Video"Platinum finally has a management team that understands how to sell accounting software," declares Charles Chewning, president of Solutions, in Richmond, Virginia. It's even solved the problem that has stumped it in the past: selling its product through independent VARs (value-added resellers) while it also sells through its direct sales force. "That's no longer a problem," says Chewning. "The direct sales force handles the Platinum SQL system, and doesn't touch the [LAN-based] Platinum for Windows. That way, they aren't in competition with their own VARs."
Furthermore, Platinum added major new features to its Platinum SQL product line, including extensive multinational currency support and customer service modules, the latter through acquisition of Clientele Software Inc. in June 1997. And in November, Platinum acquired FocusSoft Inc., a supplier of manufacturing and distribution software. It's a good fit, according to Steven Gray, president of consulting firm Eisner Computer Solutions, in New York.
"The idea is to integrate manufacturing with accounting modules, and then offer an enterprisewide solution," says Gray. "So they've raised the bar on Great Plains and Solomon [which depend on third parties to provide users with manufacturing software], and State of the Art isn't even in that marketplace."
Great Plains on the Net
Although other vendors started on the SQL Server systems later than Platinum, the strategy is basically the same. As Microsoft SQL Server running on Windows NT has become more widespread, every major midrange vendor has been focusing its resources on developing new SQL systems, while continuing to maintain and enhance its older LAN-based systems.
With high-end SQL functionality becoming more common, vendors are differentiating themselves by means of features. Great Plains has been concentrating on adding substantial Internet functionality to its products, according to former chief technology officer Ray August. "We're changing the entire system to take advantage of the Internet," he says. "This means that we're integrating the Internet into every application."
Just as SQL databases are causing data formats to become more standardized, the Internet is causing the user interface to become more standardized. The goal of Great Plains and other vendors is to enable any authorized user with an Internet browser to access their accounting software. Ultimately, Internet integration will extend the reach of accounting software directly to employees, customers, and suppliers, with "self-service" applications that allow people with appropriate authorization to use an Internet browser to access the data and functions of the accounting system.
There are different levels and ranges of functions in Internet integration, as can be seen from the types of information provided in the vendor tables accompanying this article. The simplest form of Internet functionality is to put the software's standard screens into HTML (hypertext markup language) so that they can be accessed from an Internet browser. Self-service functionality extends the access out of the back office. It permits employees to obtain or change human resource information, and enables trusted vendors and customers to determine account status. Electronic commerce extends access even further, by allowing any potential customer to browse catalogs and place orders online.
Great Plains is attacking all these areas of Internet access. "Great Plains Dynamics is a solid, mature system," says Sheldon Needle, president of Computer Training Services Inc., a consultancy in Rockville, Maryland. "There are some Windows products that are easier to customize, but GP has done an excellent job in developing its Internet commerce modules."
Solomon's wisdom
Solomon Software has also been implementing Internet functionality, though more slowly than Great Plains. It has also been heavily investing in vertical market applications. The biggest investment was the acquisition of Smith, Dennis & Gaylord (SDG) of Santa Clara, California, a business partner that had developed Solomon software add-ons for project management.
"The acquisition of SDG gives Solomon an excellent job/project cost application," notes Needle. Solomon also has codevelopment arrangements with a number of other business partners, providing software for process manufacturing and for municipal governments and utilities.
State of the Art from scratch
The newest SQL Server system is State of the Art's Acuity Financials. Rather than being a modification or upgrade of another system, Acuity Financials was written from scratch, entirely from Microsoft-only technology.
"They made this product with the purest leading-edge Microsoft technology on the market, which gives them a competitive advantage in the marketplace," observes Steven Gray. "But because it's a new product, it lacks features. It's pretty much a back-office accounting product, and lacks the full distribution modules available in other products."
Although Acuity is a leading-edge system, State of the Art shares with other vendors the problem of finding VARs who can provide support. "State of the Art has more than 7,000 VARs, but almost all of them are CPAs who have been using the company's older software, mostly under DOS and Windows," says Richard Dance, president of SoftResources LLC, a business software consulting firm in Seattle. "These VARs have no experience with SQL Server or NT, and State of the Art will have to train new VARs to handle that system." Solomon has similar problems, according to Dance. "Support for Solomon's high-end system is very spotty in some parts of the country."
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