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Relate launches DRIVE into UK practice market

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5th Dec 2007
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Dublin-based practice software house Relate is expanding into the UK to boost sales of its DRIVE practice management suite. John Stokdyk reports

Claiming to have gained a 40% share of its home market, Relate wants to do the same in the UK, which director Ian Lucie describes as "very static" at the moment due to the dominant influence of Sage and IRIS.

"There are so few new entrants because it means competing with Sage and IRIS, which have approximately 70% of the market. But we've come up against Sage in Northern Ireland and picked off a lot of software sales from them. Our intention is to do the same in the UK."

Relate opened an office in Scotland at the beginning of the year and has taken on several new people to create a local sales infrastructure. "The nature of practice software is you have to knock on doors and show them the product," Lucey said. He added that Relate will continue to work in tandem with its Oldham-based partner Keytime, which has its own customer base.

The UK campaign has included a series of roadshows in November and early December, and Relate is increasingly turning to online seminars to demonstrate its product.

According to Lucey, British accountants have been receptive to Relate's philosophy of a unified practice management program. "The firms we talk to typically have five or six programs and want to standardise. If they take on a new client, they have to put the details into lots of different databases. With DRIVE, we're dropping that right down.

"A lot of suppliers abuse the term 'integration' when they're really talking about tax and accounts production. We see compliance applications as commodity products, while our mission is to cut down admin in your practice. When people use DRIVE, they're buying into the concept of one program that will do everything."

Another area where Relate is keen to differentiate itself from UK practice suppliers is around client relationship management - another phrase that in Lucie's words is "bandied around marketplace".

The cost of DRIVE is based around the number of staff within the practice and can start from £2,100 for a complete package incorporating DRIVE, time & billing and CRM (or £3,000 if accounts production is included). For larger firms, the average UK practice would pay between £550 and £1000 per staff member depending on which modules and programs they used, Lucey said.

More information on DRIVE is available from the Relate website and Keytime's partner page on AccountingWEB.

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