SAAS – Software as a service is not enough

Several months ago I considered what I would need to set up a new business with the minimum hassle and staff. SAAS seemed to make sense for e-commerce but in my view was only part of the picture. There is a plethora of excellent e-commerce service providers that offer a vast array of useful features that appear to very scaleable. My ideal was to get everything on an ‘as a service’ basis. The 2 key elements that were not easily available but struck me as excellent ideas were a ‘virtual warehouse service’ and ‘accounts as a service. I guess you know what I stumbled across yesterday? Xero and Shipwire appear to deliver neat affordable solutions to both.

Xero offers an online accounting software as a service. Unlimited users, Unlimited transactions, No setup fees, upgrade fees or contracts all for £19 per month seems too good to be true when I think how much an accounting function costs a business.

http://www.xero.com/features/

Shipwire lets you grow your business by storing, packing and shipping your goods worldwide from a range of facilities. Store, Sell and Ship with a scaleable service. Select the space you need to store things, how many packages per month and the range of product codes you need and you are ready to start. They even offer a free trial. Looks worthwhile.

http://www.shipwire.com/pp/o.php?id=3881

With both of these I thought they might be too good to be true or expensive. Both are promoted by PayPal which seems like a pretty good endorsement and look to be extremely cost effective.