We have held the price of an annual licence for Business Administrator at £200 for over three years. But the time has come to increase it to £250 + VAT a licence a year, which is scheduled for May 1st. With regret, we also have to announce that the AdBoard licence is being withdrawn, as it is simply not performing for the project.
It's not a brilliant time for a price rise, we know, but Business Administrator must continue to grow. Business Administrator has grown vastly over the past three years and a price review from that point of view, alone, is reasonable. Development in the software is also being hampered by inflation that has risen significantly in that period.
Most importantly, the next stages of development are going to be increasingly expensive. We have to ramp up the skill set to develop a first rate accounting system on the software, develop new accounting procedures, and move the EDI system forward.
Accounting
Whilst Business Administrator reporting is excellent at producing business reports and reports for accountants, the current system is heavily accountant driven in terms of tax reporting. Also, more ought to be done on the software to help businesses in forecasting, planning and estimating a future.
New accounting procedures is important because they will be dedicated to the way electronic management systems work, and, more importantly, with respect to the fact that Business Administrator is a live system. Given that Business Administrator makes its own decisions on behalf of the people that use it, it needs a framework where it can make and report assumptions to achieve sensible [accounting] results.
EDI
We're also asked to develop the EDI system further, another expensive system. EDI, Electronic Data Interchange, is about Business Administrator units talking to each other across companies and the Business Administrator network. The system allows for orders and invoices to be automatically exchanged between companies, without any human involvement. The EDI system also supports the network where companies can broadcast their offering, and pitch to each other. There are clearly additional business functions to which the EDI system can be put, and it's only a matter of time before it will have to indulge in international EDI standards anyway.
Collaboration of these types between companies through Business Administrator offers these companies a distinct trading advantage over most other companies. It cuts down on administration further, virtually eliminating back room work on those functions, and puts those companies in a position where they can trade much faster. For communications, it means that business people using this network know they are talking to people whose only intent is business.
It also enables a new, powerful trading network where people can pitch, sell and buy products on favourable terms, and in relative safety, and at virtually zero administrative cost.
Modern software standards
Business Administrator enjoys thoroughly modern screens, works the way people expect it to, and delivers high performance action. Industry standards flow across it making it a top-class professional system, and comprehensive data management systems provide its users with a wealth of information about contacts, products and an entire suite of business issues.
The interface is sheer simplicity and a delight to use, and the new Welcome Board offers our new customers a fast route to getting to know the system. Advanced users have routes to making Business Administrator feel natural, with software remembering exactly what they were doing last time the system was closed.
A background-managed mass-saving system means that no user has to wait for Business Administrator whilst it's busy with back-office work.
A perfect business management solution
Business Administrator is a superb system, lithe and powerful, dedicated to doing business, and offers wall-to-wall business facilities.
Even with the price rise, we believe that Business Administrator represents phenomenal value for money. It trumps most other software because of the sheer breadth of capability it offers when measured on a price per function ratio. When adding in the costs and time of the administration it saves, Business Administrator can help your profits just by using it. And when you factor in the additional business that Business Administrator generate for you, declining Business Administrator becomes almost nonsensical: we think every business ought to have it.