Category Archives: IT

12/02/2009 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, SaaS 2 Comments

Another Local Payroll Entrant

By Ben Kepes

Awhile ago I wrote about iPayroll, a local SaaS payroll provider. New to the scene comes Flexitime, another payroll option. Whereas iPayroll is an official IRD intermediary, meaning that they can act as a company’s proxy when dealing with the IRD, Flexitime is a standalone service which means companies will

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21/01/2009 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, SaaS 1 Comment

Diligent – The End Is Nigh

By Ben Kepes

Diligent Board Member Services (lots more info here) yesterday announced that they’d been successful in raising another round of funding. Diligent is positive saying that; [Diligent] hat its ability to raise capital under such severe market conditions underlines the quality and potential of its Boardbooks product. This investment will strengthen

14/01/2009 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, SocialMedia 3 Comments

A Press Release Isn’t a Blog Comment

By Ben Kepes

I always welcome comments on my posts from vendors – after all they’re the ones with the in-depth domain knowledge about areas I’m writing about. I can even live with a bit of a commercial bent to the comments – after all there is a reason the vendors spend their

20/12/2008 Posted in Business, IT, New Zealand, SaaS, Strategy 4 Comments

Another Global SaaS Accounting Player

By Ben Kepes

Xero promised a global version in 2009. They’ve just announced that as of Monday, over a week earlier than the promised earliest date, they’ll be releasing their international version. Read the full details here. Let’s observe how this Kiwi battler takes on the world!

19/12/2008 Posted in Business, IT, SaaS, Strategy 1 Comment

SageLive – Yet Another SaaS Accounting Product

By Ben Kepes

Sage has just released the first iteration of their new on-demand accounting product. Names SageLive, the product has some really smart features, along with some glaring holes. The biggest question is whether a traditional vendor can really commit to a subscription based product on an ongoing basis – Sage are

12/12/2008 Posted in Business, IT 1 Comment

Take Some Leave Now Paul

By Ben Kepes

Paul Brislen, PR man for Vodafone New Zealand is a really nice guy – I sympathised with him earlier in the year when Voda released the iPhone in New Zealand – the public outcry over the pricing plans was massive – it was interesting that Paul took a weeks annual

11/12/2008 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, SaaS, Strategy Leave a comment

Sold – To the Company With the Biggest Chequebook

By Ben Kepes

I posted about a month ago about the suitors for accounting software company MYOB. I’ve just been told that MYOB has accepted an offer from Manhattan pending shareholder approval. Details below. As I said to another accounting software industry player, I guess the saying “a bird in the hand is

05/12/2008 Posted in Business, Governance, IT, New Zealand, SaaS, Strategy 1 Comment

Diligent Nears the Deadpool

By Ben Kepes

It had to happen – news that Diligent is close to out of cash, has fired a huge chunk of it’s staff and has no real idea if its search for cash will succeed. Apparently they; will run out of cash at the end of April unless…able to access new

02/12/2008 Posted in IT, SaaS, Strategy 1 Comment

Sage Upping the SaaS Ante

By Ben Kepes

We’ve been waiting for a really compelling on-demand accounting offering from one of the big boys. Thus far we’ve had Intuit deliver QuickBooks Online (CloudAve review here) which got a "nice try but back to the classroom" grade. MYOB delivered the first generation of the BusinessBasics Online product (Diversity review

28/11/2008 Posted in Compliance, IT, New business, New Zealand, Strategy 8 Comments

Diligent Shareholders Consider Fight

By Ben Kepes

Around the same time that Xero listed on the NZX, fellow tech company Diligent Board Books did also. Diligent is a web enabled service that provides board members with all the information they require, while still meeting all the requirements of Sarbanes Oxley in terms of record keeping and audit.

The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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