Telecoms giants strengthen accountancy software links

Telecommunications companies strengthened their presence in the financial software market this month as BT and MCI WorldCom unveiled online alliances with accounting software houses, Pegasus and Scala.

Telecoms companies have leapt on the Internet bandwagon after accountancy specialist Sage launched a free Internet package for its small business users in May.

Communications companies offering Internet services see opportunities in supplying the network infrastructure for companies to run financial and business systems over the World Wide Web.

Scala, the European enterprise software vendor, has joined up with UUNET, the Internet service arm of US telecoms giant MCI WorldCom.

Under the deal UUNET will now support Scala’s e-commerce products, with Scala acting as a reseller for UUNET.

Colchester-based Access Accounts, which launched a website design package for small businesses last month, has provided users with a lifetime of Internet access through FreeWeb.

Kettering-based Pegasus has an arrangement with British Telecom to offer a £29 version of the Pegasus Capital Lite accounting package to subscribers of the BT Connect Internet service.

The software includes sales, purchasing and invoicing modules and normally retails at £99. It also integrates with Microsoft Office and Windows.

The deal expands BT’s influence in the financial software industry. Earlier this year it joined forces with SAP, allowing users to rent the R/3 application online. SAP signed a similar application-hosting deal with Solution 6, the Australian software house.