numbers seemed almost as low, but there was at least a buzz there. The exhibitors were all talking to visitors (FreeAgent had a queue forming!) and there was a real positive vibe.
I think it could be part of the underlying difference between web-based and on-premise vendors. Web-based vendors HAVE to engage with new and existing customer constantly as there’s much less of the lock-in experienced with the old guard.
Congrats on your first blog post – I’ll look forward to more.
Posted by: Duane Jackson, 22 Oct 2009 | 19:47
Hi Rachel - great news that you're resurrecting the blog!
Speaking as a long-provider of 'on-premise' software (through our CODA & Agresso brands) as well as a leading player in the cloud or 'on-demand space' (with FinancialForce.com), we are well positioned to comment on this! Clearly there is lots of excitement around cloud accounting right now, and rightly so - for many organisations it is the right way to go, and offers clear benefits to them.
However, in our view the majority of the marketplace will continue to use 'on-premise' applications, getting the longterm benefits and value out of them that they have enjoyed for years and, in some cases, decades. You shouldn't mistake 'long term loyalty' with 'lock-in'!
And for cloud advocates to claim that somehow they have greater customer engagement and service than other forms of software is daft - all businesses need to have great customer service to survive and thrive long term in today's business environment.
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