Comments on: How many number 1's are there?

By: Kashflow ‘worth £10 million’ raises interesting questions | AccMan

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:50:03 +0000

[...] How many number 1’s are there? (accmanpro.com) [...]

By: Some strange thinking about NetSuite | AccMan

Some strange thinking about NetSuite | AccMan — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:59:29 +0000

[...] have previously reported that Winweb has UK revenues of £5 million based on a very large user base but I also said the [...]

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:11:48 +0000

Updated the data – thanks

By: Emily Coltman

Emily Coltman — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:13:13 +0000

Agreed – it's very difficult to make an assessment based on a subjective measure like customer happiness.

Perhaps statistics based on how many customers do the free trial and then pay? How many customers stop using the product? How many customer complaints per 1,000 customers?

By: David Terrar

David Terrar — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:12:46 +0000

And just to add – Twinfield's revenue in 2008 was 4.5 million euro, so defintely larger than e-conomic.

By: David Terrar

David Terrar — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:06:53 +0000

@Dennis – I think getting clarity on this is definitely a good thing for the industry. Twinfield use the number 1 in online accounting thing because they don't believe anyone in Europe has a bigger online accounting customer base. I'll try and get definitive numbers for you, but Twinfield is used by approximately 60,000 companies to run their books, they have 30,000 subscribers, and around 700 practices using the product. By the way, the larger number of companies than individual users is because there are a lot of practices with "internal" Twinfield users doing bureaux style "shoebox" accounting where the end user company doesn't actually touch the system, they only get reports.

By: Dennis Howlett

Dennis Howlett — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:40:44 +0000

It's a good idea M but is a subjective measure that's horribly difficult to justify in an objective manner. AWeb attempts this with its Satisfaction Awards but in truth they're an 'everyone's a winner' type of thing.

We all know that Sage has a rotten public reputation but that is only from those who complain. As the elephant in the room, I would be surprised if it was any other way. SAP has the same issue despite it runs much of the Global 2000.

We also know that plenty of businesses switch – but they switch in many directions and for different reasons.

The reality is that switching is something people don't do unless they're REALLY fed up or need something the incumbent cannot provide.

Right now, the kinds of measure I am suggesting are tough enough but they are measures upon which the industry can achieve some agreement. Like it or not, the industry needs to play the game as well, hopefully recognizing that any attempt at objective review has market value to all.

By: Emily Coltman

Emily Coltman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:28:10 +0000

Ah but…

My defining point would be not how many customers the product has, but how many of its customers are HAPPY customers.

And I don't just mean customers who stick with the product because changing it would be a pain in the neck. I mean customers who wouldn't change if you paid them to do it.

The product that had the highest proportion of happy customers would win my vote for the leading provider.