I Hated Computers

Back in the day I hated computers. 'Back in the day' needs some perspective. For at least 3 and a half of my 4.2 decades, I hated computers. For all of that time I could not differentiate between hardware and software (and just what is middleware? Is it like knitwear for the midriff or the middle-aged or both?), it was all just computers.  A conspiracy by those that didn't get out much (at all) against those of us that did!


More perspective:- just as I was leaving the massive comprehensive school I attended, as a disaffected ex-mooted-OxBridge candidate (if there is such a thing), there was a rumour that there was a computer in one of the science labs. But, I never saw it. 


Shortly after leaving said school I had a mate who convinced me to burn the midnight oil playing 'games' on a Sinclair Spectrum for about 18 months - what was all that about? It would be many years later that I would confront computers in a relentless and fruitless battle of wills that would render me consistently questioning my supposed intellect. Apparently me and the mythical two short planks were 'like that'!


Wind forward to my mid-twenties and I've finished aimlessly wandering the globe (avoiding computers because I hated them). I get a small business (a taxi thing) and the conspiracy being what it was I was forced to give away a bunch of my hard earned to someone who could use computers - he was called something like 'a cu...count, er, no, annacon, got it, an accountant! Not to be confused with the modern definition of the word; a customer-focused, free-thinking and forward-thinking individual who wants to do his very best for his clients.


I only spoke to this guy at about the same time each year. With hindsight I imagine cos the rest of the year he was living the life of riley at the expense of a numpty he knew. The privilege of having this guys phone number was pretty darn expensive. Pretty much my biggest outgoing each and every year. But, I paid him because:- 

• he saved me money! 
• he kept me in the good books of HMRC and all that 
• he used computers

So that's two things that computers had taught me:-

1. I'm thick
2. I'm worthless
3. Saving money is bloody expensive 

OK, that's 3 but hey, I'm thick! Remember?

A few years later. I've moved town. I've got married. Work is cool. Though opportunities are limited cos I'm stoopid and computers are ubiquitous. I've even got one of the bloody things in the corner of the living room: where it sits mocking me. I'd lost yet another of those fruitless battle of wills. Sometimes my wife would do something with it; conjure up a CV or write my name in pretty graphics maybe. Sometimes friends would come round and sit on the PC and 'play' Flight Simulator all night while they drank my beer. Oh those were the days!

Then scroll forward a couple more years and BANG. It hits me. My eureka moment if you will. 


So what changed? What happened? How could such a negative, ungiving relationship turn on its head? How? Why? 


Suspense killing you? You won't have to wait too long. 

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Myths Debunked While-You-Wait

'Cloud Accounting for the 21st Century – Debunking the Myths' was the name given to the seminar I was at last Thursday (22/9). A conference room in Kings Cross was filled by over 50 (my guesstimate) guests of Cloud Advocates, a new consultancy offering from the co-joined minds of Richard Messik & David Terrar respectively. 


Both guys are equally well-respected and experienced as advocates of the cloud (see what I've/they've done there?) with successful consultancies already, so one could argue that CA is a natural and logical progression. If you're interested in what these guys do behind each others backs you can click here and here :)


I landed half-way through what turned out to be quite an interesting and positive discussion, featuring key users of Twinfield, Xero and E-conomic respectively on 'using cloud accounting in practice'. Grabbing the only spare seat I could see at the back of the room, I quickly realised this was where the collected vendor reps were encamped. Great to see some friendly faces, to meet one or 2 others - where only emails/phone calls/tweets had been exchanged previously - and also to be introduced to other new interesting contacts of course.


The point of such an event (and CA of course) is to put across the very real benefits of cloud computing to those who will really benefit from it, in plain English, free of techie jargon. This is very much dear to my own heart, coming as I do from a distinctly non IT/software background. As David Terrar put it on the day, 'I've not been tarnished by the software industry'! - not yet David, not yet!!


