I’ve long contended that SaaS applications give the ability to build very specific vertical applications that tie together several different functional areas to really meet the needs of a particular class of business. Cloud applications – with their general adoption of APIs and resulting ease of integration with other apps, make this “quasi suite” approach viable. Intacct today announced an example of this in action.
Intacct, the SaaS accounting vendor, has partnered with Avectra, a company that provides software tools for member-based organizations. The integration sees Avectra’s association management system, a tool to manage member information, contact details and event information, along with Intacct’s accounting functionality. The aim of this is for member based organizations to have a management tool that gives them end-to-end control within their organization.
Specific benefits that this sort of integration can bring include:
While the particular details of this integration are likely to only be interesting to people with an involvement in a member-based organization, it is a great example of two distinct applications doing the heavy lifting and producing a highly tailored combined application.
Chris Anderson’s oft-quoted “long tail” theory discussed the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities. Cloud computing is the enabler that will allow vendors to meet the needs of long tail end users, more quickly, more easily, and more successfully than in a disconnected world.
