Microsoft Discontinues Office Accounting

Last week I read that Microsoft Office Accounting would no longer be distributed after November 16, 2009.

“We have determined that existing free templates within Office used with Excel [were] a better option for small businesses, and the Microsoft Dynamics ERP products were appropriate for mid-range organizations,” Microsoft stated in a FAQ on the company’s Web site regarding the discontinuation.

All Microsoft Office Accounting products in North America and the U.K. are affected, including Office Accounting Express, Office Accounting Professional and Professional Plus and Small Business Accounting.”

This is not the first time that Microsoft has discontinued its small business  / home accounting softwares. Microsoft had earlier also discontinued Microsoft Money.

But then, Microsoft has for long been competing against Intuit’s products. So in a way, the discontinuation of Microsoft Money and Office Accounting will only benefit competitors especially Intuit with its QuickBooks & Quicken and Sage with its Peachtree.

~ Ramya

 

Powerpoint Best Practices

Over the past few months, there have been several client visits and I have been going through several presentations. I recently realized ‘Death by Powerpoint’ experience and so decided to do some reading on powerpoint best practices which I thought I would share with you.

I recently read Guy Kawasaki’s ‘Art of the Start’.  I also read Seth Godin’s ‘Really Bad Powerpoint (and how to avoid it)’.

There were few points that stuck with me after reading their books.

• Powerpoint is a tool for communication. But most people use it as a tele-prompter. The presenters essentially read through the slides.
• 10/20/30 Rule – No more than 10 slides that last for 20 minutes having 30 font size. I do not completely agree with this rule. This rule is very subjective and the presentation size (number of slides) and time will depend on the topic. The font size will also depend on the size of audience for whom you are going to present.
• Slides should reinforce your words and not repeat them. I have noticed lots of presenters write down everything that they are going to talk about in the slide itself which also results in  the slides being cluttered. In that case, there is no role for the presenter, it is enough if the audience just reads the slides.
• Use Bullet Points. Having white space will make the slide look empty but it will definitely assist the viewer in discovering the focus point.
  
• Do not use Clip Art. Use professional images. A picture is worth a thousand words. There are several sites that offer royalty free images at no cost.
• Use transitions / music minimally in your presentation. Personally I hate it when people use transitions. While sitting in a meeting, the audience usually does not have the patience to watch a new block/text in the slide come at a slow pace.
• Dont hand out print out of your slides. I have noticed that whenever a hard copy is given, people tend to read it whenever the presenter is presenting. So essentially they are not listening to the presenter.

Finally giving effective presentation requires a balance between narrating a good story i.e. quality of the presentation and providing the enough details to support your story. The details should only support the story and not reveal the entire story.

~ Ramya

 

Embracing SaaS, an ISV’s Perspective

ISV’s Perspective on Infrastructure, Platform, Technology and Back-end Integration

An ISV instead of trying to focus on developing everything  from scratch can take advantage of the Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service being offered by different companies.  SaaS requires an architecture that can support peak usage demands and process millions and millions of transactions in a secure and reliable environment.

Choosing the right technology is a key to user adoption. Many transitioning ISV’s choose a well known technology stack to keep away from risks due to obsoleteness.

It is very essential for an enterprise SaaS application to be able to integrate with other applications. With SaaS not only does the core application need to function, but it needs to function in conjunction with other systems. Following a centralized approach for code management and focusing on open standards  helps avoid integration problems.

(Source: SaaS Attack & Salesforce.com)

~ Ramya

 

Ecosystem for SaaS Application

User adoption is the most important factor for the success of any SaaS application.  The development of ecosystem would include developing user management, billing / pricing, account management and user based access controls.  Building programs to track product usage will help you in measuring user adoption, test potential features and spot potential problem areas.

Developing the ecosystem will definitely take a considerable amount of your development time. In case you are planning to utilize a third party application, then it definitely requires an investment. Investing in developing or integrating a good ecosystem is well worth the effort as it helps increase the user subscription base.

 

Move to SaaS or not?

I have been reading several reports that suggest that most companies will move towards SaaS platform. Working in a product development company, I was wondering what could be the factors stopping ISV’s from migrating to SaaS:

• SaaS is a high entry cost business. When you are looking at a huge customer base, then the investment multiples accordingly.
• New Sales & Marketing Approach – Sales and marketing expenses are high to acquire customers and the ability to retain customers depends on the service level.
• Higher Expectations for Customer Service – The ISV needs to convince the buyer on the service levels. This will lengthen the sales cycle.
• Uptime & SLA – This reflects the operational excellence and the ISV may be required to depend on hosting provider. This plays a crucial role in Customer Retention.