I've long been aware that the software industry stands guilty as charged of talking over the heads of potential users, patronising them and being condescending in general - having been a victim myself. I also know that on occasions cloud co's can lapse into jargon if unchecked. But, TBH the more successful SaaS co's rarely do. This is not a coincidence. 


Unfortunately I missed Dennis Howlett's presentation via Skype early on. I understand it had a surrealist air to it so a shame I missed that! I at last got to see Mark Lee present, which was an interesting surprise as I didn't expect him to be the 'anti social media guru', which was refreshing and a relief. I don't think the irony of his relentless self-publicity (about half the slides featured 'where to find Mark Lee'!) was lost on anyone however, but maybe that's the point? Nice work if you can get it.


To prove a point, on more than one occasion I've suggested the tearing down of a Facebook page (for example). Purely because it was not being administered...at all! A blank Facebook page has a much more negative effect than no Facebook page IMHO. The same goes for Twitter and the rest of them. No-one can argue the benefits of social media when one gets it right. But one must have both the resources and the vision, i.e. joined-up and with a goal. Of course it will evolve and grow etc. But, otherwise don't bother. BTW - I know what it's like not be cool too - I work with techies.


All in all, it was a good event. If I sound surprised it's because, I have found most similar events tedious and/or hard-work TBH. Not all, but most. Without a doubt there is a need to for this sort of event, especially well put-together and well managed events such as this. Including a tight focus and a good mix - maybe 90/10 or 80/20, with a vendor minority and the majority a mix of significant partners and users conveying their experiences and success stories that highlight the benefits much better than the vendors could do themselves. And genuinely interested potential users of course.


I think a maturing on my part may have some part to play in my appreciation of the event. Hence when a discussion got hijacked by the security red herring question for 5 minutes, I didn't storm out the room or start slamming my head against the wall. I simply took a deep breathe, just like the rest of the room. Likewise, when the days most surreal event took place - a short presentation by a desktop virtualisation provider (yes, you read it right) - I simply opened up my Twitter client, like the rest of the room. Yep. I'm getting  old alright;)


I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of virtualisation here, but I did get to wondering 'when is a SaaS provider, not a SaaS provider and vice versa?'


A big thank you to all in involved. MyPAYE certainly appreciated the love in the room! 


Other coverage:-
http://camroseconsulting.co.uk/2011/09/put-your-head-in-the-cloud-but-keep-your-feet-on-the-ground/
http://www.slideshare.net/david_terrar/cloud-accounting-for-the-21st-century
http://cloudadvocates.com/cloudaccounting21
http://cloudadvocates.com/_m1696/the-cloud-advocates-blogs/The-Cloud--Debunking-the-myths
http://cloudadvocates.com/_m1696/the-cloud-advocates-blogs/Social-Media-for-accountants--my-take
http://www.accmanpro.com/2011/09/22/debunking-myths/


If I've missed any please add them in the comments.


Thanks to Kevin McCullum (FreeAgent) for the title, inadvertently provided via Twitter (I would have thought of it anyway:)

Loadsamoney for FreeAgent

FreeAgent have just announced significant funding of  "£2.25 million"! Firstly, congratulations to the whole team for obtaining the major component required to                           move on to the next level. 


For anybody not in the know (where have you been?), FreeAgent are having it out with KashFlow as the front-runners in the UK's SaaS accounting vendor scene! The other major player in the top division being the New Zealand based, Xero. Between them all, they lay claim to over 30K paying users in the UK and they leave a decent sized gap between them and the next tier of baying competitors. 


Let's be clear, that this is the distinct sector of SaaS, small business accounting whereby anyone even thinking about going into business can access their back-office functions at entry-level (read: next-to-nothing) pricing. As the FreeAgent press announcement trumpets - this is the democratisation of accounting software. What all these guys have proved is that there is real business to be had from this previously neglected customer-base, for a well put-together, targeted offering.


I believe this sector to be most interesting and very important as it signposts the cultural revolution in software for small business. From the typically resource intensive, resented imposition of product by a typically arrogant software industry into an incredibly easy to access and use, supportive, service provision. This alone highlights why the traditional software incumbents are scrambling to find a response to the new wave of dedicated SaaS vendors. They are software companies - the SaaS vendors are service providers!


