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Challenges and outlook for Australian business applications in the cloud
Recently, Computerworld Australia, the face of Australian IT, published a range of videos regarding the "Australian Cloud", presented by prominent Australian IT identities.
In this blog post we present two selected videos, which we believe are worthwhile to be watched by business people interested in "Software as a Service" (SaaS) and the future of Cloud computing in Australia. Enjoy!
First video: Provides an overview of SaaS, the application side of Cloud computing, and its importance for Australian businesses.
Second video: Challenges and outlook Cloud computing is facing in Australia.
Disclaimer: RSDataWeb is a SaaS application for Australian accounting and advice businesses, developed and hosted in Australia.
Posted by Wolf Schumacher
Australian accounting firms move into the cloud to administer SMSFs
Today the leading Financial Standard publishing house released an article written by Wolf Schumacher, Director of RewardSuper, for the Journal of Financial Planning.
Wolf's article introduces its readers into cloud computing as applied to SMSF administration. It concludes with three case studies of RewardSuper client firms, that actively use RSDataWeb, its web based data automation & integration platform for the administration of Self managed superfunds and other transaction rich client structures.
Enjoy reading the article and please let us know what you think!
Posted by Wolf Schumacher
Salesforce's Marc Benioff interviewing Google's Eric Schmidt
The following is a great discussion between two of Cloud computing's most important leaders. Marc Benioff leads Salesforce, the first SaaS company, operating since 1999. Eric Schmidt is now the Chairman of Google.
This remarkable interview took place at the recent Dreamforce 2011 conference. Enjoy!
Posted by Wolf Schumacher
The Software-as-a-Service dilemma for incumbent software vendors
We live in interesting times. As a SaaS vendor we were wondering how incumbent non-SaaS software vendors in the Australian Financial Services market would react to the market's increasing orientation toward the web. Would they stay with desktop / on-premise solutions or start to move into the space?
Judging by recent announcements in the financial press and other comments both is happening, almost following the book about disruptive innovations by coveted Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen.
What some traditional software vendors might struggle with is that developing SaaS applications changes the rules of almost everything they were used to in the desktop / on-premise applications world. Required are much more powerful database management systems, different skill sets by a new breed of software developers, an "always on" mindset, a move away from six monthly releases to constantly updated solutions and multi-tenant implementations as opposed to single instance systems. These are only a few of the disruptive elements of the Software-as-a-Service world.
From its humble beginnings twenty years ago the web is a space of collaboration and electronic networking, not one of fiefdoms and power struggles. Long established software vendors who intend to play the web only by their own antiquated rules will eventually loose the battle for the customers. APIs and Web Services are connection technologies that exemplify true collaboration. They are not technologies that only belong to the big and powerful.
Let Australian Financial Services software be a space where true collaboration and innovation rule. Your customers will thank you.
The 2010 article below describes in more detail how SaaS is potentially affecting incumbent software vendors.
Posted by Wolf Schumacher
RSDataWeb - a SaaS Data Automation & Integration Platform
What exactly is SaaS?
Software-as-a-Service (short: SaaS) is a software application such as RSDataWeb residing in the Cloud that is licenced to users and accessed via the Internet as a service (source: Wikipedia http://bit.ly/icIpOS). Among the many advantages are scalability, reliability and the absence of system installation and maintenance, which are all included in the web-based service.
What is Data Automation?
RSDataWeb collects transaction data, reconciles and transfers them to various accounting systems. It does this without human intervention, which classifies it as an automated system. Humans instigate and supervise the automated processes and handle exceptions from automated business rules.
What is Data Integration?
RSDataWeb organises the process of feeding systems delivering required data into the system and also the process of how to get completed data out of the system into targeted accounting systems.
The level of integration is largely dependent upon the capabilities of the feeding and the target systems. RSDataWeb deals with incomplete and complete feeding and target systems in an organised way:
Complete systems are able to send through and/or receive data via so called web services, which allow machine-to-machine communication without any human intervention. Incomplete systems typically restrict their users to download / upload data files manually.
Two examples
RSDataWeb can handle both situations. For example Macquarie Bank organises their data feeds as a web service, which allows RSDataWeb to import the data daily without any human intervention.The Macquarie system moves the transaction data without any manual intervention directly into RSDataWeb, where they are subject to automated reconciliation procedures.
On the other hand, the well known Banklink service requires Accountants to download data to their computers, before they can be made available in RSDataWeb. Unfortunately there are no web services available from Banklink. Consequently their system requires the manual upload of the transaction files into RSDataWeb, where again they are subject to automated reconciliation procedures.
Pulling it all together in one Platform
RSDataWeb functions as a data preparation platform for Accounting and Advice firms. It allows for the automated integration with data sources and the automated export of completely coded transactions to Accounting packages.
Automation and Integration means there is no human intervention required other than downloading and uploading of data files in case of feeding and target systems not being on web services standards yet.
A system which requires source data to be manually amended (keyed in), is not an automated or integrated system.
These system are not capable to reach similar scalability, high data quality and low cost status as the completely automated & integrated RSDataWeb platform.
You can read more about RSDataWeb here: http://www.rewardsuper.com.au
Author: Wolf Schumacher
