Brilliant Business Systems, a Softline company, today announced its plan to release a Microsoft SQL-enabled version of its flagship product, Brilliant Accounting, in the third quarter of 2002.
"Codenamed eVolution, the product is the first locally developed SQL-based accounting solution for the small and medium enterprise (SME) market," says Mohammed Mosam, development director at Brilliant Business Systems. "We are pleased to say that phase one of four has been completed and released to our Emerald partners for input.
"Following the successful release of Brilliant Accounting Version 11, we are now able to focus our development resources on this exciting project. The SQL version of our market-leading product reaffirms Brilliant's position as a forerunner in the development of solutions for the SME market."
The product will run under both the Microsoft Database Engine (MSDE) and full SQL database, enabling customers with small to medium networked environments the option to enjoy the full benefit of an MS-SQL database backend to their mission-critical accounting application.
"This client-server version will support between two and fifty users with ease, which allows growing small businesses the unique opportunity to follow as a seamless upgrade path when they require increased scaleability and functionality. Also, businesses will save on the massive costs of re-implementation and training for a bigger accounting solution," says Mosam.
Following demands for a more robust mainstream environment, Brilliant Accounting users will gain enhanced database stability and improved speed. The interface, which will still be familiar to existing users, has been greatly enhanced to conform to current software standards. All existing add-on modules, including favourites such as Job Costing, Multi-Warehousing and Bill-of-Materials, which lend themselves to more demanding environments, will be upgraded to seamlessly integrate with eVolution.
Furthermore, users can look forward to another first - a fully integrated contact management module, with a future view to full CRM capabilities. The functionality will be built into the accounting software, eliminating the need for synchronisation and cross-referencing, as data is common to both applications. Businesses are able to build and maintain customer relationships and establish an efficient flow of communication within an organisation and gives rise to customer relationship management, which is vital to ensuring businesses survive in the new economy.
The module allows maintenance of day-to-day incidents with customers, giving users access to historical contact information and to view pending activities. This information allows for improved sales and marketing activities and enables the business to capture its market more accurately. The module also has a powerful escalation feature in which unattended incidents within a specific time span is automatically escalated to someone else in the organisation.
Brilliant attributes its development vision to the success of the subscription-model, introduced four years ago. The company has enjoyed good growth and with the sustainability of its unique business model, has re-invested some R4 million in this project. The model also lends itself to unprecedented communication with both customers and channel partners, enabling the company to develop based on actual customer requirements.
While Brilliant will continue its drive to capture the SME market as the only subscription-based accounting solution in this market, Mosam feels that, as the company gains access to the upper-end of the SME market with eVolution, the product will evolve with new features and compete in the mid-range market.
"Brilliant Business Systems Brilliant Accounting will support both version 7.0 and version 2000 of the popular Microsoft SQL database. "Microsoft SQL Server is a widely adopted mainstream technology which allows for flexibility of growth and enables third party developers to integrate their products seamlessly with Brilliant Accounting," concludes Mosam.
Share
Brilliant Business Systems, a member of the Softline Limited Group of companies, is a leading developer and supplier of award-winning accounting and payroll software for the South African market. Founded in 1988, Brilliant Business Systems (BBS) has an impressive track record in the supply of quality, user-friendly and value-for-money applications for businesses in the SOHO (small office, home office) and SME (small to medium enterprise) markets. With over 50 000 users of its range of software at present, Brilliant leads the industry as a subscriptions-based service-driven organisation with the focus on building long-term partnerships with customers and the channel.
Editorial contacts