Softworld Q&A: Eduardo Loigorri, Exchequer Software
Exchequer Software co-founder and managing director Eduardo Loigorri looks forward to a new release of the company's Enterprise application and describes the company's pioneering approach to Excel-based management reporting.
As we approach Softworld Accounting & Finance what issues are bothering your customers and prospects?
The most common issue our prospects are raising at the moment is how to improve the analysis they receive from their reports. Typically when a prospect sees how Exchequer Enterprise links dynamically with Excel their decision is usually in our favour. Whilst we specialise in a broad range of vertical markets and have focused our development on using technology to deliver time-saving benefits, we have always focused on providing business software; Exchequer Enterprise goes a lot further than purely accounting software.
What will you focus on in your Softworld seminars and on your stand?
At Softworld Accounting & Finance we will be launching our Virtual Accounts Office (VAO), a new accounting service which provides an outsourced back office finance department for SME and Mid-tier clients of accountancy firms. VAO service enables accountancy practices to offer a value-added service to clients whilst also creating a new revenue stream for accountancy firms. We will also be focusing on VAO in our daily seminars at 12pm in room AFS17. Attendees will be able to learn about the VAO's comprehensive range of services for growing companies who want the benefits of complete Management Accounting without a full time employee.
Many users are frustrated with the quality of management information they get out of their transactional systems and are looking for tools to improve analysis and reporting. Have you identified this need among your target customers - and if so, how are you addressing it?
We have seen customers' needs to gain quality management information rise recently, in particular amongst SME customers. They still consider the production of management reports to be a time-consuming and costly operation, which leaves many business managers struggling to access and analyse the information they need from their finance system. Our own research has found that 80% of SMEs have to spend hours producing meaningful management reports, whilst 67% of respondents said they would like the ability to be able to produce these reports within Microsoft Excel.
To address this need we will be previewing the latest version of Exchequer Enterprise, Version 5.61 at Softworld Accounting & Finance. The reporting capabilities within this version build on our integration with Excel, which we have been pioneering since the launch of Exchequer Enterprise in 1996. The new release lets end users to effortlessly and accurately create dynamically linked Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
Our latest Report Writer module allows users to compile reports with an easy to use format. The eradication of complex rules and conditions in the Report Writer module also enables users to produce daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports. In addition to this our Sentimail alerts technology allows users to schedule standard reports to be compiled and distributed automatically, enabling users to create up-to-the-minute reports, which have the flexibility to be used for budgeting, forecasting, cash-flow analysis, consolidations and financial modelling.
What kind of return on investment can customers expect from your latest product offerings - and can you quantify them?
We believe that Exchequer Enterprise has more ways to save companies time and money than any other product at the show. For example one of our customers, fragrance manufacturer Claremont & May, is making annual savings of £5,000 by using the Paperless module in Exchequer Enterprise, and has improved productivity and accuracy by 50%. In fact they feel that they have made more progress in the two weeks they used Exchequer Enterprise than they did in the two years they used Great Plains for this. Previously a biannual price change on thousands of Claremont & May products, incorporating a variety of different pricing structures across lots of different countries, had taken 70 man-hours to complete. Using Exchequer Enterprise this process has become completely automated, resulting in a 90% time saving. Ultimately Claremont & May feel the software will more than pay for itself within 12 months.
To support this, Jason Wyles, finance manager at Perfect Bore, a manufacturer of boring equipment including cylinder liners and pistons for the motor sport industry found Exchequer Enterprise's report writing functionality enables the organisation to close its month end within a single day, whereas previously this used to take two days. These examples demonstrate some real measurable benefits that Exchequer Enterprise can offer. In addition to this Exchequer Software can show what Return on Investment (ROI) customers can expect to receive with a specially designed ROI calculator, available on a free presentation CD, on our corporate webpage www.exchequer.com.
Many analysts and commentators have identified Microsoft's .NET architecture and the idea of applications which interoperate via the Web (Web services) as potentially disruptive technologies ' what is your attitude?
There is a lot of confusion surrounding what constitutes .NET as Microsoft has pretty much labelled anything that moves as .NET. So it's important to identify the parts which we feel genuinely break new ground. The .NET application framework, which incorporates technologies like the new Avalon user interface technology, are set to mark a dramatic departure from the current 32-bit Windows. In our opinion the advent of Longhorn, which will embody most of .NET, will be as dramatically significant as the jump from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95.
Although we don't agree with the pace of change that Microsoft is setting, we do agree with its development of technology and firmly support these aspects of .NET. The suitability of interoperability with Web services is largely irrelevant as long as you apply those technologies to matching requirements. Disruption only occurs if Web technologies are used inappropriately, but that is also true of any technology deployed incorrectly.
Do you think the market will continue to consolidate into fewer and fewer large developers, or is there still room for smaller players?
Exchequer Software have always considered themselves the BMW of the mid-range accounting software market, and just like BMW there will always be room for high quality products such as Exchequer Enterprise aimed at discerning buyers who have identified the choice of financial management system as a key ingredient to the continuing growth and success of their businesses.
For more information about Exchequer Software and its Enterprise accounting applications, visit the developer's corporate partner page on AccountingWEB.co.uk.
