Keytime Books – colossal fail

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The saas/on-demand model is very different to the traditional model of software sale. In the on-demand world, potential customers expect to gain fast access to the application, give it a spin and then decide if they’re going to continue. Not with Keytime Books.

The vendor asks you to complete a form including your phone number, practice name and how you got to the site. This it describes as a registration process but nowhere does it ask you for a username and password combination. The net result is when you click through from the form…you get this:

This is ridiculous. The only data I gave them was my email address so we’ll see if the company chooses to contact me. The rationale offered by the company is:

The way Keytime Books for accountants works is as simple as the system itself.

• You register for the service
• Our team creates a unique version of the system for you
• This is branded up in your choice of colours and includes your logo
• The system is held on a website that your clients access directly
• Your clients login to “your” online accounting system

What does it cost :

Keytime Books is priced very simply and competitively.

Initial set-up is only £370 + VAT and this includes :

• Fully branded site with your logo and colours
• Unique login created for you to use
• Up to 5 client licences for one year
• Additional client licences available at £80 + VAT per client

Annually after that, the costs are as follows :

• Annual renewal £370 + VAT, up to 5 clients
• Additional licence fee £80 + VAT per client

The idea is novel and I suppose there is some justification for initial set-up but the de-minimus of five users is a no-no. It puts the onus for onboarding directly with the practioner without there being any obvious support for that process. I have received a number of calls about this issue in the last week and it is clear that professionals are very nervous about apppearing to act as sales agents for software vendors.

I counter by arguing that while selling doesn’t come naturally to professionals, explaining benefits does. That’s what needs to happen. If professionals do it correctly then to use a line from the film Heat: ‘This shit sells itself.’ But given we’re in a new market, I would have thought Keytime could have come up with something a lot more credible. This is not it.

I have other questions as well. For instance, what does: “Our team creates a unique version of the system for you” mean? Is it a multi-tenant approach, widely regarded as the most efficient way of operating a saas service or multi-instance. If the latter then Keytime is letting itself in for a ton of pain.

And what are you getting for your money? Well, there’s a description of the service for individuals and accountants. There are no screenshots or videos on offer so I have no idea whether the claims are accurate or otherwise.

Individuals are charged at the rate of £35 per year or £45 per client for the premium version. In reality, the standard version is of little value because it does not have VAT or full invoicing capability. The VAT thing might be OK for the many businesses that are under the VAT registratoin threshold but billing is something that needs to be fully fledged because that’s one of the business’s key market presentation media.

Professionals on the other hand pay a premium of £45-35 (depending on your point of view) for what appears to be a client management dashboard and a messaging system. I read that as meaning the professional is effectively paying for an extra user license for every client but with a few bolt on goodies. That doesn’t make sense. First, if you’ve got (say) 100 clients then you’re in for £8,000. That’s one hell of a price to pay. Second, while there could easily be a premium for a dashboard, I don’t get it for messaging. Social features of this kind should be near free. the competition from email, AOL, Skype, MSM, Twitter and other messaging systems is just too great.

Second, there is a reseller option where Keytime will white label for the reseller and offer an undisclosed fee for each sale. Isn’t that more or less the same as the practitioner offering but by another name? Or if not then is the differential sufficient to warrant a different pricing model? I don’t see it.

I would hope that beneath the covers, Keytime has made a serious effort to put something useful into play in what is becoming a busy market. Unfortunately, its go-to-market for the practitioner needs a major rethink.

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