But let's be equally clear, this is still relatively early days. The FreeAgent investment is not on the scale of a Facebook announcement for example! (I mean FreeAgent sells stuff ;-) However, I do believe it will be, ultimately no less important. Ultimately, every start-up business will get it's accounting software in much the same way as it's other commodities, enabling not just the Facebook's of tomorrow, but also your local plumber et al.


While there is little doubt that most of the accumulated SaaS numbers are coming from Sage's traditional fresh meat market. At this stage in the game their established user base still leaves supposed competitors in their wake. A couple of years ago, I was saying "don't believe the SaaS hype. By far the majority of potential customers are not even aware of an alternative to Sage, let alone a SaaS alternative". Hence the readiness to engage with any productive channel and the need to explore every other - get the word out! 


We were at and still are at, the awareness stage: education, education, education. This situation has not changed to any significant degree. I could point to many significant deals from any player to prove my point, but it seems right that I use this fairly recent announcement from FreeAgent about their arrangement with Barclays and then this subsequent post about numbers (which they've acknowledged was strongly influenced by the Barclays deal) to demonstrate my point.


So it's a land-grab scenario. That's why any (in-vain) attempt at competition from the big boys (SageOne anyone?) is warmly received by all as market validation. Likewise significant investment stories like the FreeAgent story. Any SaaS announcement is good PR for all...and they all get it. That's why most of the guys in the space get on, everyone's in it together. Game-changing doesn't have to be a lonely pursuit (of course, like all families, there is the odd black sheep). That's why when announcements like this one surface, the immediate 'competition' are usually first up with the back-slapping. 'Let's go get the big boys'! 


Finally, I just want to draw attention to both what sets the front-runners aside from the also-rans and the front-runners aside from the other front-runners. A source of fascination for the commentators/observers/analysts and other geeks (I included) is the different funding models that each of 3 big players have utilised. Another differentiator has been marketing strategies and brand-building. I could go on. Each has gone about this in different ways; they each have distinct and different identities. But all are successful...until now at least. I hope to explore all of these elements in the not too distant future.


I know the FreeAgent guys are good guys doing a great job. They've truly earnt their success up til now and their clear vision and disciplined, sense-of-purpose will likely carry them all the way.


Congratulations and all the very best to Ed and the FreeAgent crew.

Clear Books Spotted with Foot in Mouth

Previously I had hinted that I intend to dig a little deeper into Clear Books, along with Liberty Accounts and LiquidAccounts. The reason - each had swum against the tide of their 'competitors' by deciding to build their own integrated payroll modules. A not insignificant undertaking for a 'start-up' accounting vendor with minimal resources, minimal paying users and with so many other sexy, unique, differentiating features that they could be focusing on instead and, I would argue, a foolhardy undertaking. Reasoning I feel that is backed up by the main players in this space who do not entertain wasting their precious resources on something that would be nothing more than a distraction from their core competency and pretty pointless, as they have willing partners who already do it fantastically well. I hope to follow-up soon with analysis on what I see as a classic case of throwing technology at the problem of not getting the rate of market traction expected. History shows that the winner is rarely the most bells and whistles - in small biz SaaS I can guarantee that's the case.


Anyhoo, I digress. The screenshot above is from a post that appeared briefly on the Clear Books blog on Wednesday evening. It got pulled pretty quickly once the belly laughs of pundits began to reverberate around the planet, i.e. the guys at the SalesForce gig in San Francisco got involved on Twitter. Kind of ironic as the annual Benioff sales-pitch is probably the biggest 'SaaS'/cloud gathering on the planet, i.e. a good place to embarrass yourself.


Unfortunately Clear Books have got some form for this sort of thing. TBH, Clear Books would make an ideal case-study on how not to take a 'secure', online small business accounting app to market. Tempting though it is to catalogue these disasters here, I shan't. Restraint and all that. Hey we all make mistakes right? It's not like I'm holier than thou - no Pearly Gates for me I expect. Actually I just can' t be bothered. Maybe later!


