Sage Software Deliver a Christmas Turkey and Take a Stuffing

Dec. 20, 2008 - PRLog -- Despite only being publicly available for a few days, Sages new web-based accounting software, Sage Live, has been declared a “fundamentally flawed” flop by SMEs and accountants alike

Its existence was only revealed at the beginning of December on the blog of a company that already offers online accounting software. Going against the usual perception of big companies, Sage moved very quickly to respond to the speculation and brought forward the intended release date.

Sage briefed industry journalists and commentators in the first two weeks of December  and made the software available for public scrutiny on the 18th. The feedback from the first trialists came thick and fast – and not very friendly.

Predictably, one of the first to throw a punch was Duane Jackson, founder and Managing Director of KashFlow Software, the company that first revealed what Sage were up to.

KashFlow is a relatively young private company so you’d be forgiven if it’s a new name to you. They’re backed by the former Cable & Wireless Chairman, Lord Young of Graffham and have quietly been building a dominant position in a niche market, attracting praise from none other than Bill Gates as well as the beleaguered UK Chancellor, Alistair Darling.  A recent survey by Sift Media indicated that KashFlow have 70% of the UK market for web-based accounting software so will be the main competitor for Sages new offering.

Writing on his company blog, Jackson seems to think that the software giant has put too much effort into using the most recent technology and not enough effort into usability.

“It’s just fundamentally flawed.” writes Jackson, “In the main [other web-based accounting products] are intuitive and easy to use. Some use really flashy technology - but the technology doesn’t get in the way of the software. People who use KashFlow use it because it’s easy to use; the fact it’s web-based is incidental.”

Other more impartial users do tend to agree with Jackson. In a discussion published on the UK Business Forums, Dave Poole of accountancy firm Williams Lester said he is usually a “huge fan of Sage products” but was disappointed by the new product

”I didn't expect it to be this poor” said Poole.  “I was ready to throw the laptop out the window after 15 minutes of fighting with the Sage Live Billing. This is definitely one I will be avoiding”

Other disappointed potential customers included Tom McClelland of payroll software company 12Pay.

“It has all the hallmarks of being designed by graphic designers and web programming experts as opposed to people who actually think about what the processes involved in day to day use are. Very pretty and full of smart web tech, but not actually usable, I'm afraid”

It should be noted that the Sage Live product is still in its beta-testing phase, so it will be improved significantly before it is actively marketed and sold. However, the comments so far indicate that the problems with the software are so fundamental that they may not be resolvable.

Initially Jackson had said he was excited by Sage parking their tanks on his lawn, saying that it would help raise the profile of the entire web-based accounting software industry. His latest blog posting suggests the opposite.

“I'm sure there are some accountants and advisors out there who still haven't looked at web-based accounting yet. The offering from Sage may be the first they look at. I hope they then go on to look at other offerings too because if they thought this as the standard of what's available then it could put them off the whole concept of web-based accounting”