Softworld focuses on compliance

Some of the largest business software providers in the UK have launched
products at the latest Softworld event, to help customers manage increasing
business pressures.

With finance departments under increasing pressure to cut costs, while
managing growing compliance and red tape, software companies have released new
or updated products at Softworld Accounting and Finance which wraps up at the
NEC Birmingham today.

Coda is presenting its latest product acquisition, Ocra. The software
provides consolidation and treasury technology, and has supported international
customers over the past 12 years.

Jeremy Roche, Coda CEO, said that one of the biggest focuses for Softworld
attendees was to deal with corporate governance requirements. ‘They have added
considerably to the workload, resulting in longer hours and higher levels of
stress. Automation turns compliance from a cost into a value-added activity, so
it is of huge interest to CFOs.’

John Crooks, Agresso managing director, said organisations needed to ‘devolve
responsibility, while maintaining control of their business processes and
ensuring accountability.

‘This requires a business management system capable of proactively delivering
the right information to a broader range of users, quickly and easily,’ Crooks
added.

Agresso has launched its latest version of its Business World finance
product. It allows data to be accessed across an organisation. Individuals can
use a combination of fields, links, relations, attributes and browser templates.

CedarOpenAccounts is showcasing its new collaborative planning tool, which
lets staff across the business work from the same set of data, eliminating
re-keying and simplifying the processing and viewing of data.

The system was developed in conjunction with beta customers Aer Lingus,
London Borough of Camden and Norfolk Police.

Netsuite, a finalist for small business software package of the year at the
Accountancy Age Awards 2005, has also released the latest version of its
product.

This includes new business intelligence and business process management
capabilities and a dashboard that can present and manipulate data viewed on a
web page. Users can change data without regenerating the HTML page.

Attendees will also be visiting a number of masterclasses during Softworld.
Today’s sessions included a presentation by ACCA head of financial reporting
Richard Martin.
He is presenting an interactive guide to help SMEs manage the convergence of
IFRS and UK accounting standards.