Just to be clear the above post is a Comparison chart, where they seem to have Googled every online accounting product they could find, proceeded to list them and then proceeded to claim that none of them have any features whereas Clear Books does absolutely everything bar make you a coffee in the morning - though that's probably on a road-map somewhere!


This is the sort of thing that identifies those that don't get it. With a huge land-grab going on  from ignorant, cumbersome incumbents. Where Sage producing a 'SaaS' type offering that works for a change, validates your sector who do you go after? I can only presume they've got confused and think they are one of the global CRM vendors who expect to have mud thrown and hurl it back with glee. Probably be a patent suit next against someone for using the term 'invoice' or similar. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear.


But it's also that subtle messaging thing. Your users and potential users and lots of other vociferous observers have inbuilt bullshit detectors. All your good work - and Clear Books is a good product - is undone in an instant. To be Clear, it's not the best product who wins, but the most loved. My concern is that the foot was just first course before Clear Books proceeds to eat itself.

Ian Hendry – RIP

Before proceeding any further with SaaSintheUK I must pause to reflect on the passing of Ian Hendry. Like many others I knew Ian as the CEO & Founder of WeCanDo.BIZ. Unlike many others I hadn’t known him for very long and didn’t know him very well. And the meeting we intended will now never happen. Something suggested during our last telephone conversation, probably 2 months ago. Ian had just returned from an impromptu holiday, full of ideas for WCDB and excitement at finalising some major deals he’d been working on. I recall some mention of sickness, but thought no more of it, until the shock announcement a couple of weeks ago, that he’d “passed away after a short illness”! Suffice to say this was a major shock.

Our paths crossed because of my brief flirtation with cloud CRM. Ian belonged to that rare group of industry veterans; brought up in the old school software ways and acutely aware that there was no place for it in the modern world: that the traditional ways of doing software and in particular CRM, just don’t cut it, but that also understands that those humble enough to admit this and why, to learn from the mistakes of the past etc, have a helluva lot to give in ‘the brave new SaaS world’. Not only that (to qualify for that ‘rare group’), he was prepared to give industry non-veterans - who are only involved because the ‘brave new world’ is far more relevant - the time of day.

That very first telephone conversation, less than a year ago, was the best part of 2 hours. There would be a handful more of similar duration up until the last time we spoke. For no other reason than that he was just very easy to talk to and a genuine nice guy. He appreciated the viewpoint of someone who had no real interest in software as was, only in software as is and as it might be and will be. When his name appeared on your caller ID, you really didn’t mind cutting into your working day either when he called out of the blue, chatting, gossiping and shooting the breeze, as well as the nitty gritty; and it passed so quickly. I would not be surprised to hear that others had similar experiences and a similar view.

Receiving the news was a real slap in the face. It’s a stark reminder of life’s fundamentals that one easily forgets. They say its life’s only guarantee along with taxes. It’s also true the greater the role death plays in one’s life as one ages – like a mathematical equation. It’s a cliché, but it really does make you take stock.

Ian had put considerable effort and resources into WeCanDo.Biz, along with his biz partner, Chris Butler, focusing hard on providing a social business network that provides tangible benefits. They have a loyal customer core in a very competitive space. The challenges I don’t envy. This is going to be a hard fought arena over the coming years. The irony being that he won’t be around to see the future success after putting in the hard yards. If you’ve felt frustration at the lack of tangible benefits provided by many of the networks please do check out WeCanDo.BIZ.

Likewise he won’t be around to see me get SaaSintheUK out of the door, rather than just talking about it. He was aware of my plans and he’d appreciate that I’ve actually done it at last. One’s time is finite. Leaving things to tomorrow is not the best strategy. With that in mind I dedicate this to Ian’s memory.

I know Ian had plenty of closer friends than I, far more qualified to comment on this sad news, but I could not let it pass.

To all those who were close to Ian and especially his close family who must be feeling his loss deeply, our heartfelt condolences.