I must admit I was a little nervous when I rang Saasu.

The website looked good, the accounting feature list definitely favoured them, and the reviews I found were pretty positive from users and bookkeepers. So my expectations were high and I was really hoping not to be disappointed…

Thankfully, I wasn’t.

Getting started:

• I called them and a HUMAN answered. Within 3 rings. Tick.
• It was Tony Hollingsworth – Chief Happiness Office of Saasu. Tick.
• In a 15 minute discussion, I outlined my criteria and he said that yes they were capable of handling all of that plus a few other features like live bank feeds etc. Tick.
• Mobile phone access? He had to check with another staff member, then came back and said that the iPhone app was going to be launched in 2 weeks. Tick. (now live)
• A key issue for me was the transition time from MYOB to Saasu: a 15 minute process to get your base data across. Mmmm – I was a little sceptical but prepared to give it a shot.
• Integration with Highrise (CRM) and Basecamp (Project management)? Yep – through a cloud platform called OneSaas. Mmmm – I’d have to check what this was about.
• Cost? $25 per month. But free while you upload all your data and make the transition! Tick.

What has happened since I opened the trial account:

• Uploaded core data (but not transaction data because we chose not to do so) into the free account from MYOB in 15 mins.
• Customised the invoice and statement in an afternoon.
• Spoke with OneSaas and had the integration with Highrise complete in 2 days (we had a few synchronising issues which were quickly resolved).
• Refined our chart of accounts.
• Only a couple of hiccups through the process, which were handled extremely efficiently by the Saasu team.
• Paid for the first 12 months in advance (and received a month or 2 free).

It wasn’t all perfect, but nothing like a deal breaker in sight:

• We had some issues with our Commbank data feed, but the support was really responsive and it was fixed quickly. (A paypal data feed is also on the cards which is great news)
• No default invoice payment terms set up for customers.
• Employee data (leave/bank accounts/TFNs etc) had to be manually entered – not a deal breaker for us with only 6 full timers.

End result:

We were completely operational in the new system in 5 working days and this would have been a lot quicker without a whole lot of cleaning up of databases etc that needed to happen at our end.

Tony said to me that Saasu’s mission is to deliver an extreme value web accounting system. After 2 weeks I was convinced but 3 months later, I can’t agree with him more.

Plus I’ve got a gut feeling that this is just going to continue. Thanks to Marc (the CEO), Tony and the Saasu team for a great product and great support. Fingers crossed I may have found an end to the constant switching between systems!

[Side note: When I told Sam, one of our developers, about Saasu, he went home and set it up for his fiancee's Brisbane mobile beauty business immediately!]

We are a relatively simple service business – ie there is no inventory management required etc. This is a brief history of which system we used, what the deciding factors were for using it, and the verdict.

A brief history:

2005, System 1 = MYOB

Deciding factors:

Just starting the business, we ran with the recommendation of our accountant at the time.

Verdict:

Good starting point but I found it difficult and inflexible to use.

2008, System 2 = Netsuite

Deciding factors:

Came highly recommended from trusted sources. Thought we were setting ourselves up with a system that we’d never have to change – it seemed to have scale, flexibility, detailed reporting, everything you could ask for. A huge plus was that it was web-based. It integrated CRM with Accounting which was really appealing.

Verdict:

Implementation was complex and expensive, the support was poor and the system was massively over complicated for our purposes. Too expensive for the additional payroll module so ended up having to run MYOB for our payroll. Not a good result

Despite that, we persisted for 2 years hoping that it would get better with more data in it, but ultimately the useability and a host of other minor headaches that turned into a major migraine.

2010, System 3 = Back to MYOB

Deciding factors:

In our desperation to get off Netsuite, we moved back to MYOB which saved us thousands in licencing fees. Unfortunately it still the same old clunky software but this time it had to be run through a VPN on our bookkeeper’s server because our new CFO, our accountant and I were all in Sydney.

Verdict:

Same as before and it really felt like taking a backward step not being web based.

2011, System 4 = Saasu

Deciding factors:

Aside from standard accounting functions, I had a list of things that I wanted the system to do (below). But there were 2 other factors that really appealed to me.

