We are getting excited by accounts systems!! Sad, but true. We have not been so keen on this subject since the mid 1980s.
Back in the early days of personal computers, businesses saw the benefits of having a computerised accounts system on their office computer. The benefits of inputting the data as you get it. being able to get regular Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports.
Back in those heady days the main contender in the PC market was Pegasus, a very professional but quite expensive package; and then came Sage.
Over the years Sage have become the de facto industry leader in the UK, but they do have an issue. Their product only works on Windows machines. Their support costs are high for many small businesses. Their latest offering has problems on domain based networks due to folder access rights.
So what might the alternative be? We think we might have found a good alternative to Sage. Accountz offers an easy to use suite of business products, Basic, Professional, Enterprise. These products run cross platform, which means you can access and update the data from any computer that runs either Windows, Linux, MAC.
We installed the product on a Ubuntu Linux computer, transferred the data files to our Windows 2003 domain server, accessed and updated the data from a Windows Vista workstation. We could then operate the system from either our Vista workstation of the Linux one depending on our whim.
Why does this get us excited?
It means at last that we can offer lower cost solutions to small businesses. Linux comes free of charge. Ubuntu Linux runs straight out of the box.
If any of this is of interest to you then call us (UK only) on 01268 548636 to discuss your needs.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Spoof and Spam emails from hillierconsultants.com
We have a number of email addresses that are used to receive mail only - they do not send mail.
If you have received mail from any of the following email accounts, upgrades, repairs, sales, print, systems and office followed by @hillierconsultants.com please delete them. They did not originate from our servers or anyone in our organisation.
Apologies for any inconvenience it may have caused.
We do not understand the mentality of people who misuse the internet in this way.
If you have received mail from any of the following email accounts, upgrades, repairs, sales, print, systems and office followed by @hillierconsultants.com please delete them. They did not originate from our servers or anyone in our organisation.
Apologies for any inconvenience it may have caused.
We do not understand the mentality of people who misuse the internet in this way.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Accounts systems
Are you an accounts user? Are you locked into Sage? Are you paying high levels of support? Are you looking for accounts packages on non-windows platforms?
We have recently been investigating alternatives to the Sage Accounts programs. Not the we have anything against Sage as such. As a business system it does the business. The support desk in UK based and they have a lot going for them.
But what alternatives are there? Well, there is TAS books but that is now part of the Sage empire and we suspect product convergence over time. There is quick books but we know of no business using that system.
We have however recently investigated two particular alternatives.
The first, Accountz, is based on an installed program which runs on Windows, Linux and Mac systems. We have tested this out in the single user version. We tried to test to destruction. We created the data on an Ubuntu Linux system. We then copied the files across the network onto a Windows 2003 server mapped drive. We then installed to product onto a Vista computer and were able to access the data on either the Vista or Ubuntu system. It worked! This makes it very interesting from a Linux point of view - a topic we will return to in another blog.
The second, Kashflow, is a web based accounts system. There are no programs to use, simply use your favourite web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera) and you are away. The data is stored on the companies London based web server and mirrored to a backup server. Because of this the program is available on both Windows and Linux platforms, which makes it equally interesting to us as Linux users.
Both systems have a respectable UK installed user base.
For further details of this visit our website www.hillierconsultants.com or phone (UK only) 01268 548636 or email sales at our office.
We have recently been investigating alternatives to the Sage Accounts programs. Not the we have anything against Sage as such. As a business system it does the business. The support desk in UK based and they have a lot going for them.
But what alternatives are there? Well, there is TAS books but that is now part of the Sage empire and we suspect product convergence over time. There is quick books but we know of no business using that system.
We have however recently investigated two particular alternatives.
The first, Accountz, is based on an installed program which runs on Windows, Linux and Mac systems. We have tested this out in the single user version. We tried to test to destruction. We created the data on an Ubuntu Linux system. We then copied the files across the network onto a Windows 2003 server mapped drive. We then installed to product onto a Vista computer and were able to access the data on either the Vista or Ubuntu system. It worked! This makes it very interesting from a Linux point of view - a topic we will return to in another blog.
The second, Kashflow, is a web based accounts system. There are no programs to use, simply use your favourite web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera) and you are away. The data is stored on the companies London based web server and mirrored to a backup server. Because of this the program is available on both Windows and Linux platforms, which makes it equally interesting to us as Linux users.
Both systems have a respectable UK installed user base.
For further details of this visit our website www.hillierconsultants.com or phone (UK only) 01268 548636 or email sales at our office.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
SMEs that continue to invest likely to last.
We found this report by Simon Quicke in the 'Microscope' trade magazine, 8th December 2008.
It might seem like an odd source of research into the small business market but headset specialist Plantronics has reported that a Super SME is set to emerge to beat the downturn.
The emergence of those small companies that have invested in infrastructure, staff training and marketing are best placed to survive the recession.
Most of the SMEs that were surveyed revealed that they had been feeling the downturn for quite a while but only 22% said that the impact have been significant.
“During times of economic uncertainty SMEs tend to view investment in IT, staff training and marketing as luxuries instead of necessities,” Says Paul Clark, General Manager, Plantronics.
“This research shows Super SMEs bucking convention and investing wisely in some or all of these areas are the most confident about the future and better placed to operate in the changing marketplace,” he added. Last week the Chartered Institute of Marketing revealed that a portion of its members were worried about what next year holds and whether or not they would be able to hold onto their jobs.
It might seem like an odd source of research into the small business market but headset specialist Plantronics has reported that a Super SME is set to emerge to beat the downturn.
The emergence of those small companies that have invested in infrastructure, staff training and marketing are best placed to survive the recession.
Most of the SMEs that were surveyed revealed that they had been feeling the downturn for quite a while but only 22% said that the impact have been significant.
“During times of economic uncertainty SMEs tend to view investment in IT, staff training and marketing as luxuries instead of necessities,” Says Paul Clark, General Manager, Plantronics.
“This research shows Super SMEs bucking convention and investing wisely in some or all of these areas are the most confident about the future and better placed to operate in the changing marketplace,” he added. Last week the Chartered Institute of Marketing revealed that a portion of its members were worried about what next year holds and whether or not they would be able to hold onto their jobs.
Monday, 19 January 2009
Another Norton DOS attack
Another machine brought in with out of date Norton 360 security resulting in no access to the internet via Internet Exporer.
Norton and other Anti malware programs should be preventing Denial of Service (DOS) attacks not causing them.
Hopefully someone in Symantec might read this Blog and decide they need to do something about this problem.
See my earlier Blog for more details.
Norton and other Anti malware programs should be preventing Denial of Service (DOS) attacks not causing them.
Hopefully someone in Symantec might read this Blog and decide they need to do something about this problem.
See my earlier Blog for more details.
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