Considering these factors, an ISV will definitely think twice before jumping into the SaaS bandwagon.

So has CI moved into the SaaS bandwagon? You have to wait till the next post.

~ Ramya

 

CI and Twitter

Twitter is one hot topic in the recent times. Everywhere people  (and organizations) are trying out twitter. I started twittering a few months back and I caught some really good friends. I started using twitter as a forum. That is when I decided that I should create a twitter account for CI. It has been quite a few months and I should say that I have got a set of decent followers (No. I did not use any ‘Increase your Follower’ count software).

So what is Twitter?

I would say that Twitter is a personalized RSS feed where people and organizations can publish information for others to pick up. It is another source of traffic for your website or blog. You don’t have to know the person you follow or the person who follows you. You follow people because their content is relevant to you.

Does it really benefit you?

As a starter, it definitely does send traffic to your website and blog. Beyond that I have been able to understand a prospective client. Use it a forum and you do get relevant answers from not just your followers but other people too. We are trying to improve our product customer management. Companies like ComScore, Comcast, Southwest Airlines, Network Solutions and Verizon are all companies that use Twitter to improve their customer and reputation management.

Check us out on Twitter

~ Ramya

Follow me on Twitter

 

POS – Rewarding Systems

Is your POS application rewarding Loyal Customers?

Is it not fair to reward loyal customers?

Does your POS application provide a facility to track the sales and honor reward points accordingly?

Reward points are quite common in many industries like Credit Card Sales etc. to enable the customer to make more payments via credit card. Similarly for retail stores, it makes customers loyal to the store. It is a value addition for the customer and this will act as word-of-mouth marketing for the store.

It not only make the customer attached to the store but also make him delight about the value addition he is getting and will create mouth publicity which is more faster and creates a better brand image than any marketing tool.

A POS application should have facility to track customer behavior i.e. search for items that the customer is purchasing most and reward same or similar items instead of a common reward.

I say ‘One Size Does Not Fit All’. So let us together develop a system that fits the customer needs

 

Using LinkedIn

A few days back, we decided to re-design our corporate content to give a fresh look. I had a basic design in mind but I wanted some additional inputs from design / printing experts. I posted my question in LinkedIn and within a period of 24 hours I had got answers from over 11 experts which would not have been normally possible.

LinkedIn is a great business tool. Here are some of the features that I have found useful:

• I regularly use LinkedIn’s advanced search feature to gather information and many of my question’s have been answered this way. From a business development perspective I get a chance to do my homework on business prospects.
• Ability to add Blog Post to your Profile Page. I regularly get hits for this blog from LinkedIn
• Ability to expand your network through your friends
• Ability to connect with people with whom you would have worked previously or gone to school with etc.
• Ability to keep track of your connections with the help of their status updates and profile updates
• Ability to find related groups and share knowledge

Check out our company profile on LinkedIn

~ Ramya

 

POS Applications

I am Prabkar and I head the POS Development Team at CI. Over the next couple of weeks you would find me writing a couple of posts on the POS domain, now that I have worked on product development in this domain for the past 4 years. 

Point of Sales Software is widely used across all the retail shops worldwide. The focus is to develop a user friendly application with a fast turnaround time. POS applications have a wide market compared to any specialized application due to the vast market for retail industry.

 A typical POS system consists of a

• Cash Register
• Weighing Machine
• Pole Display
• Barcode Reader
• Touch Screen
• POS application with an optional Credit Card reader

 POS applications need to be robust as they determine the best price, multiple discount, flexi/Promo pricing, Customer Group/Item Class pricing and Kit sale. Functionalities such as hotkeys for quick selling, interface with accounting packages, Gift cards, Currency calculator, selector, Inventory maintenance with multi user, multi level support would be a value add.

 With the current technology trend these applications take the advantage of the trend by aiding the user in upgrading to sophisticated systems like Web POS and Wireless Order Capture

 

When not to use Agile Methodology?

Everywhere people are talking about Agile methodology. Many of them have implemented the same and are deriving the benefits from it. But when should we not use Agile methodology?

Agile methods are not used under the following circumstances:

• Customers have limited involvement in the development efforts.
• You have to prepare documents at each stage which would be signed off by key stakeholders.
• You hand over documents at each stage and the next team then takes care of your developing the system further.
• Case tool is used to specify the design of the software but not for generating the software.

Limitations of Agile Methodology

• Works well for small to medium sized teams
• Agile methods are not scalable.
• Requires highly motivated and skilled individuals