Firstly, we’re huge fans of 37 Signals‘ products and business philosophies. Lesley, one of our lead developers, had heard about Saasu through 37 Signals as an accounting package that integrated with Highrise. That was instant credibility in my eyes. Secondly and very importantly, Saasu were heavily involved in social media – they had responded quickly to my tweeted questions at the end of last year.

So my criteria, over basic accounting function, were:

Non-negotiables:

1. Web based
2. Multiple users
3. Fully integrated payroll
4. Significantly customisable invoice/statement forms

Highly desirable:

1. Integrate with Highrise (CRM – customer relationship mangement) and Basecamp (project management) by 37signals
2. Mobile phone access
3. Support

Verdict:

Blown away. I didn’t realise you an accounting system could make you happy! We’re now 3 months into our Saasu subscription and the improvement from the old systems is incredible. It’s so easy to use, the support is great and all the features are running really well.

[Side note: MYOB Live Accounts failed on integration, payroll and lack of social media responsiveness. Xero did well on the social media and integration but failed on my payroll criteria (at the time).]

In my next post I’ll go into more detail on our Saasu experience to date but please contact me if you’d like to discuss any of the above.

Shanon Scully - Web developer at Bluewire Media

Could you imagine your life without broadband internet? It would certainly make our job here at Bluewire Media a lot different!

Today Prime Mister Julia Gillard was in Armidale to switch on the first mainland Australia site of the Nation Broadband Network (NBN). The government is spending $43billion over the next 8 years so we can experience 100x faster broadband speeds. While there is a lot of debate surrounding the project, what will it mean for business like us where the internet is a primary resource?

I believe it will be a leap forward in how we not only communicate, but will allow for greater flexibility to deliver content that previously couldn’t have been sustained on the current network.

Digital technology has evolved faster than the speed at which our digital communication channels have grown. We can now record HD video on our phones and are producing gigs and gigs of data every day, but were limited by our internet connection. With the introduction of the NBN we shouldn’t be constrained by our download speed but only by our imagination.

How do you think the NBN will affect the web industry?

Sourced NBN Facts Sheet (pdf)

Put down that cocktail! Your file is ready!

I’ve been wrestling with this issue for a little while – trying to convert .mts files from Adam and Toby’s camera into .mp4 files so I can edit them. I bought software that didn’t work, I had the files chopped in half by some other free software….I got frustrated.

Then I got tipped off to this….HandBrake. As it says on their website “the function of good software is to make the complex appear to be simple”.

And it does. *Sigh of relief*

How Businesses Are Unleashing Their Employees’ Social Media Potential – Mashable
This article shows how some companies are harnessing their employees’ increasing technical knowledge to innovate.

6 new scientific findings about Facebook users – The Week
So heavy Facebook users are likely narcissists and 34% of users check Facebook in the morning before they even go to the bathroom? Checking Facebook often gets you lower tertiary grades? Users over-estimate how much their friends care about or agree with their status updates? None of this is surprising but at least it’s all scientifically studied! Maybe you should post these stats on Facebook – it might just make you happier, too.

7 Ways Mobile Apps are Enriching Historical Tourism – Mashable
Augmented reality is where technology is used to enhance (or “augment”) the physical environment around you to add new layers of information, visuals or experience. Think of something as complicated as a gaming headset that projects holograms of other gamers onto the street in front of you. Or as simple as Foursquare’s public location comments (I personally think this actually is augmented reality at its most basic and most useful).

…or think a simple iPhone app that gives you detailed information about the historical landmark in front of you. That directs you to subtle areas of significance in famous,  150-year-old murder cases. That guides you on a tour of London’s medical developments over the years or answers your pressing questions about bizarre statues at the Library of Congress.

Take a look at these seven apps used at American and English tourism centres – how could we use this technology in Australia? In Brisbane?

Will personalisation become a dirty word? - Claire Cooper, Bullseye (via Digital Ministry)
Nowadays, marketers know more about you than ever before: what you’ve bought previously, where you live, what you’re interested in. Claire Cooper raises some pretty important points in her article about the line between handy personalisation (of products, websites, emails etc.) and forced, assumed segmentation.

Providing personalised suggestions, offers or information is great – we all know how well Amazon does it – but we need to make sure our customers are given the option to break out of their segment and find other things they might be interested in, too. Claire might have bought that spa treatment coupon once but it doesn’t mean she’s only ever interested in spa treatments!

