Financial software developers are constantly facing the question, which processes are more important than others and need their attention today and which ones can be addressed later. ERPLY and Erply Accounting Software are moving towards cooperation, specialization and solely online-based services. I will explain in a few words why we believe this direction will bring the greatest value to the client.
Due to developments in computer technology during the last 30 years, business information systems have made a huge leap. Processing data is easier than ever. But it can still be said that more than half of the companies use insufficient information systems. In most cases, companies choose cheaper information systems and therefore have cut back on quality. Various research shows that companies wish to access their business processes online. They value user-friendly software and micro-enterprises (ca 93% of all enterprises) are looking for an affordable (or even free) solution. But at the same time, the expectations of software opportunities are high. There are two options: to create an information system for micro-enterprises or for big companies, you can’t do both. One is not willing to pay much and the other is demanding a complex product. The first would like as simple and as a standard solution as possible. The other one needs implementation and sophisticated functionality that a simple product cannot provide. A product that is desirable for a micro, small and medium-sized company meets the following requirements: simplicity, professionalism, and scalability. Simplicity is necessary for small enterprises, professionalism for everybody and scalability for bigger companies whose data volumes need special handling. To fulfill these demands the software needs to be complicated and this is too expensive for small businesses. But you can’t create a complex system without money. How to create software with all those assets? Recent years have brought along the following tendencies: development of cloud technology services, the need for cooperation between software and specialization. Let us discuss these trends and see how they help to solve the above-mentioned problems. Cloud technology services are services, which operate online. Gmail, Dropbox are a few examples but at the same time also Accounting and ERPLY. But the remote desktop solution and systems that allow you to make copies on the Internet are not considered as cloud technology services. These services are available via the Internet and can be accessed anytime and everywhere if the Internet connection is provided. Cloud technology is considered to be safer and more scalable than personal computers. And you can access your data securely anywhere. To combine successfully simplicity with specificity in one software, it is important to find a clear focus. Specialisation means concentrating only on the most important – one to three problems are chosen and people concentrate on solving them as good as possible. The practice has shown that one team can find a solution to a specific problem better than the other team trying to solve several ones at the same time (given that the problem concerns accounting, the point of sale solutions or something similar and the more issues there are the larger the team). Cloud technology services can be integrated so that one software is able to process other one's requests. This creates a value for specialization and points out the differences between the remote desktop and cloud technology services – if one software focuses on problem X and it can be integrated with another one that deals with problem Y then the solution is more than X+Y. If all of these values are put together, then we can produce various innovative software programs, which are developed by different teams. They can be accessed online and are easy to use for their excellent functionality. If we combine these solutions and keep on developing them we will do business resource planning. First of all the price is lower than the market value because this solution can be provided to companies of different sizes. Secondly, as several professional software programs are put together the integrated solution is also fully functional. Naturally, at some point, we cannot do without special solutions because of the complexity, but we can meet the need in most cases. A company can choose and pay only for those services it needs. And, thirdly you can use the software to cover basic needs without special training (with the help of a user manual and a blog). In addition, most functionality difficulties have been solved for large companies.