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| October 24, 2001 |
ACCOUNTING TODAY - Resellers See E-Comm Services Demand on Horizon |
The technology service ground force serving America's middle market-- accounting software resellers and consultants -- have a growing sense that the explosion in electronic commerce and Internet-delivered services that failed to happen thus far in the 21st century may be just months away.
Leading resellers for the top accounting software applications designed for small and mid-sized businesses overwhelmingly expect their electronic commerce-related work in 2002 to increase from 2001 levels, according to a preliminary review of research for Accounting Today's forthcoming annual Technology Pacesetters report. That study includes thumbnail sketches of more than 75 of accounting software's top reseller firms and insights from their executives.
The Pacesetter executives sense an e-commerce surge because the products have become more clearly defined, and users are more aware of them. "We're past the stage of early adopters and moving toward a more mature market," said Peter Kaufman, chief executive of Dynamic Software, a $2 million-a-year reseller based in Miami. Kaufman is part of a vast majority of Pacesetters who expect big e-comm gains in 2002 after a 2001 in which expected business from that sector never materialized.
Doug Weintraub, head of Centerprise Information Solutions, the technology consulting operation of accounting industry consolidator Centerprise Advisors, said "E-commerce is becoming easier to implement and less expensive in comparison to the entire solution." Other Pacesetters noted that the crash of so many Internet start-ups a year ago undermined confidence in Internet technologies. But, the shock and the investment losses from those dot-com failures are beginning to fade from memory.
The Pacesetters' bullishness about e-commerce reflects a confidence that technology vendors and industry observers have been feeling for several months.
For example, at the AICPA technology conference in May, Doug Burgum founder of Great Plains and head of Microsoft Corp.'s Business Solutions group proclaimed that the death of many dot-coms and the slow start for e-commerce has merely set the stage for a an e-commerce explosion to come. "This is not the end -- not even the beginning of the end," he said. "but perhaps the end of the beginning."
More recently, International Data Corp., predicted that the total worldwide value of goods and services purchased by businesses through e-commerce solutions will catapult from $282 billion in 2000 to $4.3 trillion by 2005.
Kaufman may be an early beneficiary of that trend. His firm is handling a major e-commerce software implementation for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's central Florida operations.
-John M. Covaleski
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