“Long Tail” software
In his book The Long Tail Chris Anderson explained to us all there is almost infinite demand in any market that isn’t satisfied by mass market vendors. There’s nowhere this is more true than the market for small business software.
Small businesses work differently to big businesses. There aren’t roles, just responsibilities mostly focused on clients. Processes are tailored to suit the requirements of individual customers. Everybody does a bit of everything and administration gets done in the evenings and weekends.
These guys are hard to reach with marketing and can’t afford to pay for the inflated cost structures of “big software” vendors. They certainly aren’t going to consultants for business process re-engineering, change management and big fees. They’re going to mash their own systems together and get on with the day job.
This is the demand for Long Tail software.
From a vendors perspective Long Tail Software is hard yards. How does anybody build software to satisfy the needs of an infinitely diverse range of businesses which can’t be reached thru marketing and won’t pay proper money for what they’re offered?
That’s why we’re into Long Tail software. We know how to do it, and our cost structure lets us compete with anybody, knowing we can win.
The secret is hard work (as always). Building generic business best practice into a logical workflow, and using great design to minimize the learning curve requires enormous effort. Every decision about what goes where? and how does it work? is the result of a discussion in which the users’ perspective is paramount. Every question is answered with another question - What does the user expect here.
When it comes to the major functions the perspective is different, but the users influence is the same. What problems can we solve for users? How can we help them do more, for less effort. How can we make them want to use Front Office Box, without cost of sale.
In Long Tail software the user is always in control. Adoption is the issue and without real value add, at minimal effort, it doesn’t happen.