DanMartin
5th November 2008, 11:34
http://www.businesszone.co.uk/images/ssa_awards.jpg
Small businesses took on the big players and won at the software industry's biggest annual awards shindig in London last Thursday.
More than 320 people gathered for a glittering ceremony at The Brewery in the City of London as the victorious companies in Sift Media's Software Satisfaction Awards were revealed.
Based solely on the opinions of end users, the scheme is unique in that the results are not decided by a judging panel. This year almost 6,000 members of BusinessZone.co.uk, AccountingWEB.co.uk, Finance Week, MyCustomer.com, Finance Week, HRZone.co.uk, TrainingZone.co.uk and UK Business Forums took part; double the number who participated in 2007.
The night's big stories were the victory of some of the software industry's small fry who fought off the challenge of the sector's giants and the dominance of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
Essex-based SME Kashflow was voted best small business accounting software, the awards' biggest single category in terms of voter numbers.
Duane Jackson, managing director of Kashflow, said his company's victory added of big players MYOB, Intuit and Sage demonstrates the increasing popularity of SaaS.
"I think a lot of accountants are buried in the past and tend to recommend products like Sage because it suits them rather than their clients," he told BusinessZone.co.uk. "But they are going to be in for a rude awakening during the next few years as more software-as-a-service products become more popular among their clients."
Jackson almost walked home with two trophies but he was beaten to second place in the closely-fought battle for the web hosted accounting and finance software prize by Liquid Accounts.
http://www.businesszone.co.uk/photolib/editorial/people120x120/314.jpg
Questioned on what he believed the increasing shift towards web-based system means for accounting software, the company's managing director Matt Holmes said: "If you're providing desktop applications, you're going to be left out in the cold. As far as I'm concerned, if it's not online it's not a piece of software."
Also celebrating on the night was Profile Technology Services (PTS) which claimed the reseller of the year trohpy. With the credit crunch on the mind of many attendees at the awards, PTS' Mike Judd said it was a chance for the good companies to stand out from the crowd.
"The downturn means you've got to seek to differentiate your business in terms of customer service from your competitors," he said. "Ensure you don't lose custom by not taking care of your customers."
Among the other small firms leaving with a top prize was Practice Net which scooped the paperless office title. A surprised Dale Rogers, managing director of the Cardiff-based company, told BusinessZone.co.uk he was "amazed" to win. "The award means a lot to us because we're a small company competing against much bigger players," he added. "We can now promote our victory to drive up customer numbers."
http://www.businesszone.co.uk/photolib/editorial/people120x120/315.jpg
During the awards ceremony, the audience was entertained by former Conservative MP and after dinner speaker extraordinaire David Mellor. At one during his speech, Mellor broke off from the one liners to stress that even in the current hard economic times, the software industry is a good example of companies which have used customer interaction to drive innovation.
To view the full list of winners and images from the awards ceremony, visit the Sofware Satisfaction Awards website (http://www.softwaresatisfaction.co.uk/).
Offline Media Partners – Accountancy Magazine (http://www.accountancymagazine.co.uk/)
Small businesses took on the big players and won at the software industry's biggest annual awards shindig in London last Thursday.
More than 320 people gathered for a glittering ceremony at The Brewery in the City of London as the victorious companies in Sift Media's Software Satisfaction Awards were revealed.
Based solely on the opinions of end users, the scheme is unique in that the results are not decided by a judging panel. This year almost 6,000 members of BusinessZone.co.uk, AccountingWEB.co.uk, Finance Week, MyCustomer.com, Finance Week, HRZone.co.uk, TrainingZone.co.uk and UK Business Forums took part; double the number who participated in 2007.
The night's big stories were the victory of some of the software industry's small fry who fought off the challenge of the sector's giants and the dominance of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
Essex-based SME Kashflow was voted best small business accounting software, the awards' biggest single category in terms of voter numbers.
Duane Jackson, managing director of Kashflow, said his company's victory added of big players MYOB, Intuit and Sage demonstrates the increasing popularity of SaaS.
"I think a lot of accountants are buried in the past and tend to recommend products like Sage because it suits them rather than their clients," he told BusinessZone.co.uk. "But they are going to be in for a rude awakening during the next few years as more software-as-a-service products become more popular among their clients."
Jackson almost walked home with two trophies but he was beaten to second place in the closely-fought battle for the web hosted accounting and finance software prize by Liquid Accounts.
http://www.businesszone.co.uk/photolib/editorial/people120x120/314.jpg
Questioned on what he believed the increasing shift towards web-based system means for accounting software, the company's managing director Matt Holmes said: "If you're providing desktop applications, you're going to be left out in the cold. As far as I'm concerned, if it's not online it's not a piece of software."
Also celebrating on the night was Profile Technology Services (PTS) which claimed the reseller of the year trohpy. With the credit crunch on the mind of many attendees at the awards, PTS' Mike Judd said it was a chance for the good companies to stand out from the crowd.
"The downturn means you've got to seek to differentiate your business in terms of customer service from your competitors," he said. "Ensure you don't lose custom by not taking care of your customers."
Among the other small firms leaving with a top prize was Practice Net which scooped the paperless office title. A surprised Dale Rogers, managing director of the Cardiff-based company, told BusinessZone.co.uk he was "amazed" to win. "The award means a lot to us because we're a small company competing against much bigger players," he added. "We can now promote our victory to drive up customer numbers."
http://www.businesszone.co.uk/photolib/editorial/people120x120/315.jpg
During the awards ceremony, the audience was entertained by former Conservative MP and after dinner speaker extraordinaire David Mellor. At one during his speech, Mellor broke off from the one liners to stress that even in the current hard economic times, the software industry is a good example of companies which have used customer interaction to drive innovation.
To view the full list of winners and images from the awards ceremony, visit the Sofware Satisfaction Awards website (http://www.softwaresatisfaction.co.uk/).
Offline Media Partners – Accountancy Magazine (http://www.accountancymagazine.co.uk/)