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“Producers can now find the business software they need at the click of a button”
So proclaimed a recent Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fishing (DPI&F) press release about our new selection tool for farm software.
First, the backstory…
Software on the Farm
This story actually began last year, when we found a research study conducted by JoAnn Resing at the DPI&F. She’d just published a comprehensive directory of agricultural software, a weighty tome by the name of The Australian Farmer’s Guide to Software.
Since we were in the midst of building SoftwareShortlist, we figured that farmers might need a hand working out which of the 600+ software products was best for them. We got in touch with the JoAnn, and received a good reception to the idea.
Software selection tool hits the news
So it was great to see that our recent launch of SoftwareShortlist.com, including livestock recordkeeping software, was well regarded by the good folks at the DPI&F:
“That’s where Australian ingenuity enters the picture. A group of Australian entrepreneurs came across the farm software guide and decided to take this data to the next level, producing an interactive software selection tool that is now loaded with business software for the agricultural industry.”
A touch of mystery
The DPI&F press release went on to say a bunch of nice things about this new interactive selection tool for farm software, but owing (we suspect) to a government policy about not explicitly endorsing commercial providers, it didn’t actually mention our name or how to find the tool.
Now, we like a bit of mystery as much as the next guy… but when it comes to our newly launched farm software comparison tool we’d like farmers everywhere to know exactly where to find it. Hopefully our own press release can work in tandem with the DPI&F release to help farmers discover this new tool.
But if you see any farmers still wandering around looking for this mysterious farm software selection tool, feel free to send them our way!
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Small business owners never suffer from too little to do, especially when launching a new business. This is when prioritization is most important. As Daley Thompson said while preparing for the Decathlon “it’s like having 10 jealous girlfriends who are all demanding equal attention”.
Progress
Website development has progressed well over the past few months and we are about to start full integration testing of the dynamic site. We envisage that we will be doing a few bouts of testing and refinement over the next month and will start working with vendors to set up products and profiles through October. All things considered, we should be looking at a launch of date of early November (fingers crossed).
Our focus has turned to enlisting vendors over the past month. We have had a strong response from vendors, who are equally as excited as we are about the service. This clearly shows the value of the SoftwareShortlist offering! We are well on target to signing up our desired quota of top quality vendors within the chosen industries as we go into Beta.
Industry Focus
We have decided to focus our initial efforts on delivering great results in 2 industries: agriculture, specifically farm management software, and professional services, notably software for management consultants and IT consultants.
We will therefore provide top quality shortlisted software options to SME customers from these industries who are seeking timesheet & expense software, accounting /farm accounting software, CRM software, crop and livestock recordkeeping software, and agri-business management software. This will expand to cover other industries and niches over the coming year.
Benefits to all
Finally, the SoftwareShortlist offering will provide benefits to all involved:
- Small business owners will gain an invaluable free software selection and recommendation facility, to aid them in finding specialist business software that meets their specific needs.
- Vendors will benefit from a marketing channel that is unmatched; a facility to manage digital download to a global customer base; the ability to invite their regional service providers to enlist; and a matching service for new service providers.
- Service providers will obviously benefit from the additional exposure, the opportunities that arise and a source of new products to represent.
We look forward to enjoying the journey with you all!
