What is this cloud thing?

NB: This article is quite an old one now - it's here for archival reasons, but probably still holds some value.

We know online based software very well, and the possibilities of delivering software online to many users. There is almost nothing that cannot be achieved with online software, contrary to the many limitations we hear from other developers. We'll cover some great examples of software as a service (SaaS) application, by our really innovative developers.

Accounting Online

While we don't use this ourselves (for inhouse reasons), Xero is a really great accounting package. It takes the hard work out of small business accounting, adds in daily bank fees, and a bunch of automation to make your job that much easier. Xero is a listed New Zealand company, and offers an API (application programming interface) making it easy to integrate with other systems (such as online stores, or ordering systems). www.xero.com

Collaboration for Business

We do a lot of work with Google Apps, a versatile service that integrates email with a calendar and documents. We use this for our business, because we are a growing team, and not all of us are based at the office, Google Apps allows us to sync our calendar with our mobiles, and get email on the go as well. We write some tools that are used in the enterprise space, to make Google Apps fit stringent security requirements, such as password synchronisation, this makes Google Apps much more functional with users managing multiple passwords. www.google.com/apps

Sales for Business

Sales is really where the rubber hits the road, but it's about the follow up service as well. Salesforce.com is an online CRM (Customer Relationship Management) package that helps businesses get a little more organised when it comes to interaction with clients. Salesforce.com has been in the CRM market since 1999 (one of the earliest SaaS vendors) and has support all over the world. www.salesforce.com

But what about security?

We get asked about this frequently. The three software vendors we've discussed take your privacy very seriously, and clearly document their security standards. It's now becoming more commonplace to do business online, and to use software that you don't need to install.

What other online based applications are there?

There are a number of great web applications, but they can take a while to find. We use Smart Payroll which makes processing payrolls a breeze. Smart Payroll is written by Datacom, a New Zealand company involved with a number of large companies such as NZPost. Smart Payroll looks after all your IRD returns for PAYE and makes the payments for you. Adding a new employee is as easy as filling in the boxes, and adjustments in the future are as easy as entering a new pay rate. www.smartpayroll.co.nz

Can you guys really write secure web applications?

Absolutely, we have written several internal web applications, and also wrote DreamCatcher, which is used by a number of schools nationally. Our CMS (content management system) is a good example of a web application. We customise our content management system to our clients' specific requirements. We have built an online quoting system for GlassArtNZ, an ordering system for Crest Commercial Cleaning, which is used by their franchisees nationwide. We are also in the process of writing a solution for one of our clients who is an Accountant, to help streamline his business processes for his customers. Give us a call to find out if we can help your business with a web application.

Posted on the 23rd of July, 2010, Written by Arron Edwards. Subscribe to our RSS Feed or our newsletter.

Share on