Iris eats Sage's slice
Iris has eaten into Sage's slice of the practice software market, according to the latest 'IT in Accountancy Practices' survey by the ICAEW's IT faculty.
Link: Iris chief executive leads MBO
The survey of over 700 practices in the UK found that 32% use Iris accounts production software compared to 19% for Sage accounts production and 12% for Sage’s advanced version of the software product. Iris’ market share has increased from 26% in the previous survey two years ago. Other competitors included Solution 6 (now part of MYOB) and VT Accounts.
The Sage Accounts Production Advanced product and Solution 6/Viztopia Accounts both held a 24% share of the market for practices with seven or more partners.
The personal taxation market is spread among a higher number of market players.
Iris once again has the highest share of the practices surveyed, which has increased to 31% from 27%, followed by PTP, Sage, Solution 6, Digita and CCH. Solution 6 PerTAX is the software of choice among larger firms, while Iris is the market leader for sole and smaller practices.
However Sage lost ground in this area, with its market share falling sharply to 11% from 17%. Solution 6 saw a fall in market share to 9% from 12%, while Digita made a big gain to 7% from 4%.
It wasn’t all bad news for the FTSE100 software giant. Sage maintained its market share of 41% for payroll software, while Iris increased its share to 25% from 19%.
Accounting software (bookkeeping service on behalf of clients) was dominated by Sage Line 50 and SageInstant Accounting – used by 64% of respondents. Intuit QuickBooks scored 10% and TAS Books scored 7%.