Comments on: Zoho's serious move on Excel http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/04/28/zohos-serious-move-on-excel/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:01:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dennis Howlett http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/04/28/zohos-serious-move-on-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-4752 Dennis Howlett Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:19:15 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/?p=3024#comment-4752 Zoho is adding customers at one heck of a clip - like 100K every 5-6 weeks. They're developing workflow, and templating is a no brainer. It's already been done in proprietary systems - not a big deal - just a bunch of conditional statements to spit out the right formats for regulatory stuff, leave the pivot tables for the funky analysts. It's not a big leap Zoho is adding customers at one heck of a clip – like 100K every 5-6 weeks. They're developing workflow, and templating is a no brainer. It's already been done in proprietary systems – not a big deal – just a bunch of conditional statements to spit out the right formats for regulatory stuff, leave the pivot tables for the funky analysts. It's not a big leap

]]> By: Martyn http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/04/28/zohos-serious-move-on-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-4751 Martyn Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:11:33 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/?p=3024#comment-4751 Yeah, conditional - like on Microsoft not "getting" SaaS perhaps and opening up and api to excel. I DO like the share-ability (is that the right term??) of Zoho - build in some workflow (say between the user and the reporting accountant/auditor) and a set of pre-defined reporting templates and anybody who can hook up to this from a backend system "could" :-D have a winner on their hands. Yeah, conditional – like on Microsoft not “getting” SaaS perhaps and opening up and api to excel.

I DO like the share-ability (is that the right term??) of Zoho – build in some workflow (say between the user and the reporting accountant/auditor) and a set of pre-defined reporting templates and anybody who can hook up to this from a backend system “could” :-D have a winner on their hands.

]]> By: Martyn http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/04/28/zohos-serious-move-on-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-4749 Martyn Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:53:51 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/?p=3024#comment-4749 Dennis, Just tried it - Its cool - but not THAT cool ;-) The problem is that if you have a sheet that is set up with excel PTs these are not translated - you have to re-engineer them. And there isn't two way compatibility. This is the same problem as OpenOffice has - datapilot is good but only about 75% as good as Excel PTs - and again, the native PT is lost when you import so you can't share a file that contains PTs between the two systems. However, I take your point about Zoho as a front end - it could be VERY useful if you could hook up a data feed from something else and then share the reports generated on-line. Dennis,

Just tried it – Its cool – but not THAT cool ;-)

The problem is that if you have a sheet that is set up with excel PTs these are not translated – you have to re-engineer them. And there isn't two way compatibility.

This is the same problem as OpenOffice has – datapilot is good but only about 75% as good as Excel PTs – and again, the native PT is lost when you import so you can't share a file that contains PTs between the two systems.

However, I take your point about Zoho as a front end – it could be VERY useful if you could hook up a data feed from something else and then share the reports generated on-line.

]]> By: Dennis Howlett http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/04/28/zohos-serious-move-on-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-4750 Dennis Howlett Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:00:33 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/?p=3024#comment-4750 Thanks Martyn - I needed someone to get their hands dirty on this thing and glad you put your hand up. I do see this as potentially something pretty darned big - if - they can get the whole act together. That's why I said 'could' and not 'will.' Thanks Martyn – I needed someone to get their hands dirty on this thing and glad you put your hand up. I do see this as potentially something pretty darned big – if – they can get the whole act together. That’s why I said ‘could’ and not ‘will.’

]]> By: The scales have tipped to Zoho…. at diversity.net.nz http://www.accmanpro.com/2008/04/28/zohos-serious-move-on-excel/comment-page-1/#comment-4748 The scales have tipped to Zoho…. at diversity.net.nz Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:17:58 +0000 http://www.accmanpro.com/?p=3024#comment-4748 [...] Dennis Howlett said that; Zoho could - and I emphasize could - become the bones of a reporting and analysis engine for [...] [...] Dennis Howlett said that; Zoho could – and I emphasize could – become the bones of a reporting and analysis engine for [...]

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