Life's Grand up North!

We attended the eCommerce Expo North in Manchester last week and based on the number of visitors and vibrancy around the seminar rooms and exhibition hall, it would appear that London is not the sole hub of online creativity in the UK. Thanks must go to the show organiser Justin Opie and his colleagues for having the vision and courage to expand outside London. We presented a seminar to over 100 delegates who it has to be said, were eager to learn and thankful that they did not need to travel 200 miles for free education from the likes of Google, IMRG, Paypal and, of course, Exact Abacus! Let us hope that the success of eCommerce Expo North heralds the regionalisation of trade events and helps make free knowledge more accessible to marketing/IT professionals and entrepreneurs based beyond the M25.

London Buses....

Well, it is fair to say that by Mid-March, we wondered whether the post-Lehman slump in confidence would ever bottom out. Steeling ourselves for a prolonged and painful journey through 2009, we looked forward to better times. And yet, here we are at the end of May and currently working through the strongest sales pipeline we have enjoyed for years. Sales cycles, typically 6 months, have fallen to 6 days in one case last week. One wonders why there has been this sudden switch-on of energy within the market. Perhaps people shut their eyes expecting a crash that never came, or is this just a blip? Certainly people are still consuming and some of our clients have experienced double digit year-on-year sales growth in the first quarter. Who knows what economic weather system will pass overhead next, but for the moment, we are not complaining!

I have seen the future...

...and it promises to change the way in which we deliver ecommerce websites for good. Our QA Manager, Phil Smith, has just demonstrated how he was able to create a transactional website, complete with design and content within hours. Good so far, but when he then went on to show how the site integrated with our 3EX.NET back office software, pulling back logic, orders, baskets etc, one could only imagine the possibilities. Suddenly, we are catapulted into the business of deploying rich content, high functionality websites in days, rather than months. When a further 'white label' site (with cloned content) was created at the click of a mouse, I was ready to fall off the chair! This is where, after 7 years of R&D effort, 3EX.NET really does get very exciting.
Click here to read more about our eCommerce Software.

2009 - A Year of Difficulty or Opportunity?

Whilst finishing the last box of Celebrations and watching The Battle of the Bulge over the Christmas break, one wondered how we would fare in 2009. It is clear that, almost without exception, bricks and mortar retailers are suffering in the downturn. However, the picture amongst pureplay eCommerce retailers is a little more hazy. Virtual operations come and go without the recognition of a boarded-up high street store. So is there an appetite to invest in IT and webstore overhauls at this time? Let us be positive and say that high-quality and integrated trading platforms pay for themselves. Many businesses make up for IT deficiencies by increasing human labour. In difficult times, labour becomes a dispensable cost. To an ecommerce retailer, IT is indespensable. It is for this reason that I am actually very positive about 2009. Smarter systems will help companies retrench and survive without damaging the customer experience. The challenge is to make quality IT accessible in the way that, say, broadband has become to every household in the UK. The answer is to make the case for software-as-a-service or SaaS, on which our business has been modelled for over 8 years. We know that it works from both a supplier and client perspective - maybe the invention came before the necessity in this case?

Beyond the O/S?

As a leading-edge software developer, we try to identify the winds of change earlier than most. Software development lifecycles often stretch into decades, so all design and architecture decisions made today must be framed by the expected landscape in 2, 5 and even 10 years time. Of particular interest to us at the moment is the concept of 'cloud computing' where all applications are delivered through a richer browser and the connect between device and operating system is finally broken. Googles recent launch of the Chrome browser got us thinking "why do we need another browser and have we underestimated its value?" In this context, perhaps the browser will become the environment in which we will eventually manage every task including word processing, email, business applications and the management of files, on any device such as mobile, PC or TV. Indeed Google are providing an ever increasing range of productivity tools designed to compete with Office. Is Microsoft's grip on the computing experience beginning to weaken and is competition for the desktop necessarily a good thing when standards proliferate? Anyone who has tried to use Corels' excellent WordPerfect and Microsoft's Word in tandem will appreciate the dilemma!

The Road to PCI DSS Compliance

After many false dawns, the industry finally seems to have come alive and realised the real benefits of securing their trading platforms. The once relaxed attitude to card data security has been replaced by a desire to attain and maintain compliance with the PCI DSS directive at almost all costs. As a tier1 solutions provider, Exact Abacus have been on the compliance trail for over 2 years, gradually locking down networks and working with our QSA to make our datacentre inpenetrable. Furthermore, we are looking well into the future and considering what the impact of upcoming PA DSS standards will be for us and our clients. In all, over £250,000 invested in our compliance programme to-date and a planned £100,000 per annum going forward to maintain that compliance. We take PCI DSS very seriously and have put 'our money where our mouth is' to prove it!

It's the Economy....

Dare we utter the 'r' word? What impact will the slowdown have on service companies like ours?
Whilst the economic barometer is not forecasting sunshine in the near future, confidence amongst our clients and prospective clients seems to be holding up well. As an outsourcing specialist, we may be well positioned to win business from companies looking to reduce costs and batten down the hatches. Certainly our innovative software licensing scheme is winning friends in the marketplace and there is no shortage of interest in 3EX.NET.