VISUAL NEWSLETTER – JAN 2003
TOO SLOW
TOO EXPENSIVE
TOO COMPLICATED
WINDOWS BASED ACCOUNTING
These are the most common complaints
levied against many of the new Windows based Accounting Systems. As is often
the case, it is difficult to find a client that has converted to a new Windows
based system that is truly happy with the results of the conversion. The
reasons for this are varied and in time many of them may be resolved by the
better software consulting companies. However, due to the current over
saturation of Accounting Software Vendors, many may not exist long enough to
correct their inherent shortcomings. It is interesting to explore the reasons
that these new technologies struggle.
For many potential clients their first
exposure to new software is in the form of a sales demonstration. Typically
this demonstration is done on the latest state of the art standalone computer
operated by sales people who have fine tuned their presentation to make the
product look good. When you install the product you must contend with older
model computers and various networking issues that often render the program
much slower than it appeared in the product demonstration.
Sales people also tend to know many of
the weaknesses of their software and stay away from the slower and more
cumbersome procedures. If these are programs that you use on a daily basis you
may get a rude awakening to their notable inefficiency.
We have seen some instances where a new
program requires considerably more time to enter data such as customer orders.
If you have several data entry personnel, this may in fact require that you
hire another person just to keep up with data entry demands. These are
limitations that good programmers may in time overcome but there is often no
good solution to a very badly designed program.
We also find
that many systems operate at a much faster rate of speed with a database of say
fifty customers than one with fifty thousand customers. It is often difficult
to predict the speed of operation in a specific environment until it is fully
installed and all the initial data and history is loaded.
As noted in
previous newsletters, another drawback of most current systems is that they are
extremely expensive. Many new systems carry price tags in the $50,000 to
$100,000 range. We are assisting clients in a couple of conversions costing
well into the millions. This is due largely to the complexity and increased
cost of Windows based R&D. Unlike products such as Microsoft Office which
sells in the tens of millions, most Accounting Software firms number their
clients in the hundreds or if lucky thousands. R&D costs have to be spread
over a much smaller customer base. This increase in R&D costs also means
that any customization that you require will also be much more time consuming
and expensive. In one instance, I have quoted $1,500 Canadian to do a series of
modifications that were in turn quoted at $30,000
In an attempt
to be all things to a wide group of clients, many software vendors have built
in so many features, options and switches that it becomes very difficult for
any but the best trained and highly technically inclined to operate some of the
newer systems. This in turn often precipitates a turn over in staff as some
older employees struggle to pick up the more complicated daily operations of
the new system. A good Systems Integrator can help smooth out some of the
complexity and make sure that your staff has all the training it needs to
succeed with any new system.