to be honest all this SaaS stuff has a long way to go, SaleForce and SAP are common names, but I don't have the faintest idea what their products are, how they work, nor what they look like - so they're as relevant as a piece of fluff on the arse of humanity.

In fact all of the various garbage about All in One, Business by Design etc. is just marketing guff. It's still the same product whatever they try to tell you. (I've had numerous consultancy firms try to tell me that its totally different; sorry, but if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks, then it is probably a member of the Anatidae family!)

The software itself is not that bad; it's the consultancy and fees that kill you. If you are a big company and have deep pockets, it make sense. If like us, you are a smaller company, it's not the most cost effective product out there - I've estimated ROI of around 8 - 10 years if all goes well.

Hey ho

Actually, SAP now has a quite different approach in the mid market, offering much lower cost and fixed price implementations.

A company can estimate what it may cost them online before they ever talk to someone at SAP.

Check it out for yourself here:

http://www.sap.com/australia/solutions/sme/businessallinone/configurator/index.epx