Expenses can have a lot of the same issues as Timesheets (see post on JourneyX) and often companies who require timesheet software will require expense software.
Currently a company getting good press is webexpenses who also have links to Sage Accounting Software. Another Expense software SaaS company is Concur.
Timesheets are one the most requested pieces of functionality when dealing with accounting software. In many service companies and professional firms they can be one of the biggest headaches. Standard software pricing can often be prohibitive for large timesheet users especially where each timesheet user is named or requires a full access concurrent license.
Many companies use MS Excel or design their own database with tools like MS Access. These solutions can often create their own set of problems including support and remote access. No wonder then that this application should be available as a service.
As well as being one of the few Timesheet applications that can be used under the SaaS model you can also download JourneyX for both Windows and Linux for upto 10 users.
Cisco has just published a report that has surveyed 400 UK small businesss and found:
I think both of the above can be caused by the standard VAR (value added reseller) model, whereby the emphasis (and majority of the income and therefore profit) is centred on the initial sale with less attention given to the post sales period which is traditionally less profitable.
The Software as a Service (SaaS) model should help to rectify this by having an income model which is interested in the long term for ongoing revenues (and less based on the initial income) which should ensure a better post sale and support experience.
There appears to be three themes recurring in all ‘2006 predictions’, ‘Top 10 top things for 2006..’ etc etc. These are
SAAS is a new generation of the ASP model which featured so prominently (and unsuccessfully) in the dotcom boom. The model which looked so good ‘on paper’ back then looks good again ‘on paper’ now, but the difference should be access to high-speed internet and better web (some may argue web 2.0) technologies. This allowing solutions like salesforce.com and netsuite to be apparently gaining so much ground.
