One of the accounting software industry's most eagerly awaited debuts took place at the Business Startup event in London last week when Sage previewed a pre-release version of its online Sage Live Cash product. John Stokdyk reports

The software as a service development and marketing team appeared on the Sage stand with a laptop running a version of the new system. Among those who had a look at the new application were BusinessZone.co.uk editor Dan Martin and Duane Jackson, managing director of the KashFlow online accounting system.

Unlike Sage's existing Sage 50 Online product, Sage Live departs from the traditional Sage 50 interface. As Jackson noted in a post on UK Business Forums [1], "The screens on this are very different to Sage 50 as it's designed for a different audience... A 'designed for the web' type application like this is very different to bending 50 to work over the web."

In more detailed blog post [2], Jackson quipped, "If it wasn’t for the Sage name in the top right-corner you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for the work of a cutting-edge Israeli start up."

Sage Live is the result of 18 months' work by a Newcastle-based team led by Clive Gray. The user-facing screens are a completely new design, he confirmed. But "Sage Live isn't just about producing a single application," Gray told AccountingWEB. "It's our way of addressing a new marketplace and new customers with a whole different offering."

The design principles behind Sage Live are all about simplicity, he continued. "We've taken a business management approach. The small business starting out needs to do certain things like raising quotes, issuing invoices, managing cash and suppliers. The number one thing people worry about is their cash position, so we make it very easy for them to get a cash position."

To support the initial Sage Live online accounting system, the company is creating a new web infrastructure containing forums, chat rooms and a "self-service" knowledge base. While the accounting portion of the Sage Live offering is "fairly close" being ready for public testing, the company is still working on the underlying infrastructure to make sure "the whole piece is joined up", Gray said.

Sage Live Cash users get what looks like a single-entry cashbook system, presented in an online portal containing a collection of widgets. "What you get a working interface which is broken down to money in, money out, and dealing with your banks," Gray said. "Below that you can open certain widgets such as quotations or billing and move them around in the working interface with as much screen space as you want. You can configure it the way you want."

The interface may be different, but the online program still relies on the existing Sage 50 accounting engine to post and store transactions. In a new departure for Sage, the Live system is based on the open source MySQL database.

"That's all behind the scenes," continued Gray. "The accountant will be able to export data straight into Client Manager to raise corrections and post them back in. If you do want to work with an accountant, you've got a nice, seamless interface that won't require the accountant to change way they work."

Having embraced the software as a service philosophy, the Sage Live team has gone as far as it can to exploit the opportunities of the Web 2.0 approach, Gray said. This means integration with Google Docs, so you can attach an online spreadsheet or text file to customers within Sage Live. The application also has built-in links to PayPal and Sage's own card processing system, ProtX.

The Sage Live mobile interface will make it possible to carry out a majority of the system's business processes using BlackBerry 8000 and 9000 series models. "It's a real-time, two-way link, not synching. You genuinely are able to create quotes and invoices on the system remotely."

Having been tested with customers behind doors, the product's outing to Business Startup was a demonstration that it is nearing the point where it will be ready for public beta testing, Gray said.

One thing that wasn't on show at Business Startup was Sage Live Billing, he revealed. This will be a free invoicing widget that will be used to attract customers to the online application.

"We believe the most important thing people can do is get an invoice out the door and get money back in," Gray said. "It's not massively difficult and we believe that by producing an easy to use system with an excellent user interface, backed by Sage, that we can get people to entertain the idea of using a Sage product. As soon as they need to go a step further and manage their cash position, we hope they will upgrade to Sage Live Cash. The trust is there and database is the same."

A price of £10 per user per month has been widely circulated - significantly cheaper than Kashflow and other entry-level online systems. But Gray refused to confirm it. "We won't just open the door and put a price on it," he said. "When we go into open beta, everything will be free for a time. Then we will set a price point."