Middle-Market vs. Enterprise Solutions
The move to client/server accounting has leveled the playing field somewhat between middle-market accounting packages and the more expensive, enterprise accounting systems. Now all sport the same user interface, Windows 3.x or 95, and the same relational database engines and server operating systems. Essentially, you cannot tell the difference between a middle-market system and an enterprise system because operationally they look the same and can run on the same platforms. Close connectivity to other Microsoft products such as the desktop Office suite is also a direction most vendors are taking, whether they sell enterprise or middle-market solutions.
The real difference between enterprise and middle-market accounting applications is in their respective functional breadth and depth or the cost and difficulty of implementing the solutions. Enterprise accounting solutions have traditionally offered more functional breadth and depth in the areas listed in Table 4.
Of course, this functional breadth and depth comes at a price (up to an order of magnitude, in fact) between the acquisition and implementation cost of enterprise compared to middle-market accounting software. And middle-market vendors are chipping away at all these functional areas. Many vendors now have basic multi-entity, multicurrency, and multinational functionality and easy-to-use customization tools. However, middle-market packages still lack breadth and depth in both supply chain and manufacturing functionality, and US middle-market packages are generally poorly represented overseas either by branch offices or by country-specific, third-party distribution and support channels.
Also, as partnering and the use of third-party technology and functional components increase, middle-market vendors have the same opportunities as enterprise vendors to quickly take advantage of new technology such as workflow, document management, and Internet connectivity without the deep R&D investment that only the well-funded enterprise vendors could afford in the past. This development means that middle-market accounting users can benefit from this technology at the same time or even before their enterprise counterparts. And perhaps middle-market benefits will cost less because middle-market vendors can sell a higher volume of solutions, reducing their third-party technology licensing costs.
The NT Accounting Slugfest
NT is shaking up both enterprise and middle-market accounting vendors, as the issues outlined in Table 5 suggest. The transition to client/server accounting has already proved traumatic for vendors from both the enterprise and middle-market segments. Enterprise vendors, such as Walker Interactive and Ross Systems, and middle-market vendors, such as Platinum Software, have experienced tough times in the past few years. Other casualties include once-dominant Dun & Bradstreet Software, which was recently acquired by Geac Computer.
The convergence onto the NT platform of enterprise and middle-market accounting vendors, the slew of foreign vendors setting up NT-focused shops, and the pace of technology innovation in Microsoft's BackOffice suite suggest that accounting on NT will be a hotly contested market through the rest of the decade. Unlike the hero of Clash of the Titans, no one vendor has a magic helmet for protection or a winged horse to fly above the fray. Instead, like ugly, villainous demigods, vendors will be forced to slug it out down in the swamp, while Microsoft looks on Zeus-like from the heights of Mount Olympus.
See http://www.winntmag.com for a middle-market and enterprise accounting software buyer's guide.