High-end financials software vendor QSP yesterday launched an ASP service designed to help dot-com startups manage their finances.
Implemented in as little as fifteen days, the service provides an enterprise-class financial management solution that will scale as the business grows, said the vendor.
It also includes a “VC Portal” which gives investors the ability to view key performance indicators for the business in real-time, using a Web browser.
“Venture capitalists need to know not only how dotcoms are spending their money but also how it is being managed,” Mike Hudell, marketing director, said. “Lack of financial control and cash flow will cause the death of many dot-com companies.”
UK-based QSP, which has operations in the USA and Australia as well as in Europe, released the results of a survey of British dot-com startups and their venture capital backers to mark the launch of service. It found that over three-quarters of dotcoms believe that financial packages aimed at the small and medium enterprise market are inadequate for their needs, falling down in areas such as growth in turnover, number of transactions or number of employees, or in the ability to support transactions across multiple currencies, geographies and time zones.
The survey – which was carried out by UK-based research group Dynamic Markets Ltd – also found that 71% were receptive to the idea of turning to an ASP for their financial software.
QSP named online community software vendor KOZ.com, based in Research Triangle Park NC, as the first customer for its dot-com service.
The QSP service is provided for a monthly per user subscription that includes connection, implementation, software licensing and operations. The price varies, according to the complexity and size of the implementation, from several hundred to several thousand per user per month, company officials said.
Implementation timescales average around 45 days, but can be much shorter. “With an entry-level dot-com, you have to be up and running within fifteen days,” group chief executive Malachy Smith told ASP-News.
QSP is no stranger to the ASP model, having first launched an ASP service for its traditional customer base in the public sector and financial services industry as long ago as 1998. See related ASPnews.com story, Bank rents high-end financials, Jan 6th, 1999.
