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IRIS builds early lead in IT Zone practice software survey

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25th Dec 2005
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The race is on between specialist tax and practice software developers to gain the biggest and most satisfied share of respondents in our regular IT Zone survey.

Since 2002, we have asked respondents each spring about the practice software they use and how happy they are with it. With other sources of independent market research proving elusive, the informal IT Zone survey is hotly anticipated by developers and users as a barometer of the current state of the market.

Early returns from the first hundred or so respondents suggest that the long-running fight between "best of breed" and full-suite developers is tipping back towards the latter with growing representation from users of products from IRIS, CCH and Solution 6.

The real bare-knuckle fight is between Sage and IRIS, who cater for the largest number of respondents in our survey. In the current rankings, IRIS has bounced back to lead the overall practice software market after slipping behind Sage last year.

Sage entered the practice market with a series of acquisitions beginning in 1999 and including the developer of the ACT! contact management application. By 2003 Sage had pipped IRIS for top spot in the IT Zone practice software rankings. Since last year Sage may have shed a few users among the IT Zone community as it rationalised its practice product portfolio.

But the race isn't over yet - the survey will remain live throughout March, which is one of the most active shopping periods for tax, accounts production and practice management software.

Around 60% of respondents so far work in practice, and in common with their business counterparts, they are more willing to consider technology investments now than they were a year ago. Nearly a half of the early respondents (46%) indicated an interest in buying tax software - twice as many as this time last year.

CCH Taxpoint claimed the largest number of users (18%) among early respondents, followed by IRIS (12%) and Solution 6 PerTax (11%). Last year "best of breed" developers improved their showing compared to 2002, but have slipped back this spring to a trailing pack that includes Drummohr (8%), PTP (7%) and Digita (6%).

IRIS leads the field in accounts production with a 15% share of the respondents, followed closely by Viztopia Accounts Production (14%), VT Final Accounts (14%) and Sage Accounts Production Advanced (12%). In-house designed spreadsheets are still the most popular tool, but with a current level of 17% of respondents, the DIY community is slowly succumbing to the attractions of professionally developed and supported systems.

Nearly 40% of firms report using Microsoft Office applications (and 2% Sage's ACT!) for practice management activities, with APS Advance (13%) and IRIS leading the way for specialist developers. Demand for for these productivity tools remains tepid, with only 29% of respondents expressing any intention of buying in the next 12 months.

Do the early findings reflect your practice software experiences? Take part in the IT Zone survey now to help us track what's really happening. Full details of the results will be published online during April.

Related articles
2003 Results: Best of breed players fight back
2002 Results: What happens in practice

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