May 2009: Pay just S$31.90 each month and all your accounts, sales and HR management tasks will be taken care of.

Using the concept of SaaS or “software as a service”, local systems house Bizpoint System is offering affordable Web-based computing to schools, kindergartens, small firms, charities and other organisations where money is always tight.

Managing director Y C Teo says the online applications cover all the key business processes in three main categories – financial, stocks and purchases, and human resource. And these modules are all developed with Singapore business and regulatory conditions in mind, he adds. So, unlike SaaS applications from oversea vendors, you can use them without adaptation.

Main business categories

The financial management applications include General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Fixed Assets Management. Supply chain management covers stock control, sales orders processing with sales analysis, and purchase orders processing with Purchase Analysis.

The Human Resource module also includes payroll, training, leave management and time management.

“Our pricing is S$51.90 per company name and S$5 per user account,” says Mr Teo. “However, at the introductory marketing effort, we are offering S$31.90 for a company name with two user accounts. The payment is via PayPal and interbank GIRO payment to reduce the administrative process.”

Web-based service means the business owner does not need upfront capital to purchase new software or hardware.

The monthly subscription also takes care of other items necessary for ensuring the uptime of these services, such as hardware maintenance and support services, bandwidth, and all software patches and upgrades.

Software applications within the suite are modular but are fully integrated with each other so you can use any combination of modules and are assured that data transfer between the modules are seamless, easy and reliable, says Mr Teo.

The suite of accounting, HR, payroll and employee self services applications are tailored to the Singapore environment. It means that these applications conform to standards set by local Singapore bodies and regulators such as ACRA, IRAS, CPF Board and MOM.

Also, IRAS IR8A auto inclusion and e-submissions, and CPF monthly submissions, are automated and will be performed as part of the deliverable services when using these suites of software applications. Similarly, submissions to banks for crediting employees’ salaries are automated, if required.

Security is assured

Security is also assured. The system is secured with restricted users’ data restricted to authorised users only. System administrators will not have access to data unless they are authorised by users. Further, data are encrypted in storage as well as during transmission.

These suites of software applications are available 24 hours every day. You can access them anywhere as long as you have Internet connection.

Bizpoint can also provide training and manual services such as data entry operation, and transaction processing (salary payments to banks, for instance). Rates for such services will be kept affordable and shall be determined based on volume of work per company.

Benefits

The benefits are extensive, says Mr Teo. Cost savings result from low monthly usage rates, and doing away with server hardware, hiring of IT staff and the saving of floor space.
Mr Teo points out there is no such Singapore-centric fully integrated Accounting with Fixed Assets Management, HR, Payroll and Employee Self-service System SaaS at the moment.

“The characteristic of our SaaS model is the full Window user interface over the Internet without the need for third-party communication software,” he says. “SMBs can easily implement flexible working hours and work life improvement program with our SaaS model.

“This is a major departure from the traditional purchase-and-use model which is expensive in the long term as the users have to purchase the software, continuously pay for future upgrades and patches and system maintenance; and employ specialised staff or outsource to specialised third party for day-to-day operation.”

For a free trial account, register online at www.networkarchitects.com.sg

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