At the small business expo a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview a couple of SaaS businesses. I thought it would be interesting for readers if I also took the opportunity to interview a traditional software vendor to get their perspective on the SaaS phenomenon.

I spoke with Grant Cowie, founder of Moneyworks, which has a significant userbase in Australasia. I specifically wanted to see Grant’s reaction to Xero, I spoke to Grant 12 months ago at the previous small business expo and at that time he was fairly dismissive of both Xero and the SaaS accounting concept.

It’s interesting to see his comments this year. Again apologies for the sound quality, and again many thanks to Dan for the help with the video.

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence 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.

4 Comments
  • These videos were good fun. Keen to do more in the future. VortexDNA maybe?

  • The point of 100,000 records was a good one. The test of a good webapp is how well it handles large amounts of data. This is an area we’re always seeking to improve at ProWorkflow. have a look at the chart on the following post and you’ll see we also have to deal with large amounts of data through a webapp:
    http://julian101.com/2008/02/does-basecamp-have-long-term-users-or-a-million-tyrekickers/

    So the question for XERO is (and I don’t know the answer) how well will the system perform when everyone on the server has been going for a year or two and they have heeeeeaps of data to search, calculate or display.

    I’m sure they’ve sorted this issue in advance though. ie: If they run each server at 20% capacity (max customers), and those customers have 2 years of data. Will the server now be running at 60% capacity? obviously there is a limit – so what’s the policy on “unlimited customer data expansion vs limited server size”?

    Food for thought for all of us…

  • Cowie’s position will soon be obselete as the distinction – in development, delivery and use – between the web model and the app-server model is blurred to the extent where there will be litle or no difference. Look at the iPhone UI, which Xero has identified and developed, if you disagree.

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