Elmo gets personal with Sesame Street fans

He’s not wearing a towel or catching silver fish, but Elmo is following in Old Spice guy’s golden footsteps and answering viewer questions through YouTube. It’s good to hear he doesn’t leave Sesame Street without a grownup!

• Mashable’s live notes from Google’s launch presentation
• Reload Media’s response to what Google Instant means for SEO
• Mashable talks about the different results for single letters (eg. “w” brings up weather results before you keep typing)

My initial thoughts are that it will be a toss up between speed and visual disturbance from the constantly shifting results. It will be very interesting (and exciting) to see how useful it is once it’s fully rolled out!

Designing Great Presentations

You can see the presentation slides for the Google Instant launch in Mashable’s article. Pretty visual and simple, aren’t they? Design Shack has put together 10 tips so you can make beautiful slides, too! They’re effective and useful suggestions, and should be helpful for designers and non-designers alike.

10 Tips for Designing Presentations That Don’t Suck
Part One & Part Two – Design Shack

More!

5 Indie Films that Couldn’t be Made Without Social Media – Mashable
An animated Indian legend, to Lord Of The Rings, to Batman – independent films thrive on the sort of networks social media afford, to generate funding and to get views. Check out these trailers and see if you wouldn’t want these films in cinemas!

11 True Stories Behind Tech’s Top Names – Mashable
Ever wondered what a “twitter” is or why there are four squares? Well, here are the stories behind the big names, from Android to Yahoo.

What’s the story behind “Bluewire Media”, you ask? Well, maybe that’s a blog post for another day!

If Google Maps were real…

What if you wanted information on an address and it appeared in a huge info bubble in the sky? Or you had to dodge giant yellow Street View men on your way to work? Take a look at this artist’s impression of that world!

4 Tips for Writing SEO-Friendly Blog Posts – OPEN Forum
These tips are both easy and effective. Keep your blog posts human-readable while also making it easier for Google to understand what you’re writing about.

Twitter Launches Official iPad App – Mashable
If you have an iPad, grab the official Twitter app now! This app uses the touchscreen capabilities in really interesting ways to make the most of what the iPad was made for: media consumption.

Lessons Learned after 5 Years of Blogging - Perishable Press
Jeff Starr’s lengthy article is a good read about his blogging experience over the past 5 years, his lessons learnt and the paths he’s decided on. Most importantly, he says to “be yourself” when blogging: be honest, real & sincere; work, learn & share; think for yourself; and, stay calm and take advantage of criticism. Be more than just a blog full of round-ups!!!

How to tell if your Company is Advanced: 10 Criteria Of Social Business Maturity – Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang
This article is talking about maturity in your use of social media, which isn’t initially clear! With that in mind, I particularly like these points: 1) Clear understanding of customers’ socialgraphics, 5) Thriving advocady program: customers are actively selling on your behalf, and 6) A community of customers supports each other, reducing support center calls. Are these true about your company?

The Three Key Elements of Irresistible Email Subject Lines – Copy Blogger
Brian Clark takes influence from the fundamentals of headlines to explain how to write email subject lines that get your emails opened. From tips like identifying yourself to getting through spam filters, following this article should help you write some amazing & effective subject lines!

152 Social Media Policies – Social Media Governance
Check out the social media policies used by companies like the BBC, FedEx, Kodak, Telstra and Yahoo!

7 Services to Find and Reserve Your Name Across the Web - Mashable
If you think you’ll want to get into social media at some point (perhaps after reading the article above!) but don’t want to start right now, you might consider signing up for the various accounts you’ll need before somebody takes your name. You can create social media accounts long before you start using them, with no problems. In fact, these seven services can make that happen…

The circle of tech life: How computer symbols are born & technologies die a thousand deaths

The Secret Histories of Those @#$%ing Computer Symbols - Wired Gadget Lab
Ever wonder why the Bluetooth logo looks like some ancient rune? Because it is. Discover the history of all your favourite techy symbols in this interesting article.

The Tragic Death of Practically Everything - Technologizer
Bloggers have a habit of hailing the end times of any technology ever slightly superceded by another. This article brings a few together to highlight how the internet must be an “unrelenting bloodbath” with all these deaths! Enjoy, because the platform you read it on is surely on its last legs.

RIP Google Wave – Mashable
Google’s revolutionary product that blends email, instant messaging, file sharing & wikis “didn’t get the uptake they’d hoped for & Google won’t be continuing to develop Wave as a stand alone product.” It only launched in 2009.

Here at Bluewire, we think the problem was the product’s contagiousness, or lack thereof. Many of us were saying that we either couldn’t explain it to anybody else or never understood it ourselves in the first place. If something’s too confusing to tell your friends about, how will the idea take off? As we know now, it doesn’t.

Did you or anyone you know use Google Wave and how did you find it? Could you explain how it works to anyone else?

Getting people to do what you want them to do!

Lessons Learned from 21 Case Studies in Conversion Rate Optimization – SEOmoz
How can you make more people buy? contact you? download your ebook? sign up for your seminar or subscribe to your newsletter? This article covers it all, from making actions more obvious & increasing credibility to split testing enticing headlines. And of course, it’s full of case studies!

If you’re as excited about this as we are, get in touch and let’s get started!

Read on for more detail on shopping carts and “gradual engagement” (getting more information from users over time rather than making them sign up or fill out their whole profile before starting):

Checkout abandonment on the rise – Econsultancy
A quick article about the main reasons why people abandon their shopping experience, often at the last minute after they’ve added items to their cart and are about to pay.

The most obvious ways to combat this are: provide information about delivery and all charges upfront and make shipping costs really easy to find! Having to wait for a manually calculated shipping cost from the store owner is also a huge barrier for many people who just want to click “Pay” and wait for their goodies to turn up. Making users sign up for an account when they might not ever buy from you again is also more likely to make them not bother at all than become a repeat visitor. And of course, they want it to be fast to checkout.

Sign Up Forms Must Die – A List Apart
This article is from 2008 but unfortunately, complicated barrier sign up forms are still far too common. Would you agree that you’d be more likely to engage and stick with something if you already knew what it did and had even experienced it? And then the account was created for you??

This isn’t talking about contact forms or newsletter subscription forms, though they too can definitely begin by collecting just a name and email address and get other details later, but rather when you need to have an account to use a web application like YouTube or Twitter.

Back to the future

Will Ferrell’s Tour of Tech That Never Took – Wired
I don’t know about you, but I’m often painfully reminded that 2010 isn’t quite like we imagined it’d be 50 years ago. Sure, the future’s hard to predict but you’d think we’d have underwater cities by now! And why can’t I just hologram into the office rather than commute in on a machine invented in the 1800s? Obviously Will Ferrell agrees with me…

Plus, what if our favourite social technologies were advertised back when the future was exciting?

View the full size version >

Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Blip.tv – Mashable
Five smart business tips we try to embody here at Bluewire.

How to get your emails some inbox attention – Smart Insights
Mark Brownlow discusses the importance of the From line, Subject line and “preheader” (he explains it all), plus external things that can affect your open rate (like frequency of sends or design consistency between your website and email). If you want to make sure your email newsletter follows all his points, talk to us!

6 Additions and Optimizations to Increase Conversions – TutToaster
18-year-old entrepreneur, Mathew Carpenter, impresses with this useful article about improving conversion rates. He suggests (and we agree!) testing as much as possible: different copy, different background colours… everything! Google does it.

The A-Z of conversion rate optimisation - Econsultancy
Yep, 26 things you can do (or consider) when optimising for conversions! Although some of them are more abstract than others, there aren’t any points that wouldn’t make your website better. This is a pretty quality list and we’d love an opportunity to try them all out on one website!

A Beginner’s Guide to Website Copywriting – Web Design Ledger
Eight nice points to help improve your web copywriting. We can always do it for you, but if you’re writing your website’s content yourself, make sure you have a good grasp on these aspects, from writing clearly & concisely to considering multimedia.

Video Interview: How to be a social media change agent
(Thanks @IATV!)

This is an interesting interview about a lot of the things covered in our event last week, Social Media for Business. Josh Bernoff from Forrester Research discusses what social media is and why (and how!) you can use it with your business. He really delves into the fears and uncertainties we understand a lot of people have around this area.