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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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The story begins…
Nearly 18 months ago, sitting in a cafe overlooking Melbourne’s scenic Yarra river, we were grappling with a perplexing question:
Why don’t many small businesses take full advantage of the powerful and cost-effective software solutions available?
Melbourne's Yarra River (photo: Edwin 11 on flickr.com)
We realised some of the great software we personally used (e.g. Basecamp, Campaign Monitor, SurveyMonkey) was simply not on the radar of many small and medium businesses … yet software like this could be so very useful for them.
As we pondered this situation, we found it opened up even more questions:
- Why do businesses persist for so long with cumbersome legacy systems or manual work-arounds?
- Why do businesses resort to custom software development that is many times more expensive and often less functional than off-the-shelf alternatives?
- Why do businesses settle for well-known generic software, when better, more specialised alternatives exist?
As the sun set over the river, an important realisation dawned on us – there’s a significant market failure here! The supply exists – there are tens of thousands of software products. And the demand for business software is stronger than ever. But the supply and demand aren’t connecting as they should. For some reason, businesses defer the decision, give up entirely, or make do with poor alternatives.
So, we asked ourselves, why is this?
- Is it that businesses don’t know what software is available? Perhaps, but Google, Yahoo and various software directories do a decent job of providing a long list of available software
- Is it a case of “list shock” or information overload? Maybe the act of searching brings back so many options that businesses owners get intimidated or overwhelmed by the software selection process?
- Maybe small businesses get discouraged by technical jargon and specialist language? Could it be that the “Curse of Knowledge” gets in the way of vendors communicating clearly to the potential customer?
- Perhaps the problem is a lack of comparable information on software? With only sparse information on search engines and software directories, does it take too long for businesses to trawl vendor websites and work out what each software package does and how it compares with other software?
The more we investigated, the more apparent it became that search engines are only a start, and the software directory model is broken (or at least flawed). The software directory mindset is “he with the biggest list wins”. But a long list of sparse and poorly comparable information is not useful for making decisions on software.
Inspiration strikes…
Then it hit us! We honed in on a critical insight:
Software decision makers need a short list, not a long list.
What business owners and decision makers need is a shortlist of the most relevant and promising alternatives for them to consider. Add in some apples-to-apples comparisons and detailed product information, and then you’ve got a great way to reach the right decision quickly on which software to buy.
Yarra River At Night (photo: Edwin11 on flickr.com)
And so, 18 months ago as the sun set over the Yarra river, we devised the initial concept for SoftwareShortlist as a free, online recommendation and comparison service for business software.
In the months that followed, we challenged key assumptions, spoke with software customers and vendors, mapped out a business model, started developing the website, and got to work reviewing software.
…and it now becomes reality
Today, our journey reaches an important milestone, as we announce the public beta launch of SoftwareShortlist.
Although the beta launch represents the culmination of nearly 18 months of hard work, even more importantly it also represents the beginning of the next stage for SoftwareShortlist. We have big plans for the future.
Today our beta service recommends and compares timesheet software for professional service firms and livestock recordkeeping software for farmers.
In coming months, we will expand coverage to other major software categories such accounting and customer relationship management (CRM), as well as a wide range of industry-specific applications.
Let us know what you think of the beta service – with your feedback and involvement, we can make SoftwareShortlist a great resource for businesses everywhere.